CLOSED: who is this cat & what is all over him?

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larlienda Strasburg, VA(Zone 6b) Sep 07, 2007

my daughters spotted this big cat while we were out...any ideas on who it is and what is all over him/her?

thanks,
lynda

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fly_girl The Woodlands, TX(Zone 8b) Sep 07, 2007

The poor hornworm has been parasitized by a Braconid wasp. Those white things are the cocoons of the baby wasps that have been feeding on the worm. It's probably a horrible and slow death for the hornworm. When it gets ready to pupate the wasps will kill it.

Mother Nature can be cruel.

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JPlunket Vieques, PR Sep 08, 2007

I've seen them, never knew the name. The larvae get bigger and bigger --on the one I saw they appeared almost as a fll fur coat on a large caterpillar-- ultimately weakening their host, which in the case of the one I observed fell to the ground, unable to hold onto a plant, but still alive. Soon, the little wasps emerged and by that time the caterpillar was not moving, but not decaying as you'd expect a dead one to appear.

The irony for me was that the wasp larvae, though appearing on many caterpillars I saw, did not keep their population from chewing up my tomatoes pretty badly.

Smart parasites --they let their host live (and eat) just long enough to complete the key parts of their life cycle.

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larlienda Strasburg, VA(Zone 6b) Sep 08, 2007

I went to check on him later and he had fallen off of the tomato plant into the container it was planted in...i don't know that it helped but i knocked off all of the little wasps and took the caterpillar to a tree....

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Gymgirl SE Houston (Hobby), TX(Zone 9a) Sep 08, 2007

Do tomato hornworms bite, sting, or otherwise harm your hand if you pick them up? Larlienda, how did you pick him up?

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fly_girl The Woodlands, TX(Zone 8b) Sep 08, 2007

They don't bite or sting, the horn is a fake....to ward off predators......unfortunately it doesn't scare off the wasps.

That was nice you tried to save him Lynda, but by the time the wasps spin their cocoons, it's too late.

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Gymgirl SE Houston (Hobby), TX(Zone 9a) Sep 08, 2007

Thanks, fly!

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larlienda Strasburg, VA(Zone 6b) Sep 09, 2007

darn....well, at least he had a good last meal or two

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