Need Sphingid Caterpillar ID Help

[Xi Wang]

Hi, I think what you've got their is Hyles gallii.
http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/shgallii.htm

As for foodplant, they feed on fireweed, but I don't think you have to
worry about that in this case.  The fact that the caterpillar was found
walking around on the sidewalk suggests that it was looking for a good
place to pupate.  Simply put the larva in a jar lined with paper towel and
it should pupate in a few days.

Cheers,
Xi

Terry Morse wrote:

> A colleague found an 80 mm long sphingid larva, shimmery brown with a
> yellow spot on the side of each segment, head capsule and anal plate
> rose-colored, middorsal horn red.  Location: crawling on a sidewalk at
> Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, a coastal headland park on the
> central Oregon coast, USA.  Photo at
> http://home.teleport.com/~tmorse/Pages/Sphinx.html
>
> Can anyone ID the species of the caterpillar and tell me what its food
> plant(s) are?  I'd like to try and rear it out.  I've checked all the
> moth books I have, as well as "Moth Images on the Web"
> (http://alpha.furman.edu/~snyder/leplist/) and _Caterpillars of the
> Pacific Northwest Forests and Woodlands_
> (http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/2000/catnw/catnw.htm) without
> turning up a match.
>
> Thanks,
> Terry Morse


 
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