The other day, as I was wandering around my garden, I noticed a very large and beautiful hornworm on my fireweed.
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| Larvae of the hummingbird moth, Hyles lineata |
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Even though the reaction of many gardeners is to immediately squash hornworms (tomato hornworms give all the rest of them such a bad reputation), I was pretty sure that this would turn out to be something interesting. So, I did a little research, and found that, indeed, this hornworm will ultimately become the much-beloved hummingbird moth (aka the white-lined sphinx moth,
Hyles lineata). I was thrilled -- I had never seen the larvae on the property before, although I had frequently enjoyed watching the moths taking over the night pollination shift from the hummingbirds. (Note: tomato hornworms also turn into hummingbird moths of a different species,
Manduca quinquemaculata, but they typically do much more damage as caterpillars).
Here is a picture of the adult white-lined Sphinx moth, courtesy of CSU's Whitney Cranshaw, via Bugwood:
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| Adult hummingbird moth (Hyles lineata) by Whitney Cranshaw |
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For more information on hornworms and hummingbird moths:
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05517.html
