Hemaris

Belongs within: Sphingidae.

Hemaris is a Holarctic genus of hawkmoths that mostly develop on herbs and shrubs of the Dipsacaceae and Caprifoliaceae. Members of this genus are small and robust in appearance, superficially resembling a bumblebee (Pittaway 1993).

Characters (from Pittaway 1993): Imago small, diurnal, resembling a bumblebee in shape. Fore wing with hyaline areas or fully scaled. Tips of veins R₂+R₃ and R₄ of fore wing united. Rs and M₁ of hind wing on short stalk or from common point on cell. Cell short but twice as long as broad; M₃ and Cu₁ always separate. Antenna strongly clubbed in both sexes, thin basally and abruptly narrowed before apex and forming a slender, recurved hook. Lateral hair-scales of frons hanging down to eye. Abdomen with large ‘fan-tail’. Segment-margin scales spinose and strongly developed, flat and arranged in several rows, those of the first row rounded and broader than long. Seventh abdominal sternite of female with entire apical margin spinose. Mid coxa triangularly widened posteriorly; tip of dilated part sharply pointed and directed away from body. Hind coxa similarly but obtusely broadened. Fore tibia with few spines at apex. Pulvillus and paronychium variable. Genitalia asymmetrical in male. Uncus divided, the two lobes subequal, heavily sclerotised, with rounded apex. Gnathos with either two long processes or with right process absent. Right and left sacculi and valvae differ; left sacculus always vestigial; right often clavate and enlarged. Aedeagus slender with distal part developed as slender lobe. Ostium bursae of female angled to left. Ovum small, spherical, pale glossy green. Larva small, cylindrical, distinctly granulose, the granules often with small bristles. Colour pattern variable but pale dorso-lateral longitudinal stripe always present from head to horn. Ventral surface darkly coloured. Pupa usually rugose and glossy. Proboscis keeled. Prominent tubercle or hook present alongside each eye. Cremaster large, flattened, triangular, with pair of apical spines and few lateral ones. In a loosely spun cocoon.

<==Hemaris Dalman 1816P93 (see below for synonymy)
    |--*H. fuciformis (Linnaeus 1758)P93 [=Sphinx fuciformisP93, Sesia fuciformisL02]
    |    |--H. f. fuciformis (see below for synonymy)P93
    |    |--H. f. ganssuensis Grum-Grshimailo 1891P93
    |    `--H. f. jordani (Clark 1927) [=Haemorrhagia fuciformis jordani]P93
    |--H. affinis Bremer 1861P93
    |--H. croatica (Esper 1800) (see below for synonymy)P93
    |--H. dentata (Staudinger 1887) [=Macroglossa ducalis var. dentata]P93
    |--H. ducalis (Staudinger 1887) (see below for synonymy)P93
    |--H. hylasP27
    |--H. rubra Hampson 1893P93
    |--H. thysbeRM01
    |--H. tityus (Linnaeus 1758) [=Sphinx tityus]P93
    |    |--H. t. tityus (see below for synonymy)P93
    |    |--H. t. aksana (Le Cerf 1923) [=Haemorrhagia tityus aksana]P93
    |    `--H. t. alaiana (Rothschild & Jordan 1903)P93
    `--H. venata (Felder & Felder 1874) [=*Aege venata]NS07

Hemaris Dalman 1816^P93 [incl. Aege Felder & Felder 1874^NS07, Chamaesesia Grote 1873^P93, Cochrania Tutt 1902^P93, Haemorrhagia Grote & Robinson 1865^P93, Hemeria Billberg 1820^P93]

Hemaris croatica (Esper 1800) [=Sphinx croatica; incl. H. croatica f. obscurata, H. croatica f. rangowi, Sphinx sesia Hübner 1805]^P93

Hemaris ducalis (Staudinger 1887) [=Macroglossa ducalis; incl. H. ducalis f. efenestralis Derzhavets 1984, M. temiri Grum-Grschimailo in Romanoff 1887]^P93

*Hemaris fuciformis fuciformis (Linnaeus 1758) [incl. Macroglossa caprifolii Zeller 1869, M. lonicerae Zeller 1869, M. milesiformis Treitschke 1834, M. robusta Alphéraky 1882, Hemaris simillima Moore 1888, Haemorrhagia fuciformis syra Daniel 1939, Sphinx variegata Allioni 1766]^P93

Hemaris tityus tityus (Linnaeus 1758) [incl. Sphinx bombyliformis Linnaeus 1758, Macroglossa knautiae Zeller 1869, S. musca Retzius 1783, M. scabiosae Zeller 1869]^P93

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

[L02] Latreille, P. A. 1802. Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière des crustacés et des insectes vol. 3. Familles naturelles des genres. F. Dufart: Paris.

[NS07] Nässig, W. A., & W. Speidel. 2007. On the authorships of the Lepidoptera Atlas of the “Reise der Novara”, with a list of the taxa of Bombycoidea [s. l.] therein described (Insecta, Lepidoptera, Bombycoidea). Senckenbergiana Biologica 87 (1): 63–74.

[P27] Philpott, A. 1927. The maxillae in the Lepidoptera. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 57: 721–746.

[P93] Pittaway, A. R. 1993. The Hawkmoths of the Western Palaearctic. Harley Books: Colchester.

[RM01] Regier, J. C., C. Mitter, T. P. Friedlander & R. S. Peigler. 2001. Re: phylogenetic relationships in Sphingidae (Insecta: Lepidoptera): initial evidence from two nuclear genes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 20 (2): 311–316.