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Hummingbird moth caterpillar5/18/2023 ![]() People are interested in the physics of sphinx moth flight, especially their ability to hover. Though the hungry caterpillars can be vexing, you can’t help but be impressed by the elegant colors and patterns of the hefty, “furry” adult moths. Pink-spotted hawk moth caterpillars chew on sweet potato vines, and Pandora, Achemon, and Virginia creeper sphinx moth caterpillars are unwelcome in vineyards.Īlthough a few species are pests on garden plants, most sphinx moths do not cause significant injury to their host plants. Tomato and tobacco hornworms are the bane of people trying to grow tomato, potato, tobacco, pepper, and other plants in the nightshade family. In late summer, many people enjoy sitting on their patios and watching these mysterious hovering visitors sip nectar as twilight deepens. Planting large tube-shaped flowers can attract sphinx moths to your yard. Some of our sphinx moth species do not feed as adult moths. Different species take nectar during different times of day or night, and many at dusk or dawn. While feeding, they hover in the air like hummingbirds. The caterpillars of some species are such well-known garden pests that they have their own names separate from that of the adult moth prime examples are the tomato hornworm (five-spotted hawk moth) and the tobacco hornworm (Carolina sphinx).Īdult sphinx moths, with their long tongues, are experts at drinking nectar from long-throated flowers such as trumpet vine and jimsonweed. ![]() ![]() Many sphinx moth species are named for their notable food plants, such as the Osage orange sphinx, four-horned elm sphinx, wild cherry sphinx, walnut sphinx, big poplar sphinx, snowberry clearwing, and grapevine sphinx. Each moth species has its own suite of suitable host plants (for example, some eat only members of the tobacco/tomato/potato family others must eat the leaves of rose-family trees such as plum, cherry, and apple). Sphinx moths use a wide range of larval host plants, including both woody and nonwoody species.
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