Tobacco Hornworms - Manduca sexta

Our tomato plants were covered in these guys, but oh well, I'd rather have squishy green caterpillars with eyeball markings than tomatoes any day. :P

They are called hornworms because, as many caterpillars in the Sphingidae family, they have a conspicuous horn or spine on the top of the last abdominal segment. The main difference between tomato and tobacco hornworms is their horn; the tomato have black horns while tobacco have red. They have five pairs of prolegs in addition to the thoracic legs and they have five instars. Manduca is the Latin word for "glutton", as one or two hornworms can easily defoliate a tomato plant.

Adults are large moths with long forewings. Their abdomen is marked with orange-yellow spots. They are strong fliers with a rapid wing beat and are sometimes mistaken for humming birds.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• hawkmoth
• hawk
• moth
• sphynx
• sphinx
• tomato
• tobacco
• hornworm
• horn
• worm
• caterpillar

[MaxGMmaple]

I am always trying to find these things but i only found one in my life and it was 3 years ago soo yeah where did you find these like what state and city?

[PenanggalanMonster]

@MaxGMmaple In Florida, we bought tomato plants and there were dozens of them already on them. :)

[KindaRedneckish]

Do they sting?

[PenanggalanMonster]

@KindaRedneckish no.

[Kingmaconha]

wow what do they eat and how do they drink?

[PenanggalanMonster]

@Kingmaconha They eat tobacco and tomato plants, as far as I know they get any moisture they need from them :3

[MrGamergg]

Gotta catch'em all!

[QhaoticZombie]

D'awww, those are cute caterpillars.

[OxygenDiffusion]

@PenanggalanMonster haha I love how the smal ones are a bit scared.

But the biggest dosent give a crap :)

size does matter!

[mrsplitnwigs]

ya, those things will wreck your plants

[gaigegore]

Caterpie! :D

[goldeneye0019]

these guys must be stressed ALL the time

[richardhaw]

welcome to the world, baby insects