#tomato bug

A few years back I found three tobacco hornworms on my tomato plants, so I brought them inside and raised them! I’ve always been rather fascinated with the little guys, and I was curious what they turned into. All I can say is holy cow, they eat a LOT! I had to completely refill my massive vase (12 inches tall and 8 inches in diameter, kind of a janky setup, but it worked!) with tomato leaves twice a day by the time they were getting ready to pupate. It was really cool watching them “wander”, they dug down under the soil in their jar and would circle it feverishly. It was funny, they’d come back to the surface before burrowing again and they would be all dirty. One moth died after this stage and it was kind of disgusting, a bunch of flies emerged from the soil. The other two were fine though and emerged at nearly the same time. I also discovered they create little caves for themselves in the soil, I wish I had gotten pictures. I didn’t see the first moth emerge, the second however emerged while on the counter. Let me tell you, emerging is messy business. I didn’t get good pictures of the moths because they emerged at night and I wanted to release them as soon as possible. I did hold one though right after it emerged and they are actually pretty heavy and really beautiful! I was surprised by how orange their abdomens are.

Common name: Tobacco hornworm (larvae)/Sphinx Moth (adult)

Scientific name: Manduca sexta

Location: CA, Sacramento Co.

0.3 mi NW Sacramento City College

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Lepidoptera

Family: Sphingidae

Genus: Manduca