Last fall, I saw this caterpillar on my lantana. What is it?

Kenn and Kimberly: This beautiful creature is a rustic sphinx moth larva (Manduca rustica). More than 100 species of sphinx moths are found in the United States, and the larvae of most types have a raised hornlike appendage at the hind end—they’re sometimes called hornworms for this reason. You can recognize the rustic sphinx caterpillar by the colors of its diagonal stripes, the different shades of green above and below those stripes, and the very rough or granular surface of its horn. Lantana is a common host plant for these caterpillars.