Sphinx ID needed.

gwang gwang at mb.sympatico.ca
Sat Aug 14 21:41:57 EDT 1999


Hi y'all,

I found this really huge caterpillar in my backyard today but my
resources for IDing hawkmoth caterpillars is....well, pathetic.

It is about 8 cm long and is apple green although the mid sections seems
to have a lighter colouration and the bottom of the caterpillar exhibits
a much darker green.  It has a blue horn and there are 7 diagonal white
slashes on the body.  These slashes are surrouned by a darker region of
green about 1-1.5mm thick.  The first 3 segments of its body is just the
normal green, but has a few white specks on it, maybe 20-30 of them in
total.  The head has green similar to the bottom of the caterpillar, and
there are two white lines about .7mm thick on the sides near it's eyes.

Nearby vegetation (20m radius) include: Elm (Ulmus), garden tomatoes,
apple (Malus) and some Pinaceae spp. 

Anyone know what this might be?  And also in general, do hawkmoth
caterpillars NEED soil to pupate in and what will happen if it can't
find any?

TIA for your help,
Xi Wang


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