Hornworms and Hawkmoths

I often find giant green hornworms on tomato vines in our summer garden but this year I noticed hornworms on the vitex tree instead.

camouflaged hornworm on vitex tree

rustic sphinx munching a leaf

The hornworm is much easier to see on a bare branch.

Goldfinches watched the caterpillars from the mesquite tree.

Hummingbirds were curious too!

A hornworm from last year demonstrating the classic sphinx pose:

tobacco hornworm on bell pepper plant

For several years, I assumed the large green caterpillars on my tomato plants were tomato hornworms, but now I see that they look more like tobacco hornworms (Carolina sphinx) or Rustic sphinx larvae.

Tomato hornworms have eight v-shaped markings on each side where tobacco or rustic hornworms have seven diagonal white lines.

Hornworms morph into sphinx moths, also known as hummingbird moths that can hover in mid-air feeding on flower nectar as hummingbirds do.  Another name for sphinx moth is hawk moth, due to their long narrow wings and powerful flight.

Two years ago I found a rustic sphinx moth on the ground under the vitex tree.  It held onto my fingers, exercising its wings, having perhaps just emerged from underground and not able to fly yet.

14 second video of the rustic sphinx moth
(noisy bird sounds in background)

rustic sphinx moth

Here's a different kind of sphinx moth, the white-lined sphinx (Hyles lineata) clinging to the stucco wall below the porch light:

white-lined sphinx moth

I've just mentioned four types of hawkmoths but today I learned that there are about 1400 species of hawkmoths!