Steve's picture of a caterpillar in his "Getting Out" post reminded me of this one we saw while out in the field with Steve & Libby in Magdalena last month. Afraid I have no idea as to who this fellow might be, though he is an attractive shade of green. Caterpillar enthusiasts, grab your guidebooks!
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It is one of the Sphingids-- sphinx or "hummingbird hawk " moths.
Some are common pests (tomato hornorm). Others are more exotic. One-- I believe in Madagascar-- was discovered and filmed recently with an enormous proboscis or feeding tongue. Darwin had predicted its existence based on the the existence of a certain deep narrow flower!
Uhh--- that's tomato hornWORM.
Pest or not, I like to see the sphinx moths around our flox in the summer. They are actually cool looking insects. Many guests at first mistake them for hummingbirds.
We've never had a problem with them in our garden.
One evening this summer, a sphinx moth was feeding on a flower that was a preferred by a hummingbird. The hummingbird flew in and gave the moth sharp rap with its beak.
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