Ask An Entomologist: Whats That Bug?
November 12th, 2007 by Kelley
Rich:
Photographed an unusual “fly”? White spotted clear bluish wings, white spotted blue segmented body and red tail. About an inch and a half long. Sought refuge from a wind storm a week back and rested on my courtyard in a Persian Lime Bush. All of this here in Palm Coast, FL.
Photo Credit: R. Lightcap
Well its not a fly. Its a polka dot wasp moth in the Sesiidae arctiidae family, which are the clearwing tiger and lichen moths. I’m not sure which species you have there in your picture, but maybe another reader knows what it is…
[Edit] The species is Syntomeida epilais. Larvae feed on oleander and devils potatoe.
Actually, that isn’t a Sesiid. It looks like a polka-dot moth to me, which is an arctiid.
http://flnature.org/species.asp?species=Syntomeida_epilais
Good call
The following is a description of an insect I found, and, I’m sorry to say, killed, in my bathtub here in Southwest Florida. It was about 3/4 of an inch long, very slender with long legs. What distinguished it was its color–a beautiful dark red-orange. No wings I could see. And it was 6-legged.
Thanks