#ceratomia

https://bugguide.net/node/view/3749

I’m raising caterpillars again! Meet my elm sphinx caterpillars! They’re growing so fast rn

UPDATE: Someone asked about hugging, I do not blame you but the scales are so delicate, they shed easily. Updated to add a close up of its leg, you can see where a scale already fell off...

This is Ceratomia amyntor, the Four Horned or Elm Sphinx. This particular specimen was a county record for Suffolk Co., MA, being found in Boston proper. I always enjoy getting county record Sphingidae, particularly ones in my home-county, or other large urban areas. A project I've been working on this year, and hope to continue into the future is Urban Sphingidae Diversity. I'm mapping Sphingidae diversity and abundance on an urban to rural gradient to see if there's differences in abdunance or diversity. It's an interesting project with some really neat results so far. #Ceratomia #Ceratomiaamyntor #ElmSphinx #FourHornedSphinx #Sphingidae #Lepidoptera #SphinxMoth #HawkMoth #Entomology #Caterpillar #Larva #SphinxLarva #MothLarva #igclub_butterfly #igcb_mothmondays #insects_of_our_world https://www.instagram.com/p/B3adABJg_D1/?igshid=lucu2ce3udlv

WE! MAKE! THE FUCK! RULES!

Catalpa Sphinx (Ceratomia catalpae), Newark DE. August 2018.  This is a species that, from a personal observation, relies heavily on the numbers game.  Females lay masses of eggs on their host plant (Catalpa sp.) in the hundreds, and caterpillars feed gregariously (together) on the leaves that are available. In the south, they can defoliate catalpa trees on occasion, but it is not food that limits this species. It is the pressure of predation: birds, predatory wasps, and species of parasitic wasps will either eat or lay their eggs in the caterpillars to prevent a rise to adulthood.Culturally, people have even used the caterpillars as catch fish, with mature larvae (around 2-3 inches, or 5-8 cm) easily viewed as juicy, black-and-yellow bait against the green background of their host plant.  In contrast, the adults appear more like tree bark, allowing them to blend into the background of a forest so it can spend its few precious days finding a mate (the adults do not feed).  This moth I reared from a batch of 15 caterpillars off of a southern catalpa plant (Catalpa bignonioides). This was the only one that reached adulthood, with the rest becoming hosts for many parasitic wasps (pictures to come when I find them again). At least two generations in the Mid-Atlantic, with caterpillars overwintering as pupae in the soil. 

Ceratomia amyntor (archive.org)

The head of a big waved sphinx (Ceratomia undulosa) that was sitting on my patio under the black light the other night. Looks pettable to me! :-)