''Hemaris aksana'', the Atlas bee hawkmoth, is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

of the family

Sphingidae The Sphingidae are a family of moths (Lepidoptera) called sphinx moths, also colloquially known as hawk moths, with many of their caterpillars known as “hornworms”; it includes about 1,450 species. It is best represented in the tropics, but ...

. The species was first described by

Ferdinand Le Cerf Ferdinand Le Cerf (3 October 1881, Paris – 1945, Paris) was a French entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera. He was a ''préparateur'' or technician in the entomological laboratories of Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris (where ...

in 1923. It is known from the Middle and High Atlas Mountains of

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

. The habitat consists of flower-rich meadows at elevations between 1,300 and 2,500 meters. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan o ...

is 44–51 mm. It is a diurnal species. Although mimicking a

bumble bee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related genera ...

in coloration, its flight is much more rapid and agile. Adults are on wing in March, June and August. At higher altitude, the flight period is the latter half of May or June. Here, there is generally one generation per year, although a partial second generation may occur in August. The larvae have been recorded feeding on ''

Scabiosa ''Scabiosa'' is a genus in the honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae) of flowering plants. Many of the species in this genus have common names that include the word scabious, but some plants commonly known as scabious are currently classified in r ...

'' species.

References

A Endemic fauna of Morocco Moths of Asia Moths described in 1923 Moths of Africa {{Dilophonotini-stub