caterpillar
Hello there! I have to start by saying what an impressive site you have! I am a fifth grade teacher in San Antonio Texas and my students happened to find this rather large caterpillar on their playground. They were very interested in it and want to keep it to see if it will grow into a butterfly or moth. We did some research on different caterpillars and compared them to what this one looks like. The closest match we could find was to the eyed hawk moth, but all references to the eyed hawk moth came from Europe. I found a moth that looks like the eyed hawk moth on your website called the Cerisy’s moth and searched the internet for pics of a cerisy’s caterpillar to no avail. We would really like to know what we have…. Our caterpillar is about 3 inches long and was found on the ground. He is lime green with diagonal white stripes and some pink dots (I think those are the spiracles) There are trees nearby and I think they are willow trees, but not positive. We put our little friend in an aquarium with a mesh top and some tree branches. It eats like crazy and seems to be happy with what we gave it. Can you identify him for us? We are hoping to see him turn into the moth before school gets out.
Sincerely,
Christie and her very interested fifth graders.
Hi Christie and Students,
This is definitely a Sphinx Moth Caterpillar. We recommend Bill Oehlke’s awesome site, but it will take some major searching. We have seen this caterpillar before, but can’t put our finger on a name just yet. Meanwhile we will post until it is identified. Thanks for your touching letter.
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Posted 25 April 2006
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From North Texas
Can you tell what this is? It was found east of Dallas TX. Thanks,
John
Hi John,
This is a White Lined Sphinx Caterpillar. There are several different color variations for the caterpillar, and this is a common one. Other caterpillars are almost entirely black. The adult moths are sometimes confused for hummingbirds.
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Posted 16 April 2006
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What is this Caterpillar?
This picture was taken on the island of Eustatius in the Caribbean in February of this year. It was feeding on a plant with orange flowers. Any idea what it is.
Thanks.
Carl Anderson
Hi Carl,
This could well be the most gorgeous photo of a Tetrio Sphinx Caterpillar, Pseudosphinx tetrio, ever taken. Thank you for sending it in.
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Posted 14 April 2006
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oleander hawkmoth (sphinx)?
Dear Bugman,
Thanks for a great website! I found your site while trying to identify a caterpillar that we found on the gardenia bush in our garden in Khartoum, Sudan. I didn’t find the same caterpillar on your site, but found enough lookalikes to be sure that it was a hawkmoth / sphinx caterpillar (I’d thought it was a butterfly caterpillar) and so was able to find it by searching on “gardenia” and “hawkmoth”. It’s almost identical to the caterpillar on this page: http://tpittaway.tripod.com/sphinx/d_ner.htm It eats faster than any caterpillar I’ve ever seen, and is now as big asmy index finger (it had just hatched when I found it) Looking for more information, I ended up back on your site where you have quite a few pictures of the adult moths, all from Hawaii, I think. We also get a lot of swallowtails on our lemon trees. Any idea what type of swallowtails these are? (not much tail in evidence, I know, but it is a swallowtail isn’t it? The caterpillars and crysallis look right.
Thanks again for fascinating website- I’ll certainly visit often as my kids and I are avid bug hunters, and find it difficult to identify much of what we find, as I’m more familiar with the bugs found back home in England.
Katy
Hi Katy,
We are very happy you sent in your Oleander Sphinx Caterpillar as it will help other readers identify their caterpillars. We are unsure what species of swallowtail in Sudan feeds on lemon.
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Posted 21 March 2006
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WTB?
Look what the cat dragged in. I think she found it in our ficus hedge. It is a bit over 3″ long. Love your website, as do my 3 and 6 year olds. 
Cheryl
Deerfield Beach, FL
Hi Cheryl,
Thanks for you nice letter. Our site is very popular with kids of all ages. This is a Ficus Sphinx Caterpillar. Yours sounds like a small specimen.
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Posted 16 March 2006
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caterpillar?
I know the pictures are bad. But I’m hoping you can i.d. this guy (there are actually five on the plant) munching on our silver buttonwood. It’s sort of orange with a darker orange broad band going down the length of its back. It has a creamy colored head. Any ideas? Thank you! I love your site!
Joseph
Hi Joseph,
Based on assumptions we have made, this could be an Arrow Sphinx, Lophostethus dumolinii, if you live in South Africa. Your photo is of a Sphinx Moth Caterpillar, and we typed sphinx and buttonwood into a google search and came up with a species that feeds on that tree. We found a photo of the adult moth, but not the caterpillar, so we might not be right, especially since we don’t know from what part of the world you wrote.
We figured it was some sort of a Sphinx moth, but we are actually in South Florida. Do you have any other guesses based on our region?
A new web search led us to this bit of information about Silver Buttonwood: “Occasional larval host plant for martial hairstreak (Strymon martialis) butterflies and Tantalus Sphinx (Aellopus tantalus) moths.” Sadly, we couldn’t locate an image of the larva online to verify that it is your caterpillar.
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Posted 27 February 2006
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Venezuela Caterpiller
Hallo Bugman,
I saw this interessting Caterpiller in Merida / Venezuela. The yellow stripes were much more flashy in the sunlight than at the picture.
Christian
Hi again Christian,
This one we know. This is a Tetrio Sphinx Caterpillar, Pseudosphinx tetrio.
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Posted 26 February 2006
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Caterpillar Identification
Hello
Well I found 3 of these babies happily munching away in my garden this morning! They are about 10cm long, as fat as my thumb and have a little yellow tail. I’d like to know what they are, if they’re particularly common and also how long I will have to wait before they stop demolishing my plants!
With thanks
Nikki
Hi Nikki,
We would love to identify your caterpillar, but without global coordinates, we don’t know where to start looking for an exact Sphinx Moth species from the 1000’s of possibilities. The name of the food plant would also help.
Apologies at not mentioning I’m in Bangkok, Thailand…it must have been over excitement at having dinosaur like caterpillars in my garden! I’ve narrowed down the shrub they’re eating to some kind of Gardenia, maybe ‘Cape’. I hope this helps.
We did locate a website of the Hawk Moths of Thailand, but there are no caterpillar photos.
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Posted 20 February 2006
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Caterpillar ID
Found this caterpillar on a vine on my porch in south florida. I think its some kind of sphinx moth. Need your help in identification.
Thanks,
Matt
Hi Matt,
We are excited by your photographs which we believe represents a new species for our site, though a true expert might contest our findings. We thought your caterpillars bore a superficial resemblance to the Tersa Sphinx, Xylophanes tersa, so we searched for near relatives in the same genus in Florida. We love Bill Oehlke’s site for Sphinx Moths. We located Xylophanes pluto, which we believe looks similar enough to your caterpillar to be a positive ID. There is no common name for this moth listed, so we are going to dub it the Pluto Sphinx. The near relative, the Tersa Sphinx has three recognized color morphs for the caterpillar, including green.
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Posted 18 February 2006
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Caterpillar identification help
Dear Bugman,
My daughter and I found this caterpillar at her school in Santa Barbara, CA. We haven’t been able to identify it. Could you help us?
Thank you!
Marlee & Madeleine Richter
Hi Marlee and Madeleine,
There are several different color morphs of the White Lined Sphinx Caterpillar, Hyles lineata, and this is one of them. This is one of the commonest moths in Southern California.
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Posted 04 February 2006
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Caterpillar Identification
Hi,
My name is Kevin. I am from the USA but am studying Spanish in San Jose, Costa Rica, for a couple of months. My class found this caterpillar & have no idea what it is. Could you please help me? I have searched several internet sites but found nothing that seemed to match. It is hard to tell from the pictures, but it is about 4.5 inches long.
Dumbfounded Kid,
Kevin
Hi Kevin,
Caterpillar identification is often very difficult. At first, we thought there was a resemblance between your caterpillar and the Ficus Sphinx. When we researched Bill Oehlke’s site for close relatives, we found Pachylia syces syces. The caterpillar is said to resemble a Coral Snake and they thrash around and squeak. The species ranges from Mexico through Central America to Brazil and the larvae eat the leaves of various ficus species.
Thanks for helping
Hi, It’s Kevin again, otherwise known as “Dumbfounded Kid”. Over the weekend the caterpillar my class found turned into a chrysalis/coccoon. I have attached an updated photo with a scale for comparison. By the way, I am in 4th grade. What does Pachylia syces syces eat? Thanks, Dumbfounded Kid
P.S. The caterpillar definitely did a lot of thrashing but we never heard it make any sounds.
Hi Kevin,
The adults visit flowers and take nectar.
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Posted 29 January 2006
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What is that thing?
I found this in the dirt while digging up plants in my backyard. I live in southern Florida. It looks like some sort of cocoon but the articulated part on the opposite end from the big hook can move in all directions. As you can see, it’s a little larger than a ‘AA’ battery.
John
Hi John,
This is a Sphinx Moth Pupa. If you found it in the tomato patch, it is almost certainly a Tomato Hornworm.
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Posted 29 January 2006
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