These days, walking around in the garden in front of my home, I suddenly found a UFO in the grass.
It was extremely fast, with a big ass and flapping wings fluttering.
Looks like a big moth,
However, when I pull the phone into the focal length to take a closer look,
It is actually a bird's head, and it looks quite similar to the legendary hummingbird.
But its body is obviously an insect?
Don't hummingbirds live in distant South America?
Could it be that hummingbirds on the other side of the ocean have come to settle in southern China from afar?
After careful observation, careful examination.
I found that the scientific name of this thing is called macroglossum scopoli, which is called hummingbird eagle moth because it looks too similar to hummingbirds.
Hummingbird hawk moths have a special appearance, combining the common points of various organisms, coupled with faster movement speed, so they are often misunderstood, known as the "four unlikes" of the insect world.
Native to southern Europe and North Africa, hummingbird hawk moths span Asia to Japan for a variety of reasons, and are currently found in much of the country.
These hummingbird moths fly mainly during the day, especially in bright daylight,
Its long beak and hovering behavior, accompanied by audible humming, make it very much like a hummingbird when sucking nectar.
The similarity between hummingbird hawk moths and hummingbirds is another example of convergent evolution in nature.
Hummingbird moths look a lot like feathers and tail parts, but are actually a lot of elongated hairs.
It even looks like it has "feathers" and a "tail" and is actually elongated hairs.
Although a moth, the hummingbird moth feeds on nectar.
It has a long straw-like proboscis in place of a beak, which is used to suck away viscous liquid.
The proboscis, which is about an inch long, is almost as long as its body, so it can coil the appendage tightly when not in use.
When it hovers in front of the flowers, collect sweet nectar from within.
Unlike bees, hummingbirds and eagle moths do not carry powder, do not collect honey, and can be suspended in place to feed.
In general, hummingbirds can hover by generating about 50 wing beats per second and about 17 beats per second.
However, as an imitator of hummingbirds, the hummingbird eagle moth beat hummingbirds on the wing flake, surpassing hummingbirds at a speed of 85 times per second.
At the same time, it can both move forward and backward as it hovers and flies.
When you look at the hummingbird hawk moth, you'll feel its eyes following you.
However, this is only an illusion.
Like other insects, the eyes of the hummingbird moth consist of many small faces arranged in a roughly hemispherical pattern.
Each facet contains a lens and many photoreceptor cells.
This allows the moth to see multiple directions at the same time, although the details are far less than the human eye.
The dark spot or "pseudo-pupil" that seems to follow your movements is actually a small plane that absorbs most of the light coming from your direction.
As you move relative to the moth's eye, the plaque seems to be moving, when in fact you see a new absorbent surface.
In general, the hummingbird hawk moth is another evolutionary miracle in nature, through the convergence of appearance, making it resemble a butterfly instead of a butterfly, a bee instead of a bee, and a bird instead of a bird.
As a result, most predatory insects and small birds cannot accurately determine the true identity of hummingbird hawk moths, so they dare not attack them easily and gain more chances of survival.