A mnemonic to remember the markings is tobacco hornworms have straight white lines like cigarettes, while tomato hornworms have V-shaped markings (as in 'vine-ripened' tomatoes). Additionally, tobacco hornworms have red horns, while tomato hornworms have dark blue or black horns. The larvae of these species can be distinguished by their lateral markings: Tomato hornworms have eight V-shaped white markings with no borders tobacco hornworms have seven white diagonal lines with a black border.

The tobacco hornworm is sometimes kept as a pet by children throughout its range. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1763 Centuria Insectorum.Ĭommonly known as the Carolina sphinx moth and the tobacco hawk moth (as adults) and the tobacco hornworm and the Goliath worm (as larvae), it is closely related to and often confused with the very similar tomato hornworm ( Manduca quinquemaculata) the larvae of both feed on the foliage of various plants of the family Solanaceae. Manduca sexta is a moth of the family Sphingidae present through much of the Americas. Protoparce sexta saliensis Kernbach, 1964.Protoparce leucoptera Rothschild and Jordan, 1903.

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