The beautiful Tomato Hornworm (Five-spotted Hawkmoth)

Published by Drew Monkman on

I was doing maintenance in the vegetable garden today and found three very large and healthy Tomato Hornworms which will soon pupate and become a Five-spotted Hawkmoth. I placed them on some tomato seedlings that came up in the compost pile as the larvae have a sweet tooth for the fruit in preference to the foliage.

Bill Snowden, Ennismore

Manduca quinquemaculatus – Five-spotted Hawk Moth (tomato hornworm) Wikimedia

Manduca quinquemaculatus – Five-spotted Hawkmoth (tomato hornworm) Wikimedia

Five-spotted Hawk Moth (hornworm) Wikimedia

Five-spotted Hawkmoth (tomato hornworm) Wikimedia

Tomato Hornworm (Rick Stankiewicz)

Tomato Hornworm (Rick Stankiewicz)

Tomato Hornworm 2 (Rick Stankiewicz)

Tomato Hornworm 2 (Rick Stankiewicz)

Categories: Sightings
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Drew Monkman

I am a retired teacher, naturalist and writer with a love for all aspects of the natural world, especially as they relate to seasonal change.

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