Top Photo: Tobacco hornworm on tomato plant. The tobacco hornworm, or Carolina sphinx, and tomato hornworm, or five-spotted hawk moth, both use nightshade as a food plant including tomato and tobacco plants. And, they’re both subjected to attack by a tiny parasitoid wasp called a braconid wasp. With the help of her ovipositor, the minuscule wasp lays eggs just under the skin of the caterpillar. The eggs hatch and the larvae begin eating the caterpillar from within. When the timeRead more
Posts tagged: #tobacco hornworm
September Leps in Various Forms and Conditions
Top Photo: Pine sphinx moth caterpillar. Three Moths (including specimen above) The caterpillar in the above photo probably just crawled down out of an oak tree and is in search of a safe place to pupate which, reportedly, may take two or more years. (?) If you’ve never heard of a sphinx moth, you’ve probably seen one. The tobacco hornworm is a sphinx moth caterpillar. The moth in the photo below is a Pandora’s sphinx moth (Eumotpha pandoras), all grown up.Read more
Some Serendipitous Sightings
Top Photo: Monarch butterfly caterpillar on butterflyweed. While searching for harvester caterpillars on alder in the Wetlands I came across an assassin bug on one of the leaves. The bug was just about 3/4 inches (the body) and mostly green with brown on the back. Assassin bugs typically station themselves at a location which is busy with insects to wait and pounce on prey. They poke the prey with their long proboscis and suck them dry. An alder with aphidsRead more