Got Manduca Sexta?

Over the past 10 years or so, one of my favorite programs on NPR has been Talk of the Nation's Science Friday!  Sorry, I get excited every time I say Science Friday or "Sci Fri" as it's sometimes referred to.  You can even say TGISF when you wake up on Friday mornings if you're especially excited about the day's topics.

This week, Sci Fri had a segment on a particular flying insect called the Hummingbird Hawk Moth, or Manduca Sexta as they called it (Note:  There is some dispute over the proper name as Manduca Sexta seems to refer to the species with the common name Tomato Hornworm/Carolina Sphinx, while the species with the common name Hummingbird Moth may be known as Hyles lineata, but I've also seen it referred to as Macroglossum Stellatarum, a species of Sphingidae.  I'll ammend this post if/when I ever figure out the actual name.  For now we'll trust the Sci Fri folks and stick with Manduca Sexta.  Sounds cooler anyway).

Hummingbird Hawk Moth.  Pic swiped from http://gardenofeaden.blogspot.com/2008/11/hummingbird-hawk-moth.html

There it is.  Pretty cool, huh?  My interest in this little guy is that I had the pleasure of actually seeing one while I was sitting on the retaining wall behind my apartment having a beer with my neighbors.  At first I thought it was the smallest hummingbird I'd ever seen, because that's exactly what it looks like when you see it.  It flies exactly like a hummingbird, feeds on nectar like a hummingbird, and moves with amazing quickness and dexterity like a hummingbird.

Check out this video from Sci Fri.  The only thing I'll point out is that the video doesn't translate the actual beauty of the moth when you see it in the wild.  Hopefully if I ever see one again I'll have my camera with me instead of a beer, or better yet, camera and a beer.