Comments for
Large Green leaf-eating caterpillar (Sphinx moth caterpillar)

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Tomato hornworm
by: Moni

Micki
If the soap spray does not work on your hornworms, then just pick them off and drop in a bucket of warm soapy water :-)
The "stinger" is a tail and is a great identifying part of the Sphinx family of caterpillars.

likes Tomato plants
by: Micki

This thing is mean & looks like it has a stinger on it's butt. It & a friend almost ate a 4 foot high tomato plant. It devored the top half of almost all it's leaves. I sprayed them & the plant with soap & water. They appear to be dying now. If the soap dosen't work any sugestions?

Sphinx moth caterpillar
by: Moni

Marcy
If it was feeding on tomatillo then it was probably the tomato hornworm...their coloration does vary.

Did you notice white pods on its back before it died? It probably had a parasite eating it from the inside that killed it.

Sphinx moth caterpillar feeding
by: Marcy

It was feeding heavily on a tomatillo plant. It died several days later :(

Sphinx moth caterpillar
by: Moni

Marcy
Your caterpillar is one of the hornworms in the Sphingidae family.
It would help to know what plant the caterpillar was feeding on, as many of the sphingid caterpillars look similar and there are many variations of each species.
Because of the dark spots along the side of your caterpillar, it may be a pink-spotted hawkmoth caterpillar. These are found in southern US.

Let us know what it was feeding on and perhaps we can make a closer guess to the actual caterpillar.

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