I could name plants. But unknown if they're native to Florida.

The North American Butterfly Association site has a list of host plants and butterflies by region. I did a google search to find it. There are several regions in Florida, so you'll need to pick yours!
Kristi

Here is a link that might be useful: NABA regional guides

Hi, Protego. Well, if you'd be kind enough to list a few I'd probably know if they're around here.

Thanks, kaboehm. I actually had looked at that site before posting, but all they list for my area are the pretty little butterflies like julias and such.

Tobacco and tomato hornworms are just two of the many sphinx moths that live in the US. Decent chance the moth you saw was not one of them.

If you find a cat on your tomatoes, native hostplants in Florida include Carolina horsenettle and Florida horsenettle. They are not the most friendly weed (sharp needles) but I've had good success moving tobacco hornworms to them.

Thanks, kcclark. I do know the horsenettles, but I don't think I've ever seen any out here.

Ah well, I'll just have to play it by ear. I have a couple of huge colonies of paper wasps in the palm trees around my courtyard, and the odds are that any cats will get carried off by those before I ever see them. They always get all my swallowtail cats.

Goose berry, Goji/wolf berries, Jimson Weed, Sacred Datura, Mandrake, Datil. :-) And I'm glad I'm not you. I'd protect the precious caterpillars.

Thanks, Protego. Unfortunately there's not much I can do--the wasps nest in hugely tall palms in the common areas (besides, that's just nature) and I don't have any place to put a cage to raise the cats myself. Air-conditioned inside and no shade outside.

For me, bleh, anything that preys on caterpillars is not good at all. Butterflies are self-propelled Flowers!