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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Silkworm, Sphinx, and Royal Moths (Bombycoidea) » Sphinx Moths (Sphingidae) » Smerinthinae » Smerinthini
Photo#215867
greeen caterpillar
Copyright © 2008 nschmidt

greeen caterpillar
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
August 16, 2008
Size: 2-3 inches
I found this caterpillar on a webbing which surrounded a bridal spiarea shoot in a flower bed along the house.

Images of this individual: tag all
greeen caterpillar greeen caterpillar
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Contributed by nschmidt on 19 August, 2008 - 7:37pm
Last updated 25 August, 2008 - 7:19am

Not 100% sure
but I think this might be Modest Sphinx, Pachysphinx modesta. Thickened white line running back to the short horn, and generally granular appearance both fit. However, the head doesn't have the broad line edging it that it is supposed to have, according to Wagner(1) The other species I'm considering is Blinded Sphinx, Paonias excaecatus, (spiraea is one of its listed hosts), but the horn of this one is shorter than any images of that species I've seen. Did you get any other angles on this?

Wait for a second opinion from other caterpillar enthusiasts on this one. It's definitely a sphinx moth, at any rate : )
… Hannah Nendick-Mason, 19 August, 2008 - 8:01pm login or register to post comments

 
I would guess Paonias excaeca
I would guess Paonias excaecatus as you suggested. Here is Bill Oehlke's page on the species with some somewhat similar images, and of course there is Wagner...

The HOSTS database lists only a few species of Sphingidae that feed on Spiraea, although we shouldn't rule out Pachysphinx altogether based on its absence from that search result.

I hope others will look at these images.

Also, what is that I see? A fly or something on its back?
… Bobby Grizzard, 19 August, 2008 - 11:58pm login or register to post comments

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