Snowberry clearwing
The snowberry clearwing is a moth that looks like a bumblebee. It has a fuzzy yellow and black striped body and see-through wings. It hovers in front of flowers like a tiny hummingbird while it drinks.
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Fun facts
Its wings are clear because it loses most of the scales on them soon after it comes out of its cocoon.
Unlike most moths, it flies in the daytime, and keeps going into the evening if it finds good flowers.
In parts of the Appalachian mountains people call it the flying lobster.
It belongs to the hawk moth family.
Most asked questions about Snowberry clearwing
?Is the hummingbird moth a bee?
No. It looks like a bumblebee, but it is a moth and cannot sting.
?Why does the snowberry clearwing have clear wings?
It loses most of the scales on its wings soon after it comes out of its cocoon.
?What does the snowberry clearwing eat?
Grown-ups drink nectar. The caterpillars eat snowberry, honeysuckle and similar plants.
Myth buster
Myth: It is a bumblebee, or even a baby hummingbird.
Truth: No. It is a moth that only looks and flies like them, and it cannot sting.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Hemaris diffinis
- Group
- Moths
- Family
- Sphingidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Sphingidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Hummingbird moth, Flying lobster
Where the facts come from
- Hemaris diffinis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Cody Hough. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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