Tobacco Hornworm

Tobacco Hornworm

Manduca sexta

I found this colorful caterpillar crawling on my tomato plant after it had eaten a good portion of the leaves.  At first glance and using the clue that I found this on a tomato plant, it might  be tempting to call this a Tomato Hornworm rather than a Tobacco Hornworm.  What's the difference?  The Tobacco Hornworm has 7 stripes on its side while the Tomato Hornworm has 8 V-shaped stripes on its side.  The Tobacco Hornworm has red "horn" while the Tomato Hornworm has a black "horn".  Rather than pluck this destructive little bugger off the plant before it could do more damage, I left it there as its fate had already been naturally sealed.  Those white things on its body are egg sacs from a parasitic Braconid wasp.  The caterpillar is the food source for the little wasps when they hatch.  Goodbye Mr. Hornmworm. When the Tobacco Hornworn is able to escape wasps and irate gardeners, they actually pupate into a large and pretty moth called a Sphinx moth.  Sphinx moths are cool to watch in the garden as they can hover at a flower like a hummingbird.