Observation date: September 26, 2013
Submitted by: maleficent50
Specimen type: Photograph
Observation notes: This is a second, smaller, caterpillar on the same host tree as the one reported yesterday- Blue Potato Bush. Sunny, pleasant day, approximately 72 degrees @ 4:30 pm
Status: Resident
Verified by: stomlins701
Verified date: September 30, 2013
Coordinator notes: This is the caterpillar of Manduca sexta, which often uses tomato as a host plant. I have never seen it on the sighting host plant but I imagine it is in the family Solanaceae, which potato, tomoato, tobacco and related plants are in. The suggested id of Ceratomia undulosa looks a bit different. Links to both species on Moth Photographers Group are listed below. Put them side-by-side on a computer screen and you can see the difference. Also, C. undulosa has not been documented in CA.
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=7775
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=7787
