Sesiidae

Boisduval, [1828]

The Sesiidae are a family of lepidoptera (also called egeridae ) which includes over 1300 species, spread over all continents (excluding Antarctica).
They are moths often characterized by the aposematic habitus, in particular Batesian mimicry in both appearance and behaviour of various Hymenoptera. *, ***
Another characteristic of many members of this family are the largely scaleless and transparent wings, and with the colored body with lively bands that make them similar to bees and wasps.
The buzz they emit while flying and some habits implement the aposematic effect.

In many species, the abdomen is elongated, with an anal tuft, and streaked or ringed yellow, red or sometimes very bright white. The legs are long, thin and frequently colored, and in some species the hind legs are elongated. **
In European species, the wingspan varies from 8 to 48 mm.
The larvae live by digging tunnels under the bark of the trunks, or in branches, roots, stems, and many of them are harmful to fruit crops such as apple and peach.

* Laštůvka, Zdeněk; Laštůvka, Aleš (2001). I Sesiidi d'Europa. Stenstrup: Apollo Books. ISBN 8788757528.
** Sadahisa, Yagi; Toshiya, Hirowatari; Yutaka, Arita (7 March 2016). "A remarkable new species of the genus Teinotarsina (Lepidoptera, Sesiidae) from Okinawa-jima, Japan". ZooKeys (571): 143–152. - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4829806/
*** L'aposematismo è la colorazione di una parte più o meno estesa del corpo di un animale a fini di avvertimento contro possibili predatori. Gli animali che utilizzano colori aposematici sono tossici o velenosi, oppure hanno semplicemente un sapore sgradevole, per le specie che potrebbero utilizzarli come nutrimento.

Sesiinae