Subject: Caterpillar on Virginia creeper
Geographic location of the bug: Georgetown County, SC
Date: 04/25/2018
Time: 07:41 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: I observed this caterpillar on my Virginia creeper October 26-November 2, 2017. I’m wondering if it could be a hydrangea Sphinx.
How you want your letter signed: Sybil Collins
Dear Sybil,
This is the caterpillar of a Sphinx Moth in the family Sphingidae, and it is feeding on a Virginia Creeper. We quickly identified it as a Virginia Creeper Sphinx or Hog Sphinx, Darapsa myron, thanks to this image on BugGuide. According to BugGuide: “freshly-emerged larvae have a slender yellowish body, relatively large brown head, and disproportionately long black anal horn; mature larvae have a green or brown body with a white stripe along the side smudging downwards into diagonal stripes. Head and anterior thoracic segments slender in mature larvae (body swells greatly at third throacic segment, as in Azalea Sphinx). Spiracular spots small and orange, edged top and bottom with white dots. Horn granular.”
