A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Manduca sexta
This hornworm has parasitic braconid wasp eggs attached to it, which will kill the caterpillar (which is a garden pest) when they emerge. This caterpillar was found on my tomato plants in my yard
Thanks. I couldn't find information on how to tell the difference, I'm glad you pointed that out
CallyBuchanan, welcome to Project Noah. Actually this caterpillar is probably already dead, or close to. The larvae of the wasp already eat its inside, and now they use the cat only as a base while they complete their metamorphosis. It is a very nice spotting, congrats.
What a wonderful spotting. The tomato hornworm has 8 white v-shaped markings on its sides, while the tobacco hornworm has 7 white diagonal lines along its sides.
Spotted on Oct 10, 2012
Submitted on Oct 16, 2012
+2
