He is beautiful
Look who come to visit
He or she is most certainly beautiful...do you know what kind of moth this is? or perhaps someone will be able to identify him/her for you.
It is a Luna moth
oh yeah , little type Tomato Hornworms and nightshade plants for Larvae , They only fly at night , naturally . hence the name ,
Daytime you can find them resting upside down under awnings and overhangs , shady inside limbs of trees , and so on ,, I see them from time to time , Hatched one once at the cost of a few tomato leaves . One was all that lived , I don't think they like tomato leaves as much as a few other plants , who knows , time to go look it up I guess ..
Wow I planted tomatoes and not for them. Ouch should I be worried? *shiver*
Their more into trees according to given information . They will omnivore though , not fully known why .
OK thanks.
Luna Moths are Sweetgum tree caterpillars, chuckl, tomato hornworms are Hawk Moths, guys- like the Hummingbird Moth.
Ok well I love hummingbird moths and they visit every year also...guess I will share my mators :) They seem to really love my Night blooming Jasmine and Lantana.
I love Luna moths! I have found a caterpillar or 2 each year for the past 3 years and brought them in to cocoon and hatch. I have pecan trees in the yard and that is their preferred food for here. Last year I found this guy in the picture late in the year. It cocooned and then did nothing....waited and waited...I thought it may have died, and then found info that it will overwinter. I gave it to a neighbor and it just came out a couple days ago.
The 3rd pic is of a caterpillar I found in my yard last year burrowing near the mulch pile. It was huge! maybe 5 inches long and fat as my thumb. Turns out it is a Horned Devil ! They feed on hickory as caterpillars, and then burrow underground to do their metamophosis. I i cant remember the name of the resulting moth, but I remember it is not as big as you'd think from the size of the caterpillar. It is also somewhat dull in color. the spines are harmless, but look fierce! It was hard to get any good pics, because this caterpillar can scoot! It was constantly in motion and i took about 15 pics and hardly any do it justice. The turquoise color was almost pearlescent. I think it was ready to get to digging so I was detaining it and it was not gonna cooperate for it's captor. I let him go near a pile of mulch and compost that I wont use til fall so I dont accidentally dig it up.
Wow I would love to find one of these as a caterpillar so I could watch the process. That one in you picture sure does look fierce :)