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green with black spike at read end (Sphinx caterpillar)

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Green neon black horn caterpillar
by: Anonymous

I found one in my yard when I was gardening...
sphinx
by: Anonymous

It could be a tabacco Hornworm Moth, ( Hawkmoth)Also called a Carolina sphinx. it will eat anything in the nightshade family.
Sphinx caterpillar
by: Moni

Peggy
If you want to send in the photo perhaps we can tell which sphinx caterpillar it is...tho without knowing what it was eating it may be hard to know without seeing it in person or rearing it to the moth.
Hope the science class enjoys it!
Found in Bladen County Near Clarkton NC
by: PEGGY MONROE

I was just out clearing some grass and weeds near my hedges and found this big fat lime green caterpillar and it's head is big with black marks for eyes and sparsely spaced black marks on body and thorn on it's tail. Actually looks like a animated or cartoon character in one of those Disney movies. I was looking for a species to identify it and the Sphinx is the closest to what it looks like. I took a picture on my camera phone and want to take the worm to a local Middle School science dept
Sphinx caterpillar
by: Moni

Dr Chris
This caterpillar will turn into a sphinx moth...since we are not sure which caterpillar it is we are not sure just which moth but it will look like one of these - http://bugguide.net/node/view/3732/bgimage
All of the Sphinx moths have the pointed wing characteristic...the wing patterns vary depending on which species it is. The green sphinx caterpillars look similar so without more photo angles or seeing the caterpillar in person it is hard to tell species from just one photo.
Sphinx caterpillar in Algonquin Park
by: Dr. Chris

We recently (Sept 6, 2010) saw one of these beautiful caterpillars in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada. What a specimen! Does anyone know what in metamorphosizes into?
Tracking the little guys...
by: Heather

Just wanted to write that Im almost positive that it was this caterpillar that was in our yard the other day. We live in a little town off a very busy main route, in New Oxford PA. I had the kids put it in the neighbors tree (lilac i think), so we didnt step on it. I looked at the link someone posted and Im pretty sure it was this one with the green body and that little spike at the end.
Sphinx caterpillar
by: Moni

Jesse
The buglifecycle site under MJ's photos there is a Fawn sphinx...it does kind of look like that one in later stages.
Thanks!
by: Jesse

So true! That is cool that people are doing that with the larva.

Thanks for the link also.
Sphinx caterpillar
by: Moni

Jesse
Without a good full body photo including the head it is hard to tell on the sphinx caterpillars. That is part of the problem of trying to ID with even just a photo... We can sometimes get close and many times that is enough. There are many folks out there rearing larva so we will know what all stages look like. But there are so many insects and so little time!?!

Here is a website to see the great work some folks are doing. Click on the links to see their work. MJ has some great collages.
http://www.buglifecycle.com/?page_id=90
Fawn Sphinx
by: Jesse

It is rather hard to tell without seeing the head I guess. I do believe you are right though, I do see a little blue in the tail on this picture but it's not close enough. My Laural had More yellow under the black stripes and also had the thick black stripes on it's head, which I see now a Clemens does not! I do not know much on these things admittedly.
Sphinx caterpillar
by: Moni

Well it does not look like the waved sphinx from the photos I could find. The closest I could find...based on the black line on the tail, would be Sphinx luscitiosa, Clemens sphinx. In the photos I found for this caterpillar had a black line on tail in 5th last instar. As this caterpillar was moving slow. That indicates it was moving to find a place to pupate...so would be a last instar larva.
See this site for Bugguide photo
http://bugguide.net/node/view/181905/bgimage
Waved Sphinx
by: Anonymous

I also found this same caterpillar, I believe it is a Waved Sphinx.
Sphinx caterpillar
by: Moni

Your photo is of a sphinx caterpillar. Not for sure which one. I would need a pic of more of it's details - head color, side view, size, what it was eating - to know which one.
Sphinx larva all have the 'tail' as a id characteristic, which is where they get the common name of hornworms. They feed on plant foliage and then pupate in the soil. The most common hornworm is the tomato hornworm that is common in most gardens usually found on tomatoes, potatoes or sometimes peppers.
The adults are moths that usually fly at night.

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