What Kind of Caterpillar is This?
by
Lori M
+20
We found this caterpillar in our cypress tree last night. It is truly a beautiful creature. It has small yellow horns on its head and rings on its feet and measures 3 1/2 inches in length. Biggest caterpillar we've ever seen. Course, everything grows bigger in Georgia! Can anyone tell us what kind it is?
14 answers
-
It looks somewhat like a Cecropia moth caterpillar, although I am far from an expert on these matters.
Douglas Hunt
on Sep 17, 2013
-
Here in Florida we call them Saddle backs and they bite and inject a venom.
Mary Lawson
on Sep 17, 2013
- See 1 previous
-
I would say it is a tomato hornworm. Usually found on the green stem of tomato plants, they will eat everything in their path. Definitely destroy!
Jessica C
on Sep 17, 2013
-
it looks like a tomato hornworm
Linda Anderson
on Sep 17, 2013
-
@Douglas Hunt is correct. It is a Cecropia moth caterpillar. I just read a project on these and yours are identical to the project worms. http://www.wormspit.com/cecropia.htm
Frankie Laney
on Sep 17, 2013
-
Hummingbird Moth catarpillar ... do not destroy. why do people always want things destroyed?! Hummingbird Moths are cool! instead of flying around like an F16, they're more like a B52 bomber. slow, and large, but do the same things a hummingbird does, hence the name. but if I were you, I would google each name mentioned and look at the pics, or call your local agricultural dept and they will be more than happy to tell you (and more informed) and there's always this site, with all of Georgia's bugs listed lol http://www.insectidentification.org/insects-by-state.asp?thisState=Georgia
Terri Brodfuehrer
on Sep 17, 2013
- See 3 previous
-
Terri is right, it is a hummingbird moth caterpillar. Tomato horn worms have green feet and white stripes.
Carly Swirtz
on Sep 17, 2013
-
My daughter and I were just researching a moth caterpillar at her home and another reader suggested Butterflies and Moths of North America database. You have to register, but it's free and they answered me within 24 hours! Here's the link: http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/ Good luck!
Julie J
on Sep 18, 2013
-
haha! yeah, kind of like it's trying to figure out if you're a large sized flower or not.. at least that's the feeling I got. It would slowly fly around me, then fly up and look at my face, then fly around me again. I had never seen one before and it freaked me out as well until someone that was there with me told me what it was.
Terri Brodfuehrer
on Sep 19, 2013
-
This is something that I have yet to see this year, usually by this time you see many caterpillars. I wounder where they all are. But I do believe it is going to be a beautiful butterfly or moth so don't destroy it now is the time that they start to cocoon.
Bonnie Lewenza
on Sep 19, 2013
-
I have been bitten by one..not fun.
Debbi' Adams
on Sep 21, 2013
-
I may be wrong; but we had one of these a few years ago and It ate every leaf on our tomato and pepper plants we had planted. Someone told us it was known as a Tobacco worm. It destroyed 85% of our plants that year. Yeah I destroyed it...before it destroyed the rest of our plants. It got destroyed all over our driveway.
Debbie Stanley
on Sep 25, 2013
-
THIS is a Tomato/Tobacco Horn Worm.. it looks nothing like the above caterpillar. the above caterpillar turns into a hummingbird moth. the Tomato/Tobacco Horn Worm has white circles with black centers, the one above has black circles with white centers. http://www.gardengrapevine.com/TomatoWorm.html
Terri Brodfuehrer
on Sep 25, 2013
-
This is the closest that I could find. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Eacles-imperialis
Jennifer Vallot
on Aug 14, 2015
Sign Up to Answer
