Hummingbird
Hawk-moth

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Etymology
Binomial nameMacroglossum stellatarum
English namesHummingbird Hawk-moth
Dutch namesKolibrivlinder, Onrustvlinder, Onrust
MeaningMacroglossum = ‘the long tongue’ in Greek + stellatarum = ‘of stars’ in Latin
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionEukaryota
ClassInsecta
OrderLepidoptera
FamilySphingidae
Clades
GenusMacroglossum
SpeciesMacroglossum stellatarum
April 27th 2025

I was honoured by a visit of this beautiful creature yesterday. It is a Hummingbird Hawk-mothMacroglossum stellatarum – *Kolibrievlinder.

I only ever saw one in Spain, over 15 years ago. Although most people have never seen it, due to the warmer winters you can spot them more often.

In Dutch they are also called ‘Onrustvlinder’ or just ‘Onrust’ *The nervous butterfly, because they flap their wings 70-80 times per minute and hover from flower to flower.