Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowseInfoImagesLinksBooksData
Photo#338668
Some kind of sphinx moth caterpillar? - Sphinx chersis

Some kind of sphinx moth caterpillar? - Sphinx chersis
Mt. Olive, Morris County, New Jersey, USA
May 9, 2009
Size: About 3 1/5 inches.
I found it on the ground and was wondering if it was going underground to cocoon.

Moved

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

Death's Head
Looks like a hawkmoth caterpillar.

A Death's Head perhaps?

 
go here to learn about the deaths head
http://tpittaway.tripod.com/sphinx/a_atr.htm
i try to educate myself, there are wonderful sites out there.

 
...
Death's head hawkmoths, genus Acherontia, are native to Europe and Asia, not North America.

yep once on the ground
they are usually looking for a place to dig in. i will try and figure this larve out and tell you who he is, if ryan dont beat me to it. im pretty sure hes a northern ash sphix with that blue horn, tho.

 
agreed
Sphinx chersis has my vote. Found one just like this last year.

 
Thanks for the ID
I tried to use the caterpillar guide on Discover Life:
http://pick4.pick.uga.edu/mp/20q?guide=Caterpillars
But the different types of sphinxes all looked so similar as caterpillars.

 
i went to:
http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/NJsphinx.htm
when i want to id hornworms..it is a really awesome site and the site owner happened to grow up in NJ too, and has been mothing since he was a kid.

Comment viewing options
Select your preferred way to display the comments and click 'Save settings' to activate your changes.