HornWorm

[salden]

I found a live one. This was on my tomato plant (and these guys are hard to locate), but my book ids it as the Tobacco Hormworm and not the Tomato Hormworm (slight variations in the markings).

My garden has tomatoes and peppers (both of which they like) and I live in an Amish community and they just finished harvesting their tobacco crops.

They also like to remain "deep" in the plant, so they are a bit hard to photograph. Here is a better image:

[rjlittlefield]

Yep, Manduca sexta, "tobacco hornworm", "Carolina Sphinx", "Hodges #7775", all the same critter.

Tobacco and tomato are closely related, by the way. Also potato, nightshade, and eggplant. All are in the small family Solanaceae. These sphinx moths will eat many kinds of plants in the family.

In my area (Pacific Northwest), we don't have M. sexta, but we do have its cousin M. quinquemaculata, the "tomato hornworm". They used to love my tomato plants, and every once in a while I'd find some on my potatos. But the last few years, there have been none at all. I don't know why. We don't use pesticides on stuff we eat, and I always left a couple of plants extra for the caterpillars to have undisturbed, but still, they stopped coming. Maybe my garden was just too small of an oasis in the "desert" of suburbia.

--Rik

[salden]

This is the first year I have seen this guys, but it is also the first year for the tomato plants in my garden..so who knows.

I never use pesticides and well, my garden is for the insects and birds so it is ok if they take up residence.

[beetleman]

I here they are good to eat...taste like tomatoes

[Ken Ramos]

These things are really pretty. I thought they were "Pawpaw Sphinx," like this one I posted sometime back Pawpaw Sphinx Good job on these Sue, I have heard them called both tomatoe and tobacco worms too.

[Mike B in OKlahoma]

A classic macro subject! Good find.