mystery caterpillar

[zanzjan]

Found a very strange caterpillar this evening. Don't suppose anyone recognizes it? Unfortunately all the butterfly guides I found only have minimal caterpillar information, same lack of success with googling. It's not a very good photo -- my camera isn't really built for close-up. It's about 2.5" long. I found it on my front porch, so no clues from vegetation; it may even not be local, as I had my front door replaced today and I dunno where the new one shipped from, but the caterpillar was right in the work area and could conceivably hitched a ride on the box.

Comments

[jostajam.livejournal.com]

The Darapsa versicolor aka Hydrangea Sphinx looks pretty similar. I found it here: http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?guide=Caterpillars

At least the site is fun to look at.

[seawasp]

It's definitely one of the sphinx moths. The little spine at the end makes it look like a tomato hornworm, but those are bright green and very large caterpillars. Still, it's clearly a sphinx of some sort.