Conservation Status
provided by University of Alberta Museums
Known from only one locality in Alberta, which is at the extreme northwest edge of its range.
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Cyclicity
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The only known Alberta record is for mid June.
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Distribution
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The eastern seaboard of North America, north and west through central Canada to extreme northeastern Alberta. In was added to the Alberta fauna in 2000 when a specimen was collected in the Richardson River Dunes Wildland Park, just south of Lake Athabasca. The recent addition of this species to the Saskatchewan (Hooper 2001) and Alberta faunas are significant extensions of the previously reported range.
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General Description
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This is one of three species of Hemaris in Alberta which mimic bumblebees. The Slender Clearwing can be distinguished from H. diffinis by the much broader hindwing margin, and brown as opposed to black bands on the thorax underside. Two characters easily distinguish gracilis from thysbe: the forewing cell of thysbe is crossed by a line (a vein with dark scaling), whereas this cell is unmarked in H. gracilis. The underside of the abdomen is completely yellow in thysbe, whereas gracilis has two longitudinal red-brown bands.
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Habitat
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Open wooded areas where the larval host plant, blueberry, occurs.
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Life Cycle
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Adults visit flowers during the day. Overwinters as a pupa underground or among ground litter. Although this species has two broods annually in more southerly parts of its range, it likely has only one in the short summers of the northern boreal forest.
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Trophic Strategy
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In Alberta, adults nectar at Kinnikinik (Arcostaphylus uva-ursi), and likely other plants. Larvae are reported to feed on blueberry (Vaccinium) and other heaths (Ericaeae) in eastern North America.
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Hemaris gracilis
provided by wikipedia EN
Hemaris gracilis, the slender clearwing[2] or graceful clearwing, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by Augustus Radcliffe Grote and Coleman Townsend Robinson in 1865.
Distribution
It is found in North America from Nova Scotia to central Florida along the East Coast and west through New England to Michigan to Saskatchewan.[3] The species is listed as threatened in Connecticut.[4]
Description
The wingspan is 40–45 mm. It can be distinguished from similar species by a pair of red-brown bands on the sides of the thorax, which vary from green to yellow green dorsally and sometimes brown with white underneath. They have a red abdomen. The wings are transparent with reddish-brown borders. The outer edge of the forewing transparent area is even and the forewing cell has a median row of scales.
Biology
There are probably two generations per year with adults on wing from March to August. They feed on the nectar of various flowers, including Pontederia cordata, Rubus species, Taraxacum officinale, Hieracium aurantiacum, and Phlox species.[5]
The larvae have been recorded feeding on Vaccinium vacillans and Kalmia species.[5] Pupation takes place in a thin walled cocoon under leaf litter.
References
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Hemaris gracilis: Brief Summary
provided by wikipedia EN
Hemaris gracilis, the slender clearwing or graceful clearwing, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by Augustus Radcliffe Grote and Coleman Townsend Robinson in 1865.
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