[Manduca sexta]
From Wikipedia [1]:
Manduca sexta is a moth of the family Sphingidae present through much of the American continent. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1763 Centuria Insectorum.
Commonly known as the Carolina sphinx moth and the tobacco hawk moth (as adults) and the tobacco hornworm and the goliath worm (as larvae), it is closely related to and often confused with the very similar tomato hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata); the larvae of both feed on the foliage of various plants of the family Solanaceae. The tobacco hornworm is sometimes kept as a pet by children throughout its range. The larvae of these species can be distinguished by their lateral markings: Tomato hornworms have eight V-shaped white markings with no borders; tobacco hornworms have seven white diagonal lines with a black border. Additionally, tobacco hornworms have red horns, while tomato hornworms have dark blue or black horns. A mnemonic to remember the markings is tobacco hornworms have straight white lines like cigarettes, while tomato hornworms have V-shaped markings (as in “vine-ripened” tomatoes). M. sexta has mechanisms for selectively sequestering and secreting the neurotoxin nicotine present in tobacco. …
During the larval stage, M. sexta caterpillars feed on plants of the family Solanaceae, principally tobacco, tomatoes and members of the genus Datura. M. sexta has five larval instars, which are separated by ecdysis (molting), but may add larval instars when nutrient conditions are poor. Near the end of this stage, the caterpillar seeks a location for pupation, burrows underground, and pupates. The searching behaviour is known as “wandering”. The imminence of pupation suggested behaviorally by the wandering can be anatomically confirmed by spotting the heart (aorta), which is a long, pulsating vessel running along the length of the caterpillar’s dorsal side. The heart appears just as the caterpillar is reaching the end of the final instar. …
Tobacco hornworm caterpillars emit short clicking sounds from their mandibles when they are being attacked. This sound production is believed to be a type of acoustic aposematism, or warning sounds that let predators know that trying to eat them will be troublesome; tobacco hornworms have been observed to thrash and bite predators after producing those clicking sounds. These clicks can be heard at a close distance with a frequency range of 5 to 50 kHz. The intensity of clicks increases with the number of attacks.
References:
- Manduca sexta, Wikipedia. (n.d.). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manduca_sexta (Accessed 15 August 2019)
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