luna moth caterpillar

14 years ago

We found a luna moth caterpillar on our tomatoes with what appear to be small white fuzzy insect eggs all over him. Anyone know what insect these eggs could be from, or if this is a common occurrence? Sorry, I can't get the pic to upload.

We removed the eggs from the caterpillar. He seems to be fine.

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Comments (4)

Butterflyer1966
14 years ago
Hi Terrie,
does not sound good for the Luna Moth caterpillar..Even picking off the eggs does not mean it will be ok.. :( A lot of times the eggs are also inside the caterpillar and the caterpillar will die when the flies, etc hatch.. :(
It is worth a try to see what happens, Best of Luck..
I found this article online, but I disagree about how good those Flies are,I myself rather have tons of caterpillars..
Greetings
Suanne(SUE)
Are you sure it is a Luna caterpillar?? Not a Tomato-Hornworm??

Here is a link that might be useful: eggs on caterpillars
terried
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks, Sue! That pic looks exactly like what we have! I thought it was a luna moth (i.e. giant green caterpillar = luna moth), never having seen this tomato bug before, but now I'm not sure. It probably is the Tomato Hornworm. I still feel bad for him though...
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Luna moths use a variety of trees, including some you listed. It was probably looking for a place to spin its cocoon. It's common for them to curl up in a leaf and spin their cocoon there. It'll undoubtedly be safer in the tree than anywhere else - you did the right thing, and, on behalf of the luna caterpillar, thank you! Sherry
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Sherry, What a spectacular picture! Which cat is it? Your season may be winding down, but it's not over yet. You're a busy lady. Your post makes me homesick. Of course, I don't see the Palamedes in north Alabama (at least I never have yet), but the Luna moths, the Pipevine and Spicebush swallowtails and Gulf Fritillaries are old friends. I'll be back there early next month, and I hope they are all there to greet me. Meanwhile, here in Mexico the butterfly season is just getting started. I'm seeing lots of other butterflies: Tiger Swallowtails, Texan Crescents, Checkered Skippers, Dorantes Longtail Skippers, a beautiful little blue that I haven't identified yet, several species of other skippers, Cloudless and Clouded Sulphurs, Dainty Yellows, Southern Dogfaces, Sleepy Oranges, Queens, Tropical Leafwings, some pretty little black-and-white striped and black-and-yellow striped butterflies, Magnificent Swallowtails (they truly are), a large black with radiating white stripes, Cabbage Whites, Mountain Whites, a couple of early Monarchs, and two days ago I saw the first Mexican Dartwhite of the season. I also saw a huge black swallowtail fly over my head, and I think it was an Eastern Black Swallowtail, because a few days later, I found two cats -- a tiny one on dill and a larger one on fennel. I brought them both inside to feed. Although I think they'll both pupate before I leave here, I probably won't get to see them eclose. But if I'm lucky, I'll have cats on my fennel and parsley and maybe my milkweed when I get home. I have seen several other cats that I cannot identify, including some that stung me yesterday. I've posted pics in the gallery to see if anyone recognizes any of them. geni Here is a link that might be useful: Close encounter with Mexican cats
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Lunas do not have mouth parts. They use little horns near the base of the forewings to tear at the silk. Polyphemus does it too. Cecropia does not since it leaves itself a valve in the cocoon for escape. I guess I'll go into the "rest of the story." I was told about a woman that raised lunas and I was hoping to get some from her. I went to her house and saw her setup. She had paper towels in all of her enclosures. Many of the cocoons were made on the paper towels. The successful eclosures had come out the sides of the cocoons, away from the towel underneath. She said she just had three cocoons left and that I could have them. I took them home and cut them open. All three had moths that had emerged from their chrysalis but could not get through the cocoon/paper towel. When I raised lunas, I never used paper towels. Many of my lunas did not even make cocoons because their siblings ate the leaves that were being woven into the cocoons. When the cats gave up trying to make a cocoon, I'd put them in smooth bottom containers where they would pupate. Made for extremely easy sexing of the pupas since I did not have to contend with a cocoon.
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Hi thanks for your response. I live on a small farm on the outskirts of the city so its pretty dark here. Its really wooded around our property too so that makes it a little darker. We do keep our porch light on and I've seen a lot of moths and have various hawk moths show up often in the garden to nectar on the night blooming jasmines and brugmansia. It seems like the Luna would like it here due to all the Sweet Gums. I will have to try to find out when they would be active here.
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rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
14 years ago
Those are not eggs, but 'cocoons'. Some time ago, the caterpillar was parasitized by a tiny female Braconid wasp. She deposited eggs under the skin of the caterpillar, which hatched into minute (as you can imagine) larvae. These wasp larvae feed on the caterpillar from the inside and when they are ready to pupate (turn from larvae to adult Braconid), they create those little white cocoons on the outside of the caterpillar.

Only the Braconid wasp makes those types of cocoons, though there are certainly other parasites of caterpillars out there.

You can tell if your caterpillar is a hornworm or not by the little horn on it's back end. If it's a red horn, it is a Tobacco Hornworm, the most commonly seen. If black in color, it's a Tomato Hornworm.

The caterpillar of the beautiful Luna moth is big and green but has no 'horn'.

Most people are very happy to find a parasitized hornworm on their tomatoes.
Butterflyer1966
14 years ago
Thanks RHIZO
for correcting me, of course they are cocoons, not eggs..I found another webpage which explains the entire lifecycle..
Greetings
Susanne(SUE)

Here is a link that might be useful: Lifecycle

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luna moth caterpillar

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Butterflyer1966

terried
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luna moth caterpillar

Comments (4)

Butterflyer1966

terriedOriginal Author

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terried
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