CLOSED: Beautiful large green & pink caterpillar with horn tail?

This beauty must have been dislodged from it's hideaway while I was doing Fall cleanup today, as I suddenly noticed something pastel green and pink thrashing vigorously among the leaf litter, still firmly clasping the remains of the stem it had been holding onto. It hangs quietly when left alone, but thrashes at the slightest disturbance.

It seems to be without any bristles, the pink and green are mottled rather than distinct spots, and the body pattern is 'slashed' rather than banded (I did TRY to research this myself before I came here!)

I found a twist-tie and re-attached the stem in a sheltered shrub near where I found it, since I have no idea exactly where it had been before I dislodged it.

Neither my camera nor my basic photography skills have been up to the task of getting a really good clear picture, but here is what I was able to get.
I am in the Central Catskills of NY zone 5 - can anyone clue me as to the identity of this pastel beauty?

I am afraid it looks like a tomato/tobacco hornworm to me. I have seen quite a bit of color variation on these. It should turn into a sphinx/ hawk moth. They usually bury their smooth brown chrysalis - if it makes one where it is hanging, then my ID is wrong.

OK - it was nowhere near my garden, so I shall keep an eye on it and see what happens. If it does form a chrysalis in situ I shall photograph that and post it as well. Thanks!

I tried again. I went to butterflies & moths .org image gallery and searched by stage:caterpillar, view: any, species: moth, family: sphingidae; and came up with two possibilities that can show pink with the usual green. Sphinx chersis (cherry) and Sphinx drupiferarum (ash).

I just checked Bugfiles here on Dave's Garden, and the proper botanical names are different.

This message was edited Sep 28, 2013 2:57 PM

Definitely a hornworm but not the tomato hornworm, Manduca quinquemaculata. They have markings that look like a sideways V. Could be a tobacco hornworm but it could also be a number of other species that have slash markings.

waved sphinx- http://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/casefile/insects/butterflies/sphinx/sphinx.htm#waved

tobacco hornworm- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tobacco_Hornworm_1.jpg

I found "Waved Sphinx" too, in another source. I don't that book handy, but I remember it listed several trees as host plants, including oak.

Thanks to all who responded. The mystery will go unsolved, as the next morning when I went back to check on it I found the twig empty - the critter had gone. Oh well, hopefully it survived the horrendous winter and will be ready to launch itself later this Spring. As for me, I am no longer in the Catskills, having spread my own wings and migrated to Florida ;-)