Tobacco Hornworm (Manduca sexta)

Stretching To Reach The Best Parts

This is the critter most folks (including me) call a Tomato Hornworm, but according to BugGuide it is actually a Tobacco Hornworm.  The white literal stripes edged with black and the curved, reddish-colored terminal horn are distinctive.  Regardless, it is the larva of a Carolina Sphinx Moth and can often be found munching on members of the Nightshade family throughout most of North and South America.  (We've also found them eating pepper plants in our garden.)


(The University of Florida has an excellent page comparing Tobacco and Tomato Hornworms, including adult moth images.)

.

Tobacco Hornworm (Manduca sexta)

Tomato Hornworm Bearing Braconid Wasp Parasites

.

.

A Good Tobacco (Tomato) Hornworm

.

The Tobacco (Tomato) Hornworm (Manduca sexta) shown above is covered with pupal cocoons of a Braconid wasp. The female wasp lays her eggs inside the body of the hornworm. When they hatch the wasp larvae eat the hornworm from the inside out. When the wasp larvae are ready to pupate into adults, they emerge from the hornworm's body and spin these silken cocoons. The Braconid wasps will soon emerge from these cocoons as adults. The hornworn may still be capable of limited movement, but it's innards have been consumed by the wasp larvae and it will soon die.

Hornworms found covered with wasp cocoon should not be killed, but allowed to live -- for just a little while longer -- so the Braconid wasps can complete their life cycle and then paraticize more hornworms.

I have found cocoon covered hornworms a couple of times in the past, but it has been several years. Friday evening I found four paraticized hornworms on one tomato plant. Conditions must be just right for a Braconid wasp population boom.

.

.

Sources and additional information:
Braconid Wasps (Braconidae) on BugGuide
University of Florida
Clemson University
North Carolina State University
Manduca secta on Wikipedia

Tomato Hornworm Bearing Braconid Wasp Parasites