Horned Larva - Manduca - BugGuide.Net

They'll eat Eggplant too!

I know this comment is comming WAY after this was posted, but I thought this might be useful for someone looking in on this one.

Both Tomato and Tobacco Hornworms will eat a number of other plants in the Solanaceae (Nightshade Family) and related families, as well as Tomato (though Tomatoes do seem to be their favorite). Including many garden plants such as Nicotiana, Datura, Brugmansia, Chinese Lanterns, Potato, Eggplant, and even occasionally Peppers (Capsicum), as well as many of the weedy Nightshades of the genus Solanum. So, I'll bet this little critter was right where he wanted to be.

As for looking like Enyo larvae, yes, indeed many Sphinx larvae look pretty similar when newly hatched, and I would agree that Tobacco or Tomato Hornworm are your most likely candidates.

… David J. Ferguson, 14 October, 2008 - 1:39pm

Immature Tobacco Hornworm?

This photo was taken very near my tomato plants, and I've had maybe 20 tobacco hornworms (1) on those plants this year. I haven't seen any other hornworms on those plants, so I'm guessing this is an immature tobacco hornworm.

… Mike Boone, 5 September, 2004 - 9:22pm

Mournful Sphinx - Enyo lugubris ?

This looks like Alan's

, or do they just all look the same at this age, Alan?

… john and jane balaban, 5 September, 2004 - 8:54pm

Immature sphinx?

Immature sphinx of some sort?

… Troy Bartlett, 4 July, 2004 - 9:45pm

Hmmm...

Your post got me to do a little Googling. Came across this page. So maybe this is considered a "hornworm." There's a tomato plant nearby, and I have seen little green "droplets" on some of the leaves which resemble the egg photos on that page. I'll have to keep an eye out and see if the caterpillar is bigger now.

My garden should yield some nice bug photos, if not any vegetables. There are new sawfly larvae on my hibiscus, and my eggplant is being chewed up by tiny flea beetles...so small that my photos don't show much. Pretty soon we're going to have to roll out some anti-bug measures if we want some vegetables to eat. :)

… Mike Boone, 4 July, 2004 - 10:07pm