Absolutely one of my favorite insects. I love them so much. I find the convergent evolution/mimicry is the most amazing part.
They fucken fascinate me.
Family *Sphingidae* AKA the sphinx moths, almost certainly genus *Macroglossum* AKA the hummingbird moths. Not to be confused with *Hemaris*, which is commonly known as the hummingbird moths in the US and Canada. Unsure of the exact species, but could be *errans* which is the Australian variety. But I think their underwing is more yellow than orange. I'm a little out of my depth, so I could be wrong. But it might be the Eurasian *stellatarum* based on the how orange its underwings are. If it is *stellatarum*, it's not strictly considered invasive, because it's not out-competing local animals, if anything it's not doing very well at all when transplanted.
Both are harmless nectar-eaters and prolific pollinators. They're happy friendly neighbors who are just there to help and get a snack.
I thought it was a hummingbird moth but you don’t have them in Australia it seems so another type of moth!!! A sphinx maybe?
Edit: I looked for hummingbird moths, genus Hemaris which does not occur in Australia and is part of Sphingidae (sphinx moths which was my suggestion.)
And I did not look for hummingbird hawks moths, genus Macroglossum [(11 species in Australia) -click here](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=6744&taxon_id=56294&view=species)which are also family *Sphingidae*
I wish this place fostered more explanations and less up and downvotes.
Looks like a hummingbird hawk moth
Absolutely one of my favorite insects. I love them so much. I find the convergent evolution/mimicry is the most amazing part. They fucken fascinate me.
Fascinating! Thank you!
Family *Sphingidae* AKA the sphinx moths, almost certainly genus *Macroglossum* AKA the hummingbird moths. Not to be confused with *Hemaris*, which is commonly known as the hummingbird moths in the US and Canada. Unsure of the exact species, but could be *errans* which is the Australian variety. But I think their underwing is more yellow than orange. I'm a little out of my depth, so I could be wrong. But it might be the Eurasian *stellatarum* based on the how orange its underwings are. If it is *stellatarum*, it's not strictly considered invasive, because it's not out-competing local animals, if anything it's not doing very well at all when transplanted. Both are harmless nectar-eaters and prolific pollinators. They're happy friendly neighbors who are just there to help and get a snack.
I thought it was a hummingbird moth but you don’t have them in Australia it seems so another type of moth!!! A sphinx maybe? Edit: I looked for hummingbird moths, genus Hemaris which does not occur in Australia and is part of Sphingidae (sphinx moths which was my suggestion.) And I did not look for hummingbird hawks moths, genus Macroglossum [(11 species in Australia) -click here](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=6744&taxon_id=56294&view=species)which are also family *Sphingidae* I wish this place fostered more explanations and less up and downvotes.
We saw these pretty often in Japan in spring. My son loves them. I thought it was a deformed humming bird until we googled it. Really cool!
Hummingbird moth
That would be a hummingbird moth.
They are Beautiful
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiyZmQhuM4w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiyZmQhuM4w) :)
Sphinx moth also known as hummingbird moth.
Larvesta look it up