Carolina Sphinx

• It is one of the classic model organisms in insect physiology: its size makes it easy to dissect and instrument, and many aspects of insect metamorphosis, flight and nervous system were first studied in it.
• Its caterpillar sequesters the nicotine from tobacco and exhales it through lateral pores, which drives off the wolf spiders that would prey on it: a literal case of defensive bad breath.
• The adults feed while hovering and pollinate long-tubed night-flowering plants, with which they have coevolved.
• It is one of the most widely used model insects in the world in physiology and neurobiology: its large size, easy rearing and accessible nervous system have made it the entomological equivalent of the laboratory mouse.
• Much of what we know about the hormones of insect metamorphosis was discovered with it.
• Its caterpillar sequesters nicotine from the tobacco it eats and breathes it out through lateral pores; that nicotine-laden breath drives off the wolf spiders that prey on it. The mechanism was described in 2013 and christened defensive halitosis.
• The adult sips nectar while hovering, with a very long proboscis, and is an important pollinator of long-trumpeted night-blooming flowers.
• The caterpillar has a horn at its rear end, harmless despite its appearance, which gives it the name of hornworm.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)

Habitat and environment

Crops and open ground with nightshades in the Americas

Size at birth

Light green spherical egg about 0.5 mm across; the first-instar larva measures 1-2 mm

Sexual maturity

The mature larva goes down to the ground, looks for soft soil and burrows in to pupate, a process that can take a week; the adult emerges one or two weeks later in warm weather, or passes the winter as a pupa

Gestation / incubation

The eggs hatch in 2-4 days; the larva goes through five instars in 15-20 days, a prepupal stage of 5 to 7 days follows and the pupa lasts two to five weeks. The full cycle requires about 30 days at 27 °C and lengthens to 39-48 in cold conditions

Litter / clutch size

The female mates within a few days of emerging and can lay more than 1,000 eggs over her lifetime, one by one on the underside of the leaves of nightshades

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Manduca sexta · LSU AgCenter, ficha Manduca sexta · NCBI PMC11702677, metodos estandarizados de cria · Fichas de ciclo biologico de Manduca sexta · LSU AgCenter

Best time: Adults on the wing at night through the warm months, feeding at tubular flowers; two generations a year in the north of its range and three or more in the south