It's a silver-spotted skipper, Randy - I've been seeing a lot of them lately myself. They use various members of the pea family as hosts, mostly shrubs and trees - I find their cat nests on my amorpha fruiticosa and robinia pseudoacacias all the time.
MissSherry

So it's a butterfly. The hairy body and long proboscis threw me. We have a lot of Black locus nearby. It loves my Adeniums.

Looking at what they nectar on, that list doesn't include the periwinkle family which is where Adeniums hang in the plant world. Adeniums have a very structurally complex flower that excludes many insects from being pollinators.

Many times I saw it go deep into a bloom and stay for a period of time working it for pollen. It had to be successful or it would continue to do it.

That might not be sound thinking though. Had a Gulf Frit fall in love with my swim trunks.

randy

Hehehehe!! I love that swim trunks picture!
I just saw a SSS laying eggs on one of my amorphas - I tried to take her picture, but she kept moving to far removed places on the bush, and by the time I got the camera pointed on her, she moved elsewhere.
That's interesting that they're pollinating your adeniums - I'm not familiar with the plant/flower, but it sounds beautiful!
MissSherry

MissSherry

I'm thinking SSS "may" be pollinating my Adeniums. Only way to be sure is cage one with 3 or 4 blooming plants for a few days and see what develops.

Some commercial growers think a few hawk moths are capable of pollinating Adeniums. I'm pretty sure Sphinx do.

Here are some of the Adeniums flowers I grow and reproduce by grafting. Like most plants, they don't come true from seed, so hybridization is pushing the Adenium world right now. I'm letting nature do the work for me. Adeniums are extremely hard to manually cross. I did it a number of years ago and named a flower after my daughter.

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Randy, What beautiful blossoms!!!

Brenda

Oh, how gorgeous!
I assume these are tropical flowers that you keep inside or in a greenhouse in winter? If SSSs are the ones pollinating them, then just keep an amorpha or robinia close, and you'll have them around to pollinate your adinias for you.
I went out to my garden with my camera in my pocket, and my Mama SSS was nectaring on a somewhat spent Ellen's Blue BB bloom -
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Was the one you named after your daughter amber colored?
MissSherry

Skippers (the large ones anyway) are often confused with butterflies, Randy. They are kind of "in between" butterflies and moths to many lepidopterists, who argue from time to time that they should be in their own family.

I love the SSS's (is that enough S's for you?). They are larger than most skippers (except for maybe the Yucca skippers), and they are such funny guys to watch! Their flight (to me) is erratic and you wonder if and when and where they're ever gonna land. For some reason, the top of my water feature is a favorite place to bask in the sun.

There are some butterflies that have a longer probiscus than others, but I didn't think they included the SSS. I know the Swallowtails do.

Your adenums are gorgeous, as usual, Randy! I bet the sphinx moths really love that white one!

Susan

Thanks Brenda.

Yes, they are tropical MissSherry. The one I named after my girl was ruffled red bloom.
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Susan, I caught a Tobacco Sphinx this morning under our security light. I had forgotten how large they are.

The SSS proboscis was longer than his body, but I guess that's not saying much. :-)

randy