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Photo#869316
Cutworm Caterpillar? - Spodoptera latifascia

Cutworm Caterpillar? - Spodoptera latifascia
Tallahassee, Leon County, Florida, USA
October 29, 2013
Size: ~40mm
Found on tomato plant and fed with its leaves. However, I'm afraid I won't see the moth that it would produce because the caterpillar apparently failed to properly pupate (happened to two Carolina Sphinx caterpillars I tried to raise: some devious genetic engineering trick of the tomato?).

Images of this individual: tag all
Cutworm Caterpillar? - Spodoptera latifascia Cutworm Caterpillar? - Spodoptera latifascia

Moved

 
ID at last
Thank you, John and Jane, for your interest in this caterpillar that has now brought the ID search to a successful end.
Peter

Do you have a shot of the face?
Laci suggests Spodoptera latifascia. What do you think?

 
The head
Thanks for you interest in this "worm." #9670 Spodoptera latifascia looks like a good possibility to me. I have encountered moths of this species at my lights. Some pictured caterpillars actually look as plain as mine, but not all of them do. I had one other photo of my specimen that allows a glimpse at its head (just enough to verify that it had one). Maybe it helps.
Peter

 
Either or
The "head shot" does help (sort of) w/ the key; it confirms it down to either ornithogalli or latifascia, the patterning says latifascia to me.

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

Maybe Noctua pronuba
Maybe the large yellow underwing moth — Noctua pronuba.

 
Thanks for the suggestion.
Posted images show indeed similarities, but I'm not fully convinced yet. This rather big and "fat" caterpillar should have become a respectable moth. It fed only at night. One day it stopped eating and then it disappeared, making me think it had burrowed into the litter that is available in a tray I keep in the "caterpillar cage." Recent search for a pupa turned up nothing but a small fuzzy blob that may be a cocoon (too small for the size of the caterpillar, but I'm afraid to mess with it).

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