Interesting. I've never had hornworms on my grapes. Thanks for the tip. You can control any type of caterpillar with products containing Bacillus thuringensis - commonly called "Bt". It's a bacteria that only targets caterpillars and is safe to use around edibles, pets, and fish. A similar product is used to control mosquitoes. Look for brand names like Thuricide, etc. Mix and spray on your vines. When the caterpillars eat the leaves containing the bacteria they die. It works better when caterpillars are young and you may need to spray several times during the season to catch new generations.

The 'stick ups' are called scoli. I've never read anything that gives a reason for them being there, so I assume it's just to make the caterpillar appear ferocious so as to scare away predators. They're harmless to people, don't sting, and I've seen many pictures of people holding the late instar caterpillars in their hands, kids included. Each instar of this species is different from the others. The scoli are much taller in relation to overall body size in the early instars than they are in the later instars. In the later instars, their body gets thick, and the scoli point backward. There are many pictures of them on the internet, but I'll be posting pictures of each instar, since they're so unique. The adults are beautiful. Since they only have one flight per year, I won't see the adult moth until next year. I'll have to provide these with a bucket of leaves or paper towels for them to burrow into when they're ready to make their pupa. I'll keep them on the porch unless we have an extremely cold night (like the one last January) and then I'll bring them into my unheated guest room. I'm getting ahead of myself here, though. They're not the easiest ones to raise, so I don't want to jinx things by talking about their pupae just yet! :) Sherry

Sherry, the Polyphemus spins a white cocoon. Unlike the Luna, the Poly cocoon is quite dense. They spin a LOT of silk! Their cocoons look like tiny surgical casts. In fact, it is because of this, that the Poly's first cousin, native to China, Antheraea pernyi, was and may still be used for silk, just as the Bombyx is. The Cynthia moth is also used for silk. At one time, Cynthias were common in NE US, but have largely died off, chiefly due to habitat loss as well as parasitoids such as the tachinid fly. Susanlynne, one sureshot way to tell male from female Luna, at a glance, is color. The females are that characteristic green, while males are yellow-green. I could tell from my upstairs bedroom window, the Luna I saw, resting on a young hickory, was most definitely a male. No way could I see its body size or antennae. I hope this helps.

Thanks! My sphinx cat "disappeared" today, and I found it underneath the paper towels and foam rubber. I offered it some more food, but it refused and kept wandering. I noticed that it was yellowish, the color that many sphinx and big silk moths turn before they make their pupa. Well, DUH, it finally occurred to me that that's just what my cat was trying to do, so I got a container, put some leaves in it plus the small glass jar with the stem of yaupon in it that it was eating, put the cat in it, and it proceeded to go under the leaves and I assume, pupate. So, obviously it couldn't be a rustic sphinx, it's not nearly big enough, and I think the horn color is wrong. I looked through the sphinx moths on Bill Oehlke's site, and the page on the pawpaw sphinx had a picture of a cat from North Carolina that looks just like mine. It listed pawpaw as a host, plus lots of hollies, like Ilex glabra, I. decidua and I. coriacea, all of which grow on my property - he didn't list I. vomitoria, but it's very much like I. decidua, just evergreen, not deciduous. The horn is purple or red and blue, like mine also. Interestingly, the pictures of adult pawpaw sphinx moths are variable in coloring, some reddish brown and others very dark brown/black. The website said that in Louisiana they have two generations, the last one being in September, so I guess that's what this one is, meaning that my cat should overwinter. I've linked the Bill Oehlke site. Sherry Here is a link that might be useful: PawPaw Sphinx