Carolina Sphinx Moth Caterpillar

Carolina Sphinx Caterpillar, Manduca sexta.  Despite the scary-looking horn, this hawk moth larva is harmless.

His story could be a graphic novel.  

Our innocent protagonist is orphaned, unloved and shunned.   If you cast eyes upon him, you might describe him as interestingly attractive, but others look at him with fear, even loathing.  He’s marked for death, although he doesn’t know why.  In order to survive, he must hide and he must steal food.  This fellow has no weapons and will not fight.  Instinctively, he has an aptitude for disguise and stealth, but those abilities may not be enough to keep him alive.  Every moment, of every day or night, there is danger.  He can never relax. 

Food is so scarce, that if he loses his supply, he may starve.  There are people here that would battle him to the death for his food.  

He must avoid fearsome predators that that would literally devour him.  From his hiding place, he has watched as unfortunates have met their end. The ruthless raptors slash and dismember their victims’  bodies, then carry away the pieces.  It’s all too gruesome.  

There is yet another way to die that is slower and more dreadful.  He has seen a wasp that renders a violent sting, but it does not kill. At least, the victim does not die right away.  Those who have been stung develop ghastly, bulbous tumors all over their bodies.  As the growths swell, the tumors consume the victim who dies slowly, in terrible agony.

If by some amazing chance our hero can find enough food, avoid the competitors, and evade the predators, he will be in for a shock.  When he comes of age, he will undergo a bizarre, disfiguring mutation and gain a super power!  No one has warned him about this; he will have to suffer the pain of transformation and figure things out on his own. This is his family’s legacy.

Such is the secret identity of the Carolina Sphinx Moth caterpillar!  Despised by many gardeners, he is cursed with the epithet, "Tobacco Horn Worm".  Yet, as a beautiful and powerful adult, he is blessed with the sobriquet, "Hawk Moth" or perhaps, "Hummingbird Moth".  He is the size of a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird.   We admire this lovely pollinator in the evenings as he hovers at flowers, extending his long proboscis to sip nectar.  

The super power?  Tune in next week to find out…  Just  kidding.  Ok, the Sphinx Moth is the most powerful flyer of the entire order!  That’s right!  No other Lepidopteran is faster.  That means there is not a moth or butterfly that can out-fly a Sphinx Moth.   Super!   

Early Instar of Manduca sexta on Tomato leaf

Carolina Sphinx Moth Larva on Cherry Tomato.  I have enough to share.

Abdominal Prolegs of Manduca sexta.  Note the crochets, little hooks on the prolegs, that help the caterpillar grip the plant stem.

Carolina Sphinx Moth Frass on cucumber leaf.  Frass is usually the first clue of a caterpillar's location. This Caterpillar was on the Cherry tomatoes just above the cucumbers.

Head of Manduca sexta.  Six Thoracic legs are tucked under mandible.  He looks like a thoughtful professor.

Manduca sexta, Carolina Sphinx Caterpillar.  Note the camouflage:  color, texture, even the fine hairs on the caterpillar mimic the fine hair-like features of the Cherry Tomato stem.

Yellow-Collared Scape Moth

Note the feathery antennae of this Yellow-collared Scape Moth nectaring on Blue Mist Flower (Eupatorium spp.)

Yellow-collared Scape Moth nectaring on Blue Mist Flower (Eupatorium spp.)

I love learning!  This insect was new to me.  Have you seen it before?

If you spotted this fellow, who is clearly enjoying sweet nectar from the Blue Mist flowers, it would be completely understandable if you assumed he was a wasp.  Blue-black wings, tight shape, flying during the day – none of these features would make us think “moth,” yet that’s what he is!  Hiding in plain sight, this is the Yellow-collared Scape Moth, Cisseps fulvicollis .   I agree, he is poorly named, because clearly that collar is bright red.  He is a wasp-mimic.  Other creatures accept his disguise and let him sip nectar in peace. 

 

The Yellow-collared Scape Moth may look like a wasp, but he does have moth features.   Notice the feathery antennae, a bit of a fuzzy thorax, and  long, coiled proboscis.   Another day-flying moth, Virginia Ctenucha,  Ctenucha virginica, looks similar, but has a red head.  Our Yellow-Collared Scape Moth has a black head.

To understand and hopefully remember names, I try to learn what the root words mean.   My simple Latin dictionary shows that fulvus means reddish-yellow or tawny.  Collum means neck.  Therefore, fulvicollis  means tawny-necked. OK, we'll say yellow-collared.  

“Scape,” from the common name, is a botany term and refers to the stems eaten by the larvae.  Yellow-collared Scape Moth caterpillars feed on grasses, lichens, sedges and spike rushes (Eleocharis spp.)

Cloudless Sulphur

Cloudless Sulphur laying eggs on Senna, Cassia spp.

Early Instar of Cloudless Sulphur on Senna

Munching Senna leaf, Cloudless Sulphur caterpillar

Cloudless Sulphur sheltering in Senna leaf

Killed by Wasp:  Decapitated Cloudless Sulphur caterpillar on Senna leaf

Beautiful Cloudless Sulphur caterpillar, chewing Senna. "Frass" is the word for caterpillar droppings.

Did you see that yellow butterfly?   What kind was it? 

Those lemony flashes are Sulphur butterflies.  If you prefer, you may use the "f" word and spell it "Sulfur".  They are fast, flitty and rarely alight long enough for my little camera to focus. There are different types of Sulphurs and each has a specific larval host plant.  Larval hosts include:   legumes, partridge pea, senna, acacia, clovers and alfalfa.  Adults will enjoy nectaring at your flowers. 

I have a shrubby senna tree (Cassia spp.).  It froze to the ground during our cold snap, but has cheerfully re-grown from the roots.  During April, this made my garden very popular with female Cloudless Sulphurs, Phoebis sennae.  Notice that the larval host is part of its scientific name.  You have to look closely to spot these caterpillars which are the same shade of green as the senna leaves.  The senna also offers physical protection for the larvae;  in the evening, the leaves fold together like butterfly wings, forming a shelter over the caterpillar. 

I was worried that the short plant could never support all the caterpillars I was seeing.  I needn't have worried because the wasps obliterated the caterpillars.  One day there were scores of larvae, in various instars, covering the senna.  A few days later, despite camouflage and hiding, only two remained.  I hope they were able to survive to pupate.  Timing is important.  When the next female Sulphur lays her eggs, the senna will be larger and the wasps may not be nesting.

Monarchs in the Milkweed Patch!

Early instar of Monarch Caterpillar on Asclepias curassavica

Monarch Caterpillars on A. curassavica.  How many do you see?

Four Monarchs munching - they are running out of leaves.

When the leaves are gone, but you're still hungry, gnaw on the stem. Monarch Caterpillar on A. curassavica.

Ultimate Instar of Monarch Caterpillar, Ventral View

Finished Monarch Chrysalis &  another caterpillar in J-Stage, preparing to shed skin and form chrysalis.

Newly eclosed Monarch

     Yay!  Monarchs! They are the reason we plant milkweed (Asclepias spp.) They are having such difficulties that I am thrilled when they can rest, refuel and reproduce in my garden & my Milkweed Patch.  I am a registered Monarch Waystation; perhaps they see the sign?
          A nice brood developed in mid-December. It was probably too early for butterflies to be migrating north from Mexico, so I believe it was a year-round resident female monarch who visited.   Alas, the day several adults eclosed (hatched), we had unusual, record-breaking, freezing weather that lasted for days.
     By the end of March, another female monarch found my milkweed.  How do they find it, I wonder?  A nice bunch of caterpillars grew fat munching on the fresh milkweed. We counted eight jade-green chrysalides suspended from the soffits;  there were surely more in the shrubbery or on the flowers that we did not see.
     Safe journey north, little guys.

Luna Moth

Turn off outside lights at night.  This Luna Moth damaged a wing while fluttering in confusion against a floodlight.

Whenever a Luna Moth is glimpsed, it is a blessing. This one appeared in Clay County, Florida, February 2011

    

     You remember your first.  I was a swimming instructor at a North Carolina 4-H camp.  Beneath a canopy of trees, in the sultry summer night, I gazed at the glow of the Staff Cabin’s porch light.  I was transfixed, enthralled by the sight of a wild being too beautiful to exist.  I was afraid to move lest I break the spell and cause the creature to vanish.   I widened my eyes and expanded my awareness, trying to imprint the moment on my brain.  When I became confident that the animal would linger, I ran to summon another camp staff member.  He identified the object of my amazement - a Luna Moth.  Vivid, lime green with an improbably long, decorative tail, this moth seemed more like an artistic paper sculpture than an insect.

     My reaction to the Luna Moth is not unique.  In Discovering Moths:  Nighttime Jewels in Your Own Backyard, John Himmelman writes,  “The Luna Moth does something to me.  It hits me deep down in a place where I accept the existence of magical things.”   I totally agree.

     The Luna Moth, Actias luna , is in the family of Giant Silkworm Moths.  In the southeastern U.S., the Luna Moth has two generations.  Adults that emerge in the spring will have purple, pink or brownish wing margins.  (The one I photographed emerged in February and clearly has purple margins.)  Those emerging in the summertime will have yellow wing margins.  Luna moths don’t eat or drink and survive only for a week or two.  They live to mate and lay eggs on leaves of host plants:  sweetgum, blackgum, pecan, persimmon, walnut, hickory, birch & oak.   Bright green caterpillars form silk cocoons in leaf litter on the ground.  Pupa will twitch inside the cocoon if disturbed.   The caterpillars do not sting, they are not agricultural pests and the adults are harmless.  Love the Luna!

Frost Flowers

Frost Flower wrapping around a Pentas stem

Frost Flowers on Pentas

Frost Flowers on Pentas

Frost Flowers spread like wings from Pentas

Candy floss, cotton candy, spun glass, ribbon candy, wool roving, spun sugar, spun cotton:  all are ways to describe the delicate, crystal structures called Frost Flowers. 

A cool, rainy day followed by a freezing night provided the conditions needed for Frost Flowers to occur in my garden.  The soil was moist and not frozen.  The plants had viable roots which could conduct water from the warmer, wet soil into the stems.  When the air temperature plummeted to below freezing, the water in the stems expanded and the plants extruded the water.  Countless, tiny threads of ice were pushed out of the plant stem, starting near the base of the plant.  Variations in air temperature caused the waves of ice to bend, curl and twist forming fantastic shapes.  

If you touch a Frost Flower you will feel that it’s not solid like an icicle.  It’s frothy and fragile.  The ice of a Frost Flower will sublimate as the air warms.  Sublimation means that this ice does not bother with melting into a liquid.  From a solid state it will change directly into a vapor.  The magical Frost Flower will literally vanish into thin air.

In Texas, Frostweed, Verbesinia virginica, is known for making Frost Flowers. The common name is a clue!  In my garden, the Pentas produced the biggest Frost Flowers, but I noticed Frost Flowers on Salvia Indigo Spires,  Russelia and Plumbago.  We have had this phenomenon for three mornings in a row.  I noticed today that the white ice crystals began to appear around 0500 hours.  By 0800 hours, my husband and I were taking photos of the curling formations.  By 10:00 o’clock that morning, the ephemeral Frost Flowers had disappeared.

Frost Flowers on Salvia, Indigo Spires

Frost Flowers on Pentas

 

Frost Flowers on Pentas

My husband captured this image of Frost Flower on Indigo Spires