What Kind Of Moth Does A Hornworm Turn Into

Tomato hornworms survive winters as pupae and emerge as adult moths in spring.

What kind of moth does a hornworm turn into. Please see follow up column. The moth is gray or grayish brown in color with five orange yellow spots on both sides of the abdomen. Manduca quinquemaculata the five spotted hawkmoth is a brown and gray hawk moth of the family sphingidae. Both caterpillars turn into large moths with four to six inch wingspans in colors ranging from brown and gold to pink and grey.

Manduca sexta the tobacco hornworm closely resembles its tomato preferring cousin but shows seven diagonal white lines on its sides and a curved horn. Each moth can have a wingspan of about 100 millimeters. Correction september 25 2017. The adult is commonly called a hummingbird moth since it is often mistaken for the bird.

This is the moth which lays the eggs on foliage that will hatch into hornworms from wikipedia. The caterpillar often referred to as the tomato hornworm can be a major pest in gardens. Ive certainly dropped them more than once. Unlike butterflies hornworms typically hover in the air while feeding at a flower much as hummingbirds do and for this reason are sometimes called hummingbird moths.

However some local species are popularly known as hummingbird moths. A moth emerges from its cocoon most often in the spring. These moths have a superficial resemblance to hummingbirds in flight while they similarly feed from deep lobed flowers. The tomato hornworm turns into the five spotted hawk or sphinx moth not the beautiful hummingbird moth shown in the photo.

The unrolled proboscis extends into a long drinking straw capable of reaching nectar in flowers with narrow deep corollas. Caterpillars hatch begin to feed and are full grown in three to four weeks. Each cocoon will hatch a new wasp which will lay eggs in more hornworms that are eating your veggie garden so leave them alone. The next time you find a hornworm munching away on your tomato plants i hope youll think of the beauty of hummingbird moths.

See this fascinating video below to see the wasps hatching out of these cocoons. After mating females deposit oval smooth light green eggs on lower and upper leaf surfaces. What you have photographed above appears to be the hummingbird but if it is like what we see in central nh it is too small for the rather large hornworm which i recall from childhood produces a. Before you snip him with your shears or stomp him into tomorrow consider moving him out of your vegetable bed.

Adult stages of hornworms are heavy bodied strong flying insects known as sphinx or hawk moths.