What a great picture! It looks like one to me - is it huge?
They love moon flowers and other deep throated flowers.
Sherry

It's like 2.75" from nose to wingtip. Not the hugest but a pretty good size.

I bet te wing spread is a good 4 to 5 inches! Wow, what a beauty. Reminds me of a beautiful brocade dress!

Released another of these last week. Had him on some duranta cuttings in the pool cage and he disappeared (presumably) into a large potted plant, and we had all but forgotten about him. Anyway the other day there he was sitting on the screen! They are sooo cool.

That is quite a photo! Is duranta a host plant? Thanks for sharing your pics.

Sandy

Wow.....What an incredible picture!

Yes, I've found them on duranta, although I believe they have a number of hosts. Usually I don't see them till they've eaten so much of the plant that I notice the leaves missing. Which is funny because the cats are like almost 4 inches by then. But well camouflaged.

The rustic sphinx will use that long proboscis to get the nectar in long-throated flowers, like moonflowers. I need to plant these again -
{{gwi:538765}}
I found a caterpillar once on the gardenia bush in my garden. It was very pretty, with purple one of its colors.
Sherry

Yes Sherry, I have some good pics of the caterpillar somewhere... they are pretty.

This sphinx larvae have a very wide range of host plants. Check out Bill Oehlke's reports of various plants.

Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: Manduca rustica aka Rustic Sphinx