Very interesting; I will have to look closely at my four o clocks. Isn't it nice that we are interested in more than pretty plants since there aren't many around these days. In my book it looks like a white-lined sphinx moth baby. I searched that and found this key which might be useful for people smarter than I. Go down to identification and click for the key. Once you click search you see simplify. Simplify lets you pick the state. Not all pictures of it look the same; it looks like it can also be darker and more striped.

Here is a link that might be useful: caterpillar key

Very interesting; I will have to look closely at my four o clocks. Isn't it nice that we are interested in more than pretty plants since there aren't many around these days. In my book it looks like a white-lined sphinx moth baby. I searched that and found this key which might be useful for people smarter than I. Go down to identification and click for the key. Once you click search you see simplify. Simplify lets you pick the state. Not all pictures of it look the same; it looks like it can also be darker and more striped.

Here is a link that might be useful: caterpillar key

I bookmarked this site. Thanks, Helen. I also saw your picture of the moth on your album. I have tried to get a picture of them before but have failed. I guess I need to go out at night like you did. Great shots of the dragonwing too.

The moths visiting my four o clocks at night are not the white lined sphinx. I am pretty sure they are the bad guys that eat tomatoes. I don't have anything eating the leaves of my four o clocks just moths at the flowers acting like night hummingbirds. The big hornworms have not been a threat to my tomatoes. I have more trouble with the little fruitworms and the stinkbugs are my absolute worst enemy. I don't know what the larva of the moths coming to my four o clocks were eating because there are lots of them. If they were eating garden plants, they would have stripped the leaves big time. There must be some weeds that they like. There are so many kinds of sphinx moths and dragonflies. I have trouble following the keys. I finally identified the dragonfly that is most abundant - blue dasher males.

I've never seen one of those Glenda. I just love finding big caterpillars like that. Isn't it amazing that there's so many insects we've never seen.

I found one small horn worm on the tomatoes that same day and snipped it with my scissors.

Glenda I think I saw the white lined sphinx moth last evening before dark. There was only one and it came earlier than the other ones that I see every night. It has pink on its wings and is very very fast. I found a big hornworm on my tomatoes and identified it as a tobacco hornworm. I did not kill it because I carried it around a while in the house looking for a book that has moth larva. I make pets of things pretty fast. I threw him out the back door. I have nearly given up on tomatoes so I was not as ruthless as usual.

White lined sphinx moth cats have a wide range of host plants that include 4 o'clocks and tomatoes and this is the lighter variation of that caterpillar.