Remember Godzilla?
The 1954 iconic film, Godzilla, featured what Wikipedia calls "an enormous, destructive prehistoric sea monster awakened and empowered by nuclear radiation."
I have a Godzilla.
I have it only because my neighbor served it its eviction notice from her garden and gave it to me--a three-inch long tobacco hornworm doing a Joey Chestnut on her tomato plants.
She knew I wanted one. Actually, the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, was looking for some hornworm frass (droppings) and had none.
I have plenty now.
If the stars align and Godzilla (Manduca sexta), continues to feel awakened, enlightened and empowered in my little habitat, she will become a Carolina sphinx moth, also known as a hawk moth or a tobacco hawkmoth.
See what an eviction notice can do?
Attached Images:
This three-inch-long tobacco hornworm appears to be ready to eat more tomato leaves (or the photographer). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"Godzilla" roaming around her habitat. Tobacco hornworms (Manduca sexta) become Carolina sphinx moths, also known as hawkmoths or tobacco hawkmoths. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)