Nature is Perfect
Posted by Catalina Obando on
Don’t assume every insect is an enemy.
In fact, less than 1% of the world’s identified insect species are classified as pests.
That’s one of the reason you need to know your enemies. Let me introduce you to Tomato and tobacco Hornworm (Manduca quinquemacukata and manduca sexta).
They are a large green larvae of nocturnal moths commonly called Sphinx or Hawk moths. They like to eat tomatoes, tobacco, potatoes, eggplants and in my case peppers.
Tomato and Tobacco Hornworms
Large green larvae of nocturnal moths commonly called sphinx or hawk moths.
They can grow up to 5 in. long.
They affect tomatoes, tobacco, potatoes, peppers and eggplants.
If you spot a hornworm with white, rice-like sacks hanging from its back, dont disturb it. The tiny cortesia wasp inserts eggs under the caterpillar’s skin that eventually hatch into a larval wasp. The larvae wasps consume the inside of the hornworms’ body.