Hi Lisa,

You are really making my eyes and brain work here lately! LOL

OK, it is clearly a moth, and mostly likely from the sphinx moth family.

At first glance, I thought it was a Pandora Sphinx Moth (Eumorpha pandorus, I think) but then it would have pink edges and not white ones. So, my best guess is that it is the closely-related (and similar looking) Achemon Sphinx Moth (Eumorpha achemon).

If I am incorrect, I hope Susan or Linda or Randy can set us straight.

It is a pretty nice-looking moth. I love the appearance of the wings!

Dawn

Dawn: Yeah, I think that's it. Thanks!!!!

Aren't you glad I'm not doing snake ids ;)

Lisa

Lisa,

Yes, I am. Been there, done that, and gettin' kind of tired of those slithery things! : )

I haven't since a snake since Monday night, so I'm starting to relax a little.

Dawn

Definitely a eumorpha achemon sphinx moth. Their host plants are things in the grape family - like grape vines and Virginia Creeper. If you have any of these vines nearby (I have Virginia Creeper), you may find the caterpillars in early spring and fall. I find them mostly green cats in the spring, and rusty brown colored in the fall. These caterpillars lose their horn in the 4th or 5th instar of growth. So, you may not recognize them as a sphinx if you find them on your plants. They are quite large caterpillars. I have raised them b4 by putting them in a large plastic container (poke holes for air) with either 4-5" of potting soil in the bottom or shredded paper towels. Feed them fresh foliage every day - they are voracious eaters.

They are so cool. I did find a Pandora Sphinx this year for the 1st time (eumorpha pandorus).

Here is a link that might be useful: Eumorpha achemon sphinx caterpillar

Susan,

Gee, that caterpillar looks awfully familiar....well, except I usually see the green ones! LOL

I keep thinking I will see more of the achemons than I do, because we have 10 forested acres that have Virginia Creeper everywhere. I don't see many. (Of course, in snake season, I stay out of the woods!) I do have some Virginia Creeper on the north side of the house, under some Southern Wax Myrtles, but I don't see many there. (They're probably off in the dense woods where humans, kitty cats, dogs and poulty won't annoy them.)

I have had a LOT of sphinx moths this year, and some types I've never seen before....so the sphinxes have saved an otherwise dull butterfly and moth year. (It IS better now...I'm seeing a few sulphurs and swallowtails, and of course the migrating monarchs.)

Dawn

It does take some "looking closely" at the VC to find them, too. They are excellent at camoflouge and hiding out. Usually you can find them either on a branch of the vine or underneath the foliage along the midrib of the leaf. Often they start out green and turn that orangy brown in later instars of growth. Sometimes they will remain green, but all I've found in fall are the darker colors. I find the green ones most often in spring. So don't know if it's temperature related or what.

They are so much fun to raise. They are very strong caterpillars. One day, one fell on the ground and I tried to pick him up and he thrashed around so much, it was impossible to hold on to him. I dropped him (not far, about 1') and found a leaf for him to crawl onto. Nerve-wracking!!!

The eumorphas are beautiful cats and moths IMHO! But, I really like the Nessus sphinx moth caterpillars, too. They also eat VC, as well as the Pandoras. The Nessus are much smaller caterpillars at maturity than the eumorphas also. But quite beautiful little moths!

Susan