The moth measures between 2.4 and 2.8 inches in width. The caterpillar forms a speckled brown pupa that hatches into the adult moth. What does a hawk moth caterpillar turn into?įully grown larvae measure up to 3 inches long. “The caterpillar feeds on willowherb, but also fuchsias so is quite often seen in gardens. This one found in the garden was a big Elephant Hawkmoth, said Jordan. Whenever it feels threatened, it inflates the segments behind its head to mimic a snake to scare off predators. If you’d like to increase the odds, make sure their favorite food sources are well represented in your garden and keep your eyes peeled during the times of day they’re most likely to appear. Hummingbird moths range throughout North America, but spotting this masterpiece of Mother Nature is a rare treat. Found in Africa, India, South-East Asia and Australia, the Cephonodes hylas has a wingspan of 45–73 mm. The Pellucid Hawk Moth (Cephonodes hylas) is a moth of the family Sphingidae. Is the pellucid hawk moth native to Australia? The large caterpillars of hawk moths usually have a distinctive stiff horn or tail on the back end. You can find many options, including potatoes, pepper plants and wild deadly nightshade.There are about 60 Australian species of hawk moths. If these caterpillars are doing a number on your tomatoes, try moving them on to something else in the huge Solanaceae family of plants.
So, here’s my plea: even though the internet is awash with pest control tips, think twice. But we aren’t likely to see them moving from flower to flower during the daylight hours. They hover, helicopter-like, over my tall wild tobacco (NIcotiana sylvestris) plants, before poking deep into the trumpet-shaped blooms to suck out the nectar - an awe-inspiring sight, which is unfortunately rare.Įxperts in fact say hummingbird (or hawk) moths make great garden pollinators – another point in their favour. I’ve only ever noticed solitary specimens in my garden at dusk. But like all moths, it’s a creature of the night. Its colouring is grey and sort of pink, or brown and gold. This magnificent moth is so big, with a wing span of 10 to 25 centimetres across, it truly does resemble a hummingbird.
If his back is covered with a row of little white eggs, (I’ve personally never seen this), it means he’s playing host to a beneficial tiny insect called the braconid wasp.īut if these joy riders don’t get to eat his innards while he’s still alive (yes, that’s what braconid wasps do Mother Nature isn’t as benign as we like to think) the hornworm will metamorphose into something far more aesthetically pleasing - a hummingbird moth. Yet here’s the most important reason to let the homely hornworm live to see another day: he’s a valuable garden helper on two counts. Thus, since they aren’t really making a dent in my eagerly-awaited crop, I don’t see any point in killing them. Second, they always do this late in the season, and they mostly strip the leaves off the tops of tomato plants that have finished growing, A few sometimes also nibble holes in the tomatoes themselves, but this doesn’t happen regularly. Why play Lady Bountiful? Several reasons.įirst, unlike some gardeners who experience serious infestations of these caterpillars, I’ve never once had more than half a dozen hornworms appear in my garden. Then, satiated, I know he will vanish from the veggie plot as quietly and mysteriously as he came. Instead, I leave Manduca quinquemaculata (to use his tongue-twisting Latin name) to meander around in my tomato plants as he pleases, happily chomping away. Nowadays, my impulse is no longer to play executioner with a brick or a bucket of soapy water. He often shows up unexpectedly on my tomato plants at this time of year– and it’s always a surprise.Ī welcome one, too. I’ve actually become quite fond of this freakish little fellow which - at 10 centimetres long - is the largest garden caterpillar we are likely to come across in Ontario. Better kill it.”īut please, folks, resist the urge. Then we think nervously: “How disgusting. Most of us recoil in shock when encountering one for the first time. And he has weird orange “eyes” that seem to stare at you.Īt first glance, the tomato hornworm looks like something out of a horror movie. He’s big, green and fat as a finger, with an alarming spike on his rear end. Correction – September 25, 2017: The tomato hornworm turns into the five-spotted hawk (or sphinx) moth, not, the beautiful hummingbird moth, shown in the photo.
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