Today, I decided to do a little yard maintenance. I started mowing grass... then checked out the raspberry vines, only to discover they have re-rooted themselves across the fence into the yard... then I picked about 18 gallons of cherry tomatoes (well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it was at least 15). That last part is when things got interesting.
While picking tomatoes and jalapenos, I noticed something weird hanging from one of the pepper plants. A closer look showed it to be a crazy looking caterpillar with what I presumed to be eggs on its back. Eeeek! I enjoy a cute little caterpillar, but throw a horn on its head and some eggs on its back, and I start gettin' weirded out. So, into the house I go in search of the camera.
Yikes, right?! Well, my inquisitive mind got the best of me, so I spent the next half hour on the interweb determined to figure out what it was....
Behold, Manduca sexta, the tobacco hornworm. But... I don't grow tobacco. Further investigation reveals that the tobacco hornworm is often confused with its relative Manduca quinquemaculata, the tomato hornworm. Now, tomatoes, I grow. So, why a tobacco hornworm on my pepper plant? Well, allow me to elaborate.
Both species of caterpillar feed on members of the Solanaceae family, a family that includes tomatoes, tobacco and peppers. Finally! I thought my garden plants had morphed into mutants that I could smoke instead of eat. What a relief.
Now, what about those weird white things? Well, they are babies, but not the caterpillars. They're the cocoons of a parasitic braconid wasp. Adult wasps lay eggs inside the caterpillar using a syringe-like ovipositor. While they're laying eggs, they also inject a virus into the host that compromises its immune system, allowing the eggs to develop and feed inside the host without it knowing it! The larvae then emerge from the caterpillar and make cocoons to morph into adult wasps. Holy. Cow. It's like something out of a science fiction movie, but it's in my garden!
Okay, that's enough nerdiness for one day. Hopefully that made up for my absence. Soon, I promise to share some stories about Bernard, maybe some mussels, and who knows what else.
'Till then! :)
