Hemaris galunae is a moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

 of the Sphingidae

Sphingidae

Sphingidae is a family of moths , commonly known as hawk moths, sphinx moths and hornworms, that includes about 1,200 species . It is best represented in the tropics but there are species in every region . They are moderate to large in size and are distinguished among moths for their rapid,...

 family. It is known from Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

.

Some authors regard Hemaris galunae as a dry zone form of H. tityus or as an isolated eastern population of H. aksana, left stranded as North Africa dried out after the last ice age.

It is similar to Hemaris tityus

Hemaris tityus

Hemaris tityus, the Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth, is one of two similar species of sphingid moth occurring in Britain that closely mimic a bumblebee. It has a wide range, from Ireland across temperate Europe to the Ural Mountains, western Siberia, Novosibirsk and the Altai...

and Hemaris radians

Hemaris radians

Hemaris radians is a moth of the Sphingidae family. It is known from southern Siberia, Mongolia, the southern Russian Far East, north-eastern and central-eastern China, the Korean Peninsula and Japan....

, but with a broader marginal band on both forewing and hindwing. The abdominal tufts are almost black with few light brown or light yellow hair-like scales.