Daily Botanical: Tetrio Sphinx Caterpillar
Imagine one of these munching its way through your garden. I saw this one, and then I saw two others soon after!
Both terrifying (I was initially sure it must be poisonous and stepped back as if it might eat my face) and amazingly beautiful all at once.
Turns out it won’t eat your face or your entire garden, just the frangipani relatives if you have them.
December 14th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Wow, gorgeous! Is frangipani toxic?
December 14th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
It’s awfully cute.
December 15th, 2009 at 11:33 am
I’ve seem the all green version can it be the same genus/family
December 16th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Other Frangipani relatives are Oleander and Adenium ( a recent Daily Botanical post) they are in the Family Apocynaceae. And yes, they are toxic.
December 18th, 2009 at 6:16 am
I live on the island of Trinidad W.I. In my garden there are a lot of these caterpillars, i would like to know if they are poisonous? and would they sting u if provoked? I observe when u touch them, they form a defensive stance by turning their body in the shape of a circle, while aiming their black tail towards their attacker.