Darwin's hawkmoth (Xanthopan morgani praedicta) on flower, Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, Madagascar. Xanthopan morganii praedicta, Madagascan sphinx moth. While Darwin predicted that the orchid ...

Early fall brings an amazing insect to our flower gardens across the United States. It is the White-lined Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata), also called the Hawk Moth or Hummingbird Moth. No matter what ...

Readers have sent photographs of small critters hovering over flowers, as if they were sipping nectar like hummingbirds. But they’re not hummingbirds. Instead, they are insects variously called sphinx ...

Is it a hummingbird? Is it a butterfly? Lubbock A-J reader P.W. of Lubbock wondered about a strange creature hovering in flight around flowering Ajuga and thought perhaps it was some kind of ...

If you walk through a field of fireweed, you might see spittle bugs, aphids and — if you are lucky — a hawk moth. They hover at flowers on their rather narrow wings, extending their “tongues” to ...

Late summer temperatures were still uncomfortable at lower elevations, but at nearly 5,000 feet the air had a distinct autumn feel as I enjoyed a late afternoon hike around Lake Cuyamaca. I paused to ...

It isn’t unusual for common names of animals to reflect characteristics of other unrelated groups or types within the animal kingdom. A striking example of this nomenclatural quirk applies to a large ...

Our region is justly noted for its varied laurel and rhododendron species. For most of us, year in and year out, the commonest and largest of these tends to be rosebay rhododendron. You don't have to ...

For decades scientists have thought that the giant sphinx moth was the only pollinator for the treasured ghost orchid, an Everglades air plant so in demand that it was almost harvested into extinction ...