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Large Green Caterpillar with Diagonal Stripes (Achemon Sphinx caterpillar)

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Achemon sphinx moth caterpillar
by: Moni

Terra
Well, yes you can try to rear the caterpillar. If you decide to rear it, make sure you keep doing what the insect needs. Which is basically feed it grape leaves until it is ready to form a cocoon - and it is close! Then do put some light soil about a couple inches deep in the jar where it will overwinter. And leave the stick in the jar for the emerging moth to climb on.
Here is a good website where they talk about rearing caterpillars and you can also ask questions about what to do...they want you to have good results and fun, so please send any questions. - http://www.aprairiehaven.com/?p=711

The rearing of caterpillars is a challenge. Mother Nature does it best. And just so you know ahead of time, when you find a caterpillar in the 'wild', sometimes they have been parasitized ...meaning another insect like a fly or wasp has laid eggs inside the caterpillar. So when you try to rear the caterpillar, it dies from the eggs inside it - not something you can predict.
This insect overwinters in pupa stage...so you would not see the moth until next spring.

Here is the website the link I gave earlier came from... for rearing caterpillars...click on Raising.... on the right hand side to read the various suggestions. These are folks that raise them regularly. http://www.buglifecycle.com

HERE is my general rearing comments - With all that said the basics of rearing any insect is to feed it what it wants to eat...fresh (never sprayed with insecticides) food continually. Then, when the caterpillar stops eating...they will typically go searching for a place to pupate. You would put the caterpillar in a jar with a couple inches of loose soil that is barely damp. Then add leaves of its favorite plants. This jar should be covered with a paper/cloth towel to keep parasites from the caterpillar. Keep fresh leaves for it to eat. When it quits eating, it is best to provide layers of barely damp paper towels for the caterpillar to pupate in between. It may just pupate in the soil. Then, this needs to be kept someplace where the temperatures are like they are outside. Like on a porch out of direct sun. For winter, some folks put them in the refrigerator then put a drop of water on the paper towel once a month thru the winter until the trees start to put out foliage. Then you would bring the jar with the pupa outside to let it emerge with the normal weather. Putting a stick in the container for the moth to climb up on.
This is a brief description and may not be enough for rearing but gives you an idea.
Please do a lot of internet research.

It is great for kids to see insect development..so hope you have good success rearing it. Send us a photo of the moth if you do decide to rear it.


achemon sphinx
by: terra

wow, this is pretty cool. found a achemon shhinx caterpiller on my grape vine yesterday. it is HUGE! been researching it and thought it was a tobacco hornworm but has no horn, only a spot and it has 6 white lines instead of 7. (tobacco horn worms are supposed to have 7) i put it in a mason jar with grape vine and grass clippings and took it to my neighbors daughter who is 9. shes gonna take it to school with her. he was quite fiesty when i first picked him up but once in the jar he was very sluggish and still. all he wanted to do was hug the stick that was in there. any suggestions on how to tend to it as it gets ready to cacoon? do i need to put some dirt in the jar so it can bury its self? any advice would be appreciated.
Achemon Sphinx caterpillar
by: Moni

Caterpillar Fan
Thanks for the correction on the ID of this caterpillar.
They are closely related and do look very similar. However if you look at the white slashes/spots along the sides of the two caterpillars, the Achemon has multiple small narrow white spots while the Pandorus has one large single white spot.
Otherwise the caterpillars are much the same...they look similar, come in various colors, feed on the same plants, lose the tail in the final stage, and burrow in the soil to pupate.
Correction: Achemon Sphinx Caterpillar
by: Caterpillar Fan

Justin
What you have found is a not a Pandorus Sphinx (Eumorpha pandorus) caterpillar, but an Achemon Sphinx moth (Eumorpha achemon) caterpillar. The two are easily confused and are closely related.
After feeding on grape (Vitis spp.) or Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) vines for about three weeks, the caterpillars wander off of the plant and roam about, seeking a spot of nice loose soil that they burrow into. This is the stage that your caterpillar is at.
It will spend the winter as a pupa in an air pocket that it creates under the soil, and the moth develops and comes out of the shell in July. The moths are quite stunning and can be seen at dusk nectaring at deep-throated flowers.
This Achemon Sphinx is much less common than its close relative, the Pandorus Sphinx. Congratulations on your impressive find.
photo of a moth caterpillar
by: dorthea

Was going to send you a photo of one that we found on our Virginia creeper vine this week.
Pandorus sphinx moth caterpillar
by: Moni

Justin
This is a Pandorus Sphinx caterpillar and yes they come in several colors(someone else sent in a photo of an orange one) of not only orange and green but reddish and brownish. Sphinx larva in general are called the horntail or hornworm larva since they have a tail.The last instar or molted stage of this caterpillar loses its tale and has an eye spot in its place.

This is a beautiful and spectacular larva...just found my first Pandorus larva last week also. They do eat grape leaves, porcelain vine (Ampelopsis sp) as well as Virginia creeper.
When you see these large larva moving, this time of year, they are on their way to find a place to pupate. They overwinter as pupa.

The adult moths are gorgeous and greenish also. They have a long proboscis or feeding tube for gathering nectar from flowers. They look a little like small hummingbirds feeding at night.
Here are some photos of this insect
http://bugguide.net/node/view/3937/bgimage
green worm
by: artzdlfin

it's a horn worm. i found one 3" long on my tomato plant this year.
Horn Worm
by: Anonymous

Tomato horn worm or Tobacco horn worm!!

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