by Sanjay Sondhi
The moth website keeps chugging along, and with 510 species, 17 life cycles, 1169 images viewed by 3,002 unique visitors, we are off to a great start, given that the website went live only a year ago in September 2015. What better way to celebrate this with an amazing moth, Dasysphecia bombyliformis which can be viewed through the link below.
http://www.mothsofindia.org/sp/355781/Dasysphecia-bombyliformis
This clearwing moth is mimicking a bumble bee Bombus breviceps or perhaps the Hornet Vespa tropica. I mistook the same for a bee/hornet till Geetha Iyer pointed out that it may be a Sesiid. Ian Kitching confirmed that the Natural History Museum, London has only two specimens including the holotype. Type locality is in the Khasi Hills, Meghalaya collected in June 1895, described by Rothschild in 1911.
Enjoy viewing the moth, and we would welcome more contributions from people to the website.
The moth website keeps chugging along, and with 510 species, 17 life cycles, 1169 images viewed by 3,002 unique visitors, we are off to a great start, given that the website went live only a year ago in September 2015. What better way to celebrate this with an amazing moth, Dasysphecia bombyliformis which can be viewed through the link below.
This clearwing moth is mimicking a bumble bee Bombus breviceps or perhaps the Hornet Vespa tropica. I mistook the same for a bee/hornet till Geetha Iyer pointed out that it may be a Sesiid. Ian Kitching confirmed that the Natural History Museum, London has only two specimens including the holotype. Type locality is in the Khasi Hills, Meghalaya collected in June 1895, described by Rothschild in 1911.
Enjoy viewing the moth, and we would welcome more contributions from people to the website.
