March 5, 2026
Nature Done Wright
Incorporating the Celery Farm and Screech Owl Companion blogs
Monday Morning’s Mystery 08229022
An Allendale neighbor found this guy on her sunflowers.
We have determined it's a hornworm and are now trying to figure out what it feeds on. Did not seem interested in a tomato plant. It's approx. two inches lone.
Elena Tartaglia, our moth-expert friend, says it is a Eumorpha sp.
Thoughts?
We hope to bring it to the Lee Memorial Library this morning to see if it is also a bookworm.
2 comments
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Bookworm for sure
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It looks like it *could* be a Pandorus Sphinx – https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Eumorpha-pandorus
If it is, it looks like host plants are “Grape (Vitis), ampelopsis (Ampelopsis), and Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus).”
Virginia Creeper should be easy enough to get.
*** Note: I would absolutely defer to Elena Tartaglia! I could be wrong. 🙂
That being said, according to this website: https://www.jerseyyards.org/plant/parthenocissus-quinquefolia/#:~:text=Virginia%20Creeper%20is%20an%20important,Sphinx%20Moth%20(Hyles%20lineata).
… Virginia Creeper is also host to a few other sphinx moth species: ” Virginia Creeper is an important host plant for moth larvae (caterpillars), including Abbotts Sphinx Moth (Sphecodina abbottii), Pandora Sphinx Moth (Eumorpha pandorus), Virginia Creeper Sphinx Moth (Darapsa myron), and White-lined Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata).”
So it might be worth a shot anyway. 🙂





2 comments
Sallyt
Bookworm for sure
julie
It looks like it *could* be a Pandorus Sphinx – https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Eumorpha-pandorus
If it is, it looks like host plants are “Grape (Vitis), ampelopsis (Ampelopsis), and Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus).”
Virginia Creeper should be easy enough to get.
*** Note: I would absolutely defer to Elena Tartaglia! I could be wrong. 🙂
That being said, according to this website: https://www.jerseyyards.org/plant/parthenocissus-quinquefolia/#:~:text=Virginia%20Creeper%20is%20an%20important,Sphinx%20Moth%20(Hyles%20lineata).
… Virginia Creeper is also host to a few other sphinx moth species: ” Virginia Creeper is an important host plant for moth larvae (caterpillars), including Abbotts Sphinx Moth (Sphecodina abbottii), Pandora Sphinx Moth (Eumorpha pandorus), Virginia Creeper Sphinx Moth (Darapsa myron), and White-lined Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata).”
So it might be worth a shot anyway. 🙂