# can U ID caterpillar?



## goldenrose (Aug 23, 2011)

Yesterday I got to see a cycada emerging from it's coccoon, this morning found this on a tomato plant. Can anyone ID it?


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## Sirius (Aug 23, 2011)

That's a tomato or tobacco hornworm that has been parasitized by wasp larvae. I would remove it from my tomato plants if I were you. They like to eat them. Or just let the wasp larvae finish it off. Circle of life and all that.

The caterpillar...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manduca_quinquemaculata
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manduca_sexta

The wasp...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braconidae


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## Paphman910 (Aug 23, 2011)

Looks like wasp eggs attached to tomato hornworm!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAwd_KgCXcM

Paphman910


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## nikv (Aug 23, 2011)

Those hornworms can devastate a tomato plant in short order. I'd get rid of it before the wasp larvae do their thing.


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## eggshells (Aug 23, 2011)

It is basically being eaten alive?


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## Justin (Aug 23, 2011)

agree, that bugger can eat your whole plant in a matter of hours.


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## NYEric (Aug 23, 2011)

put it in a jar with a few leaves as a science project for some young person.


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## cnycharles (Aug 23, 2011)

eggshells said:


> It is basically being eaten alive?



yes, as will the tomato plant if the caterpillar stays on it!


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## Hera (Aug 23, 2011)

Poor caterpillar! What a way to go.


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## Lanmark (Aug 23, 2011)

Poor tomato plant too!


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## W. Beetus (Aug 23, 2011)

I had some of those on my tomatoes one year, and as people have said, they really eat! I had so many tomatoes that I just let them eat.


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## SlipperFan (Aug 23, 2011)

These grow into large Sphinx moths:
http://survivalfarm.wordpress.com/2...n-worm-now-what-do-i-do/tomato-hornworm-moth/
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05517.html


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## likespaphs (Aug 23, 2011)

NYEric said:


> put it in a jar with a few leaves as a science project for some young person.



it's also a good way to help with the parasitoid (like a parasite but parasites don't kill their hosts, parasitoids do) population!

parasitoids are some of my favorite good bugs!


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## Lanmark (Aug 23, 2011)

SlipperFan said:


> These grow into large Sphinx moths:
> http://survivalfarm.wordpress.com/2...n-worm-now-what-do-i-do/tomato-hornworm-moth/
> http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05517.html



Cool!


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Aug 23, 2011)

I'd remove it from my plants, but not kill it. Let the wasps do their thing so that there are more of them to nail the other hornworms.


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## bullsie (Aug 24, 2011)

We set one tomato plant apart from all the others. Keeping track every early morning for signs of the worms, once found we gather them all up and place them on the seperated tomato plant. Everyone is happy then! The tomato worms have their meal, the parasites have their meal, and some worms go undetected. And we get tomatoes. It is worth doing.


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## Shiva (Aug 24, 2011)

Hera said:


> Poor caterpillar! What a way to go.



There's no poor caterpillar talk when you find one munching on a cattleya flower you waited years to see. :evil:


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## fbrem (Aug 24, 2011)

let the parasitoids free to ravage more of those green devils. Go parasitoids!!!


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## goldenrose (Aug 24, 2011)

Thanks guys! We have tomatoes every year & I don't remember ever seeing one in the past but they do have good camouflage but not good enough. I saw it first thing in the morning, then the rain came, once it cleared I was taking pics of the paph & thought I should checkout the beastie & the camera was on the tripod! Here's what I found-


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## Marc (Aug 24, 2011)

Wasps and other parasites are the coolest things, allthough with a little bit of fantasy it easily changes into the stuff that horrors are filled with.

Here's a "cool" example of a parasitic worm that affects snails. 

[YOUTUBE]EWB_COSUXMw[/YOUTUBE]

And here's a nice example of a wasp that lays it's egs on catarpillars

[YOUTUBE]vMG-LWyNcAs[/YOUTUBE]

Very impressive how one creature can actually affect that behaviour of other creatures.

Stuff of horrors I say!!!!!


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## goldenrose (Aug 24, 2011)

OMG - very interesting! Thanks! One would think the larvae leaving the caterpillar would be enough to kill it! One can see how one can get interested in bugs! The photography is something else too!


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## Shiva (Aug 24, 2011)

Great videos Marc. Thanks for making us see them.


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## SlipperFan (Aug 24, 2011)

Eeeeeeewwwwwwww!



bullsie said:


> We set one tomato plant apart from all the others. Keeping track every early morning for signs of the worms, once found we gather them all up and place them on the seperated tomato plant. Everyone is happy then! The tomato worms have their meal, the parasites have their meal, and some worms go undetected. And we get tomatoes. It is worth doing.



I like that idea!


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## Marc (Aug 25, 2011)

bullsie said:


> We set one tomato plant apart from all the others. Keeping track every early morning for signs of the worms, once found we gather them all up and place them on the seperated tomato plant. Everyone is happy then! The tomato worms have their meal, the parasites have their meal, and some worms go undetected. And we get tomatoes. It is worth doing.



Two years in a row we planted carrots in our garden and two years in a row the carrots got infected with the caterpillars of the Old World Swallowtail

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_World_Swallowtail

Both years I decided to let the caterpillars have their meal and buy my carrots in the store.


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