polythemus moth caterpillar?
Hello there! We are such fans of your site. We looked through all of your caterpillar photos and found similar but not (I don’t think) exactly the same. It is happily munching away on our Duranta in South Florida. I only see one caterpillar. Is it a polythemus moth? Thank you so much for your help!! Sincerely,
Laura and Joe Lazzar

Hi Laura and Joe,
We believe this is a Rustic Sphinx Caterpillar, Manduca rustica. Bill Oehlke’s website has photos that support this. We are copying Bill Oehlke on this response so he can add you sighting to his comprehensive data on species distribution. Your identification of the food plant is also helpful for our readership.

Green morph of Hyles gallii?
Hi,
A Fireweed plant (Epilobium angustifolium) volunteered to grow in my backyard last year. Since it is both one of my favourite native plants and the bees love it, I let it be. This year there is a small stand of them providing some urban habitat for a variety of creatures; I’ve got: bees (at least 5 species), ants, beetles, wasps, flies, moths, and one 6-7cm long hornworm which I have not been able to find an identical photo of on the web. I am hoping you can help identify it. After looking at all 14 pages of caterpillar pictures, following your links, and trying out some of the ID keys at other sites–I am thinking it is a late instar of a green variation of the Bedstraw Hawk moth/Gallium Sphinx (Hyles gallii) larvae. I have attached top and side views of the caterpillar at rest, and a couple of it feeding on a flower bud (appears to be its favourite food) which have better views of the two types of legs. I haven’t been able to get good, clear, closeup photos of the head and tail views, yet. Sending you over 16M of photos didn’t seem like a good idea so I scaled them down to 240×320 pixels, stripped out the EXIF data, and saved them `for the web’ on the offhand chance one is interesting enough to put up on your site. Full resolution images are available if necessary.
Bruce
Edmonton, Alberta

Hi Bruce,
Thanks for sending what we also believe is a Gallium Sphinx Caterpillar, Hyles gallii. The small files enabled us to determine which of your large files to download. We are going to copy Bill Oehlke on this response to see if he agrees and also so he can add this information to his comprehensive species distribution data.

Interesting caterpillar
Howdy Bugman;
Here are a couple of pictures of a caterpillar that we found but have been unsuccessful in identifying. Do y’all know what kind of butterfly or moth it is? We found it on a wild grape vine in some tall weeds in our backyard in rural northwest Wisconsin on July 11. Thanks for your help.
The Smith Boys

Hi Smith Boys,
Providing our readership with both a lateral view and a dorsal view of this distinctive Abbott’s Sphinx will afford an excellent means for identification. One small problem is the coloration of this species, Sphecodina abbottii, has a highly variable caterpillar. The absence of the caudal horn typical of most Sphinx Caterpillars, and the resulting eyespot is one characteristic that is present in all color variations of the caterpillar. We are copying Bill Oehlke on our reply as he is compiling a comprehensive listing of species sightings on his own amazing website.

Updated (07/02/2008) (10/15/2005) amazonian caterpillar
Hello,
I spotted this beautiful caterpillar during a trip to the Mamirauá reserve in the Amazon rainforest. I understand there are a few species that present this snake mimicking behavior, but I haven’t found the right match for this one yet. Can you help? Thanks and congratulations on your website.
Pablo
Mexico City

Hola Pablo,
Wow, your photo is awesome. Sadly we can’t identify this amazing mimic. Please update us if you ever identify it.

Hello Daniel,
I did some more research here and came across an amazing book on camouflage, mimetism and the like by Roger Caillois. The book’s name is Medusa and Company. He describes four species with similar behavior, of these only one lives in the Amazon, and the position this one adopts surely fits the description. The name is Leucorampha Ornatus (or ornata). I could only find a few pages on the web referring to this species, all in french or italian.
all the best
Pablo

Update: (07/02/2008)
Snake Mimic- 10/15/2005 Amazonian caterpillar
Hi,
I’ve been researching bugs for my library’s summer reading program, and your website has been very interesting to me! I’ve enjoyed seeing all the wonderful photos and even identifying some of the caterpillars in my area. I think I can identify the photo of the Amazonian caterpillar in fact, it is part of an upcoming story time! This looks like a Hemeroplanes triptolemus, which mimics a snake by rolling onto its back and “flaring” the area around the head to scare off would-be predators. There are several websites with good pictures of this caterpillar, as well as the moth it becomes (some type of Sphinx). Thanks for your wonderful website!
Kim

Hi Kim,
Thanks for the information. We checked and found images of the caterpillar and moth on Bill Oehlke’s excellent website. We beleive you are correct. The photo submitted to us three years ago looks even more snakelike than the ones on Bill Oehlke’s site.

Do you know what this caterpillar is?
Hi,
My preschool class found this caterpillar on our playgound near the base of an oak tree. I have tried to find out what it is, but I can not find a match for it. We would love to know any information you can provide us about our newest classmate, Greeny (The kids named it). Thank you
Kristina Ajoy and KinderCare Learning Center 1193 Preschool class.
Orlando, Florida

While trying to substantiate our belief that this is a Ficus Sphinx Caterpillar, Pachylia ficus, we were shocked and dismayed to find the exact photomontage posted to BugGuide in 2006 and credited to another photographer. Without trying to pass judgement, we find ourselves wondering who the author of these images is, the photographer with the BugGuide posting from 2006, or preschool teacher Kristina Ajoy of the KinderCare Learning Center 1193 Preschool class in 2008. It is surely a mystery, and we also can’t help but wonder if two people can take identical images two years apart. Even more paradoxical that they would both name the file with the identical name. Coincidence or Plagiarism? You decide.

HI, I saw the reply to the image I sent regarding the caterpillar my class and I found. I do not own a Digital camera so I did use that image for a visual referance for you. I had no intention of Plagiarism. It was a beautiful image the the caterpillar and I thought it was help you identify it. I am sorry if the use of the image has caused any problems, and I was not aware that I need to add referances to images sent in. I am truly sorry.
Kristina Ajoy

Thanks for the explanation Kristina,
If you borrowed the image from BugGuide, then we don’t understand why you needed an identification. Also, tryng to match a species that you saw to another photo is not a guarantee that the species will be correctly identified. We generally expect that photos are sent to us by the originators of the images, and we would normally not post an image that was taken from another website. After spending about 20 minutes researching your request, we felt it would have been a total waste of our time to not post the image. We needed to make very clear to our readership the ethical questions that posting a photo credited to another website and photographer presented to us.

Picture
Can you help with this caterpillar found in Beaumont, Texas. I’m sorry I don’t know from what vegetation it was taken.
Emmeline Dodd

Hi Emmeline,
This is a Banded Sphinx Caterpillar, Eumorpha fasciatus.