I had a little Nessus (Amphion floridensis) visiting the banana feeder the other morning. I have seen these little sphinx moths both with a single stripe across the abdomen and two stripes. But, I have never seen this "phenomenom" before. I was observing the moth feeding, noting the two stripes and turned away for a moment to do something else. It was just for a moment, really. When I looked back, the moth had a single stripe. At this point I am wondering about my state of mind....and my vision. Did I really see two stripes? At that moment, I witnessed the gradual appearance, beginning as a very, very thin line, widening to a thicker stripe, and voila! There were two lines again.

I have never seen this happen before! I was entirely giddy, both this surprising development, and to realize I had not been "seeing things", so no need to visit a shrink!

I continued to watch and realized that as the single stripe faded once again, the moth was very still, no wings buzzing, just very still. Another moment passed, and the moths wings began to move rapidly so that its body was "shivering" and the second stripe gradually appeared again.

Such a cool thing! This makes me wonder, though, if observations of a single-striped Nessus are really adults with a single stripe, or that is only occurs when the moths are not whirring the wings and are very quiet and still? Hmmmm. It is something to think about - well, only if you're a sphinx lover like me, I guess.

I know that moths and/or butterflies "shiver" to prepare their flight muscles. But, has anyone ever witnesses this or a similar phenomenom in Nessus or other species?

Susan