Dawn, can you tell me anything else or any other identifying factors about the larva? Body color, stripes, spiracles, horn color, feet color, smooth or granular textured? Is it actually eating the plant? What other plants are in the vicinity. Scabiosa, in the Dipsacaceae family is not a well-documented host, but on the other hand sphinx, or moths in general, use a wide variety of larval hosts and that's why they are commonly referred to as "generalists."

Without a photo, or without it being on a well-documented host, it is difficult to precisely identify. But I will give it a shot with a little help. Sandy may know exactly, but I do consider the Sphingids to be my favorite and thus, I have more experience with them than even butterflies.

Susan

Susan, I went back out to the garden to take a photo with my cell phone, and of course, it isn't there now. Doesn't that just figure? Maybe it went and hid under a plant somewhere because it did rain 2 or 3 times this afternoon.

I think you and I have discussed this specific one before but I don't remember what it is called. I tried to look at photos online and identify it, but nothing looked exactly right....which is why I went out there a little while ago to take a photo. I was going to compare the photo to the photos online to try to get an ID.

I think when I saw one like this before, it was on or near willow trees. Is there one that likes willow trees? This is in the new back garden west of the garage and there is a willow tree about 30' west of it on the banks of the now long-empty big pond. Then, there are several mostly dead willow trees about 20' northwest of the garden. Could it have come from them? There's also a lot of elm trees on that part of the property if that helps, and growing right beside the scabiosa is the milk thistle I planted to surround the corn to keep the coons out of the corn. Those milk thistles are really prickly---they may keep me out of the corn! Yet, something also is eating holes in the leaves of the milk thistle, though that doesn't mean the hornworm is eating them too....just that the milk thistle is nearby.

Any thoughts? I remember it kind of reminded me of a white-lined sphinx, but maybe the lines were a pale yellow. I should have looked at it more closely, but it was starting to rain and I was fleeing for the house.

Dawn

I meant to add that their body was light green. I rarely see the brown ones here.

The Twin-spotted Sphinx larvae also have been found on Willow. Check out the attached photos.

Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: Twin-spotted Sphinx

The larva of the Big Poplar Sphinx are huge, but then the adult moth can have up to 6" wingspan. See if this one resembles your caterpillar.

Here is a link that might be useful: Big Poplar Sphinx

The Elm Sphinx is another large sphinx, but the larvae eat Elm.

Here is a link that might be useful: Elm Sphinx

I have nothing to offer, but I take it the one I found on my tomato plant yesterday shouldn't have been squished? Considering, I have no idea what it was until I saw this thread, or what Scabiosa was even. If it wasn't suppose to die, now I feel bad.

MOS, the one you found is most likely a Carolina Sphinx, Manduca sexta. Most folks here would have probably done the same thing. They are very damaging to your tomato plants because they get quite large, and to do so they have to consume a lot of plant material. These are large moths seen most often at dark, hovering at flowers to nectar like hummingbirds, hence another common name for them is "hummingbird moth". There are some day flying sphinx moths as well. They are fantastic pollinators in their adult form.

Some people plant extra tomato plants and move the larvae to those. Others, like me, grow Datura - same family of plants as tomatos - and move the caterpillars to it. Mine usually just lay their eggs on the Datura because I have trained them to do that. LOL!

With their very long proboscis, they are better able to pollinate the large, tubular flowers of plants like Datura, Brugmansia, Nicotiana, Honeysuckle, Salvia, Crossvine, Lobelia, 4 o'clock, Penstemon, and Moonflower Vine, for a few examples.

Susan

Susan- Thanks- now I don't feel so bad! Growing extra tomatoes for the hornworms huh? Seems kind of silly, but what do I know. I am realizing learning about gardening is just about gardening, its also becoming a weather and bug specialist!

Susan, Thanks. It still isn't there, so I guess maybe it has pupated? It was very large. Based on the photos you linked, I think it likely was the Big Poplar sphinx. I looked closely at the plant. About 6" of it had been eaten, from the top down. Because there was not a huge amount of the plant eaten during the three days I was seeing that caterpillar on it, I do kinda think it must have been hanging around a few days as it prepared to pupate. I was wondering why it was in the same place on the same plant day after day, but it makes sense it might have been preparing to pupate as it was very large so definitely had been through several instars already.

Bre, Even though I love tomatoes, I tolerate tomato hornworms. I just move them to other plants that I grow. Only very rarely has one damaged a tomato plant enough to cause me concern. While I don't grow all these other plants that Susan mentioned specifically for the hornworms, I just always make sure I have enough of them that the hornworms will have plenty to eat. Some years I have planted extra tomato plants in an out-of-the-way place where the hornworms can eat them all that they want, and if I have a tobacco hornworm damaging a tomato plant, I just move it to the extra tomato plants. About the only time they have ever damaged a plant enough to alarm me was with two potted brugmansias I overwintered in the garage. In early spring when nothing else they liked was growing, the first hornworms just about stripped the two brugmansias down to bare stems on days when I moved the brugmansias out of the garage into the sunlight.

When we lived in town, I never had enough hornworms around to worry me. They are a lot more plentiful out here in our rural area than they were in town. It was my then young son who was fascinated with the hawkmoths that really caused me to pay attention to them. I was not necessarily thrilled to learn that the cool moths we enjoyed watching in the evening were the same creature that gobbled up my tomato plants in summer, but I got over it. I never really have many on my tomato plants anyway, and think that some of the companion plants I grow with tomatoes may have something to do with that.

Susan, I grow every plant you listed.....and I wasn't even really trying to provide a food source for the hornworms. Well, let me say that a different way. I planted all those plants because I like them, but then I let many of them reseed and reproduce abundantly so that then there would be enough to feed the hornworms too.

I also am growing garden huckleberries, Aunt Molly's Ground Cherries,regular no-name ground cherries and cape gooseberries, all of which are solanums, so I guess the hornworms will have even more stuff to feast upon should they choose to do so. Out in the pastures we have even more native solanums, so I would think there's abundant food for them this year.

Dawn