# What the heck kinda caterpillar was that?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-kinda-caterpillar-was-that/261852
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 27, 2004, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-kinda-caterpillar-was-that/261852 "2004-08-27T21:44:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Standup\_Karmic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Standup_Karmic)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2004, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-kinda-caterpillar-was-that/261852/1 "2004-08-27T21:44:54Z")
I saw this weird kind of caterpillar I’ve never seen before. It was about 3/8" across, about three inches long, and coloured a solid pastel green. I live in Calgary, Canada, if that helps any with geographic info. I haven’t found anything so far by Googling. Oh, and it had a little tail that looked kinda like a horn.
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### Author:  [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-kinda-caterpillar-was-that/261852/2 "2004-08-27T21:53:03Z")
hmm, maybe a [tomato hornworm](http://vegipm.tamu.edu/chewing4/tomatohornworm.html)?
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### Author:  [@Lockseer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lockseer)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-kinda-caterpillar-was-that/261852/3 "2004-08-27T21:57:52Z")
> [@Standup Karmic](#):
>
> I saw this weird kind of caterpillar I’ve never seen before. It was about 3/8" across, about three inches long, and coloured a solid pastel green. I live in Calgary, Canada, if that helps any with geographic info. I haven’t found anything so far by Googling. Oh, and it had a little tail that looked kinda like a horn.
Were the “eyes” black or red? Sounds like something similar that we’ve been getting bucketloads of here in Michigan…
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### Author:  [@Standup\_Karmic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Standup_Karmic)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2004, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-kinda-caterpillar-was-that/261852/4 "2004-08-27T22:04:36Z")
You know, I never checked the colour of his (her?) eyes.
Certainly the body and horn look a little like the one I saw. But this was a little more pastel-y than the photos suggest. More like [this colour.](http://www.craftpizazz.com/products/15522) Also, he didn’t have any stripes. And his skin texture was different. But I can’t say how for sure.
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### Author:  [@Lockseer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lockseer)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2004, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-kinda-caterpillar-was-that/261852/5 "2004-08-27T22:14:22Z")
> [@Standup Karmic](#):
>
> You know, I never checked the colour of his (her?) eyes.
>
> Certainly the body and horn look a little like the one I saw. But this was a little more pastel-y than the photos suggest. More like [this colour.](http://www.craftpizazz.com/products/15522) Also, he didn’t have any stripes. And his skin texture was different. But I can’t say how for sure.
From what I remember of my entymology classes in my days as a Bug and Plant major (have to love agricultural schools), it does sound like a hornworm. The green does come in different shades (including pastel), and has even (oddly, I think) prompted Behr paint (or Glidden…can’t recall…one they sell at Home Depot) to name one of it’s shades “Hornworm Green,” which looks like a more pastel version of the green in the link above.
Are you concerned about any vegetation you have planted, or were just curious about the species?
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2004, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-kinda-caterpillar-was-that/261852/6 "2004-08-27T22:23:35Z")
It’s not necessarily a tomato hornworm: all [Sphinx Moth caterpillars](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&q=sphinx+moth+caterpillar&btnG=Search), IIRC, have such a horn, and most of them are green.
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### Author:  [@Lockseer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lockseer)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2004, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-kinda-caterpillar-was-that/261852/7 "2004-08-27T22:29:31Z")
> [@lissener](#):
>
> It’s not necessarily a tomato hornworm: all [Sphinx Moth caterpillars](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&q=sphinx+moth+caterpillar&btnG=Search), IIRC, have such a horn, and most of them are green.
Lissener is right on. I misspoke…didn’t mean “tomato hornworm” in particular, but the hornworm family of caterpillars in general, to which the various Sphinx caterpillars belong:
[http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05517.html](http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05517.html)