One of my babies ready to leave the Aquarium. Nice “color code” on these moths. They really blend into the bark of trees when they land on the trunks. Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas
Sphinx moth photos
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I have not found anything that matches your parasites, Keith=
will you be able to photograph them as adults?
John
http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/ent525/close/parasites.html
The braconid wasp is considered a parasitoid of the hornworm because it causes the hornworm to die as it pupates.
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/casefile/insects/butterflies/sphinx/sphinx.htm#tomato
TOMATO HORNWORM
GENUS and SPECIES: Manduca quinquemaculata
The Tomato Hornworm, Manduca quinquemaculata, also known as the Five-Spotted Hawk Moth,
is very closely related to the Carolina Sphinx (pictured above). This two species are very difficult to
distinguish and are found on many of the same host plants. Both species can be pests on tobacco and tomato .
The Carolina Sphinx, Manduca sexta, also-known as the Tobacco Hornworm.
The caterpillar is an important pest of tobacco and also feeds on a few related plants, such as tomato.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/beneficials/beneficial-04_braconid_wasp_on_hornworm.htm
Individual species tend to be specialized to a particular host. A good example is the Cotesia congregatus (older name, Apanteles congregatus). Less than 1/8 inch long, black with yellowish legs and clear wings, this tiny wasp considers the tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) and the tomato hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata) “meals on wheels.”
Gambrus nuncius (Say) are about 5/16 inch long, reddish-black (basal half of abdomen reddish and rest black with a whitish yellow mark at the tip in females). The first segment of the male abdomen is black. This parasite attacks caterpillars of swallowtail butterflies.
Trichogramma minutum Riley about 1/64 inch long, wings are fringed with hairs, yellow-brownish abdomen and pink eyes, parasitizes eggs of many insect pests such as the cotton bollworm, spruce budworm, corn earworm and southern cornstalk borer. Trichogramma wasps sold commercially are parasites of cabbleworm, tomato hornworm, corn earworm, codling moth, cutworm, armyworm, webworm, cabble looper, corn borer and almost all moth and butterfly eggs that hatch into worm pests.
Females lay from one to fifty eggs which are deposited in a single host egg (25 at a time, depending on host size). Host eggs turn black with the newly hatched wasp larva moving within the host egg, killing the embryo. Larvae hibernate in the host egg with the number of broods varying from 13 to 50, depending on climate.