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Tomato Horn Worm
Manduca
quinquemaculata


Tomato
Horn
Worms are
very hard to see
as they hang in the shade underneath foliage.
But this
one, covered with white cocoons of the predatory Braconid Wasp,
is
easily
seen against a background of ripe tomatoes.
Buy Braconid Wasps
Here.
Also seen
to the left, is
its
ornamental yellowish tail "horn",
from which it gets its
name.
If allowed to mature, the Horn Worms may exceed 3" in
length.
It's very difficult to find the two Horn Worms in
the top of this photo.
It's much easier to spot evidence of their presence in the bottom 3
photos:
On the left are dark green pellets
indicating a Hornworm above.
In the
middle is a stem missing some leaves; another Smoking Gun.
On the
right is a wilted leaf hanging by a nipped stem, which leads the eye
to the white Cocoons and their otherwise
camouflaged host nearby.
Leaves
are
their normal diet,
but this Tomato
Worm was caught munching on a Green Tomato.
Even though it
looks healthy,
it may be doomed by Wasp Eggs already laid in it.
It must continue to eat if any
Wasp
Larvae inside it
are to mature
and come out to spin cocoons.
But it will
never spin its own cocoon to become
a
winged adult
and lay eggs to propagate its species in your Garden.
In this photo, just
to the right of the bottom Wasp,
can be seen the dark half-moon of a
Wasp
nearly chewed free.
And just below the same Wasp, can be seen the dark
head of a Wasp
through the translucent end of its cocoon.
I noticed two individual Wasps
get separate but identical reactions from the Worm when they took
flight
from its "Horn". As they crawled up to the tip of the Horn, the Worm
made
a sideways thrash of its head,
that in a split second formed its body
into
a horseshoe.
It appeared that the Horn was extremely
sensitive.
I
marveled
that this undermined victim
had the strength to perform this powerful reaction.
These two Horn Worms are in the
final stages of predation. At left is a dead specimen which is turning
brown.
On the right can be seen open-ended cocoons, indicating that their 1/4"
occupants have emerged and flown away to mate and victimize more Tomato
Horn Worms. The microscopic exit holes made by the
emerging
larvae, can
be seen on both Worms.
Buy
these tiny Predatory
Wasps for your own Garden.
The
mature Caterpillar bores into the soil to complete its life cycle.
Here
the Adult Moth has just emerged while another is ready.
A
closeup of the Emerged Moth
which will fly and mate at night to perpetuate its species.
"The Creator can make a
winged Moth or Butterfly
out
of a crawling, chewing Caterpillar.
And
He can make an Angel out of you !" - N.H.
"Who so ever"
We would like to know what laid the dozen
copper-colored eggs neatly on the center leaf.
Crowded
We counted 145 Cocoons in this Horn Worm photo.
There could easily be another 60 unseen.
We wonder if they all had the same Mother,
and if they all emerged from the dedicated hole
from which their egg was injected.
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If you remove the Horn Worms with attached
Cocoons, and put them in a glass jar with no lid, they will die.
But
the predatory Wasps will emerge and fly away to prey on other Horn
worms in your Garden,
and reproduce to protect your Tomato Plants next year.
When you see stems with leaves missing, remove the
stems so you know future leafless stems are new damage with Horn Worms nearby.
Note that most of the Horn Worms seen here are really Tobacco Horn
Worms, which have 7 diagonal stripes, instead of the 8 found on Tomato Horn
Worms.
   
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