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Manduca quinquemaculata
The five-spotted hawkmoth (Manduca quinquemaculata) is a brown and gray hawk moth of the Sphingidae family. The caterpillar, often referred to as the tomato hornworm, can be a major pest in gardens. Tomato hornworms are closely related to (and sometimes confused with) the tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta). This confusion arises because caterpillars of both species feed on the foliage of various plants from the family Solanaceae, so either species can be found on tobacco or tomato leaves, and the plant on which the caterpillar is found does not indicate its species. The larvae of these species can be distinguished by their lateral markings: tomato hornworms have eight V-shaped markings while tobacco hornworms have seven diagonal lines.[2] Furthermore, the caterpillars can be distinguished from the larval stage onwards by the color of the horns on their back ends: M. quinquemaculata caterpillars have black horns, while M. sexta caterpillars have red horns. The moths can be distinguished by the number of spots on their abdomens, with M. quinquemaculata having, as its name suggests, five.[2] Habitat M. quinquemaculata is found throughout the United States, northwestern Mexico, and even southern Canada, but is less frequently found throughout the Great Plains and the southeast.
Crawling on a stem of my Angel Trumpet flower, in my garden.
5 Comments
cool!
Fyn....am on my iphone & chat isnt working properly. It's cutting the chat box in half. I cannot see it ALL! Sorry!! :(
Interesting!! A friend of mine spotted a Tomato Hornworm...with wasp larva attached to it. She let me put it on Noah. Thought it was amazing & yeah, it kinda grossed me out too!! LOL
Haha, you're very welcome! :-) Nice spot! I only get M. sexta here.
Fyn Kynd..... I realized my mistake & deleted the Tobacco hornworm, replacing the info with Tomato hornworm instead. Then I saw the email where you'd commented & left a species suggestion!!
Thanks!! Sorry, I deleted the other spotting, & was unable to comment on it.
Thank you!!! :)