One of the neighbors who's using the veggie beds in my backyard showed me a large caterpillar she had found in the raised bed behind the garage where Cindy had been growing raspberries and blueberries. Because of the large yellow horn on one end of the caterpillar, I figured it was some variety of hornworm.
We've had hornworms before, both Tomato Hornworms and Tobacco Hornworms. They're the larva of different types of Sphinx moths. See A Tasty Snack For the Birds and Big Green Worms. The way I remember which is which is that the Tomato Hornworms have chevron stripes on their sides and the Tobacco Hornworms have straight stripes, again on their sides.
This one was different, though. The stripes on this caterpillar were long racing stripes along its back and no stripes on its sides.
A quick search on the internet indicates that this might be another type of Sphinx moth, probably the White-lined Sphinx Moth. Adult Sphinx Moths are pollinators, feeding on nectar of flowering plants, usually at night. The larva feed on a variety of plants, including chickweed, purslane, evening primrose and other plants.
I usually pull hornworms off the tomato plants and leave them under the bird feeder as a snack for the birds, but since this guy was not in any of the beds with tomato plants in them, and since the White-lined Sphinx Moth larva eat weeds, I put him back where I found him.
He's welcome to any weeds he wants to eat. Just as long as he stays off the tomatoes.
