Its just a big sphinxs/hawk moth. Possibly from a tomato horn worm.

Hi,
It's a sphinx moth. My husband knew immediately what it was. Before they turn into a moth they're the big ugly green tomato worms. According to all the books, the moth itself doesn't feed on foliage.

Cathy

What a beautiful creature! Probably would freak me out if it ended up in my bed though! I found this:

The Sphinx Moth (family Sphingidae) is also called the Hawk Moth and the Hummingbird Moth because of its hovering, swift flight patterns. These stout-bodied moths have long, narrow forewings and shorter hindwings, with wingspans ranging from 2 to 8 inches. Many species pollinate flowers such as ORCHIDS, petunias and evening primroses while sucking their nectar with a proboscis (feeding tube) that exceeds10 inches in some species.

At the link below...

Here is a link that might be useful: Sphinx Moth Info

Thank you for the ID. Never saw anything like that. There are tomatoes growing next door. I thought he was interesting. Yellow and a pink/red. Pretty. I wasn't too quick to throw him out of my house. He is large enough to see and capture if he was going to be a danger to my orchids. I feel bad for him. The window is open. He has the choice. Right now he is partial to my white phal florescence, not the buds but perched on the clip :-) Maybe he thinks it's his Mum.

Clara

Yes, Darwin not only predicted the existence of a hawk moth with proboscis to match the spur on Angraecum sesquipedale....one of his more lesser-known predictions was that the same moth would decide he would rather live in Chicago, perched on an orchid clip where he can have his picture taken! Darwin was weird. But that moth is cool! I suspect it is just waiting for your Angs to bloom.
-MB

He is an Ang lover Mr B? My sus/vech hybrid is big enough for him to call home as long as he isn't a messey house guest and he can't sleep in my bed! He makes too much noise!

He looks human with the blue eyes. He is friendly. Very gentle on the hand. I think he must be tired. If I put my hand next to him he walks right on. I've had birds and bats. This is way more interesting. If he is a polinator, he can stay free of charge

What do they eat? Tomatoes?

Clara
with a new pet :-)

The moth may not eat at all. But they lay eggs that develop into larvae. And if you've ever seen a tomato horn worm...

Big fat things, almost invisible they hide so well. You usually only find them after a hunt when you find the huge damage they do. I've found ones as big as my forefinger. Nearly died of shock and horror!

They are green all the way from all the leaves they eat, and just one can make a real dent in a tomato plant.

In fact, that stripe pattern near the shoulder of your moth reminds me of the worm.

And BTW, found two small, about 3/4" long green larvae of something eating up my Phal Vianosa leaves. I found them because I saw what looked like the worm poop I used to get on petunias. So I searched around.

Vianosa has lots of narrow, thinnish leaves. The larvae had made some kind of webby glue to stick two leaves together and were chomping away in the safety of their little nest.

I'm not a moth/butterfly person myself, tho I like to see the Monarchs drop by in fall. They all have larvae that eat plants, so I don't think of them as friends.

I'm not a mothologist, but I don't think they have any mouth parts as adults. They have the proboscis, which they use to slurp up nectar from the long nectaries of Angs and any other flowers they fancy. In their youth, they'll eat your plants, but not in that form. There is a fairly recent video of a hawk moth in Madagascar visiting a sesquipedale flower. I'm sure its on Youtube. It is really quite amazing how long their 'tongues' are.
-MB

Clara, excuse me, but---if this creature is the result of tomato hornworm, get him outside! He'll lay his eggs in your pots and you will have those huge, disgusting worms eating your plants.

Big, big caterpillars with horns....yuck!

Jane

I had a hornworm defoliate a Jacquelyn Hiller elm bonsai in a 24 hour period. One day it was fine when I watered it and the next day, no leaves and a big fat worm resting on a branch. The worm died. The bonsai had already been defoliated in the weird spring weather, I did not need another defoliation going into winter because it saps the strength to pop new leaves.

Brooke

Jeez! Thanks! He is pretty but the worm is disgusting!

Its funny, I saw him yesterday morning. Then he dissapeared. As I was reading this post he started flapping around. He jumped on my hand and I put him out. He's just hanging there on the screen looking at me. I suppose wild-life should stay where it belongs, outside. My neighbour has to clean up her garden.

Do you think I should spray Safer's just in case of larvae?

Clara

Now that we're talking about moth-worms eating up orchids, I remembered that last summer I found some in an oncidium. I had noticed an ugly oncid leaf that never grew. Finally, peering down as close as I could get, I thought I saw a little bump or something. When I sprayed it with Safer's it came out and started to flop and lurch around--one of those caterpillar worms.

So orchids are *not* immune, tho they seem to like the ones with soft leaves, not the ones with thick cuticle.

Clara, I usually wait til I see something to spray, so I don't know what to say. Your call. But on second thought, I think I would. Maybe not the rescues, but your dearest loves, yes.

The trouble with worms is that you just don't see them-- you see the damage they do, *then* you see them. Or if you're lucky, you find some of their droppings.