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Extension > Garden > Diagnose a problem > What insect is this? > Trees and shrubs > Caterpillars, maggots, grubs, and similar immature insects - Longer than 2 inches > Abbott's sphinx

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Abbott's sphinx

Sphecodina abbottii

Black cutworm

Tom Murray


Description: 3 inches long. They are at first green with a horn on the tip of their abdomens; they then become bluish green with light cross stripes and an orange knob instead of a horn. As mature caterpillars, they are mottled brown or brown with ten green squarish patches along its back. Both forms have an eye-like knob at the end of the abdomen.

Where/When: Feeds on grape and Virginia creeper. Present in June and July.

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