Caterpillar?

Ok I find these and smaller ones on my tomatoes and peppers.

Images need to be more clearly focused on the caterpillar...

Yeah, unfortunately that was the best I could do. Perhaps I can edit and retry. I can say it had a tiny black spot on each side of what seemed to be his head end, and other end seemed pinkish more green in middle. As I recall more light colored on bottom...Flapdoodle, are you the entomologist of daves forums, seems you answer many of the questions?

If you can capture and photograph another specimen, try first placing it in a refrigerator for a few minutes, as this will keep it from moving too fast. Then, place it on a flat surface with a neutral background, such as gray cardboard; this should allow both for more precise focusing and truer portrayal of its color(s).

Flapdoodle is this any clearer? I didn't want to bring it in an kill it. I found another place to lay it that wasn't on my garden plants. But I regularly find these little guys. We have a myriad of butterflies around here with pears falling off the tree. The butterflies adore the fallen pears.

Unfortunately, your caterpillar is so small that the diagnostic characters used in identification simply cannot be seen in your images. Is this the only size you see, and are they associated with any visible damage to the foliage or the peppers themselves?

All of these specific ones have been this size or just about. Only found on tomatoes or pepper plants, just the foliage, honestly haven't seen them eating, but assuming a few of the holes are from them, but I don't have much more growing for them to be on, just a few things. It is possible I saw one or some on large sunflower leaves this summer, can't recall. I have found larger caterpillars that have a stripe down each side of them and the coloring is different than this one. I don't know if it could be an older one of these or something else entirely, thinking different so it wouldn't help you... I do have very clear pics of that one I can post Flapdoodle if needed. But the ones looking like this have all been quite small...I know what the hornworm looks like, so I know it isn't that.

This message was edited Sep 8, 2016 12:20 PM

Go ahead and post the other images - couldn't hurt...

Ok here is close up of other one. Here are some gorgeous butterflies too. See they love the pears!

Sure looks like a noctuid to me - maybe an early instar yellow-striped armyworm (Spodoptera ornithogalli) - see http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/Files1/Live/KeCh/KeCh9669a-cat-300.jpg for an image of a more mature specimen.

Thank you Flapdoodle. Yep, I am thinking the army worm one.