Snowberry Clearwing

In caterpillar form ... they love my tomato leaves. : /

They buzz around pollinating lots of flowers in my garden and phlox seems to be one thing they like in particular around here and the delphiniums. Seen around the mock orange bush too.

This is an image of both the brown form and green form of the caterpillar of Hemaris diffinis. Note that the green forms have a basal brown line below the green. The brown form instar is one of the first reported in the first instar of growth. Oftentimes it is found after the green form has changed to brown in later instars. This was a brown form hatchling, so unusual.

Host plants are snowberries, viburnums, and honeysuckle. I found mine on my honeysuckle bush. I have 5 cocoons in the vegetable compartment of my refridgerator and I take them out once a month and give them a water bath (to prevent dessication; the water is the same temperature as they are kept in, with crumpled pieces of paper towel, which I spritz with water before returning them to the fridge. I wil... read morel remove them from the fridge when outdoor temps are conducive to safe emergence.