Comments for green with black spike at read end (Sphinx caterpillar)
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Comments for
green with black spike at read end (Sphinx caterpillar)

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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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