Manduca sexta

Manduca sexta
Caterpillar
Adult moth
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Sphingidae
Genus:	Manduca
Species:	M. sexta
Binomial name
Manduca sexta (Linnaeus, 1763)[1]
Synonyms
Sphinx sexta Linnaeus, 1763 Protoparce sexta Phlegethontius sex Sphinx carolina Linnaeus, 1764 Manduca carolina Phlegethontius carolina Protoparce carolina Macrosila carolina Protoparce jamaicensis Butler, 1876 Sphinx lycopersici Boisduval, [1875] Sphinx nicotianae Boisduval, [1875] Sphinx paphus Cramer, 1779 Protoparce griseata Butler, 1875 Protoparce leucoptera Rothschild and Jordan, 1903 Protoparce sexta luciae Gehlen, 1928 Protoparce sexta peruviana Bryk, 1953 Sphinx caestri Blanchard, 1854 Sphinx eurylochus Philippi, 1860 Sphinx tabaci Boisduval, [1875] Protoparce sexta saliensis Kernbach, 1964

Manduca sexta is a moth of the family Sphingidae present through much of the Americas. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1763 Centuria Insectorum.

Commonly 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. 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. Additionally, tobacco hornworms have red horns, while tomato hornworms have dark blue or black horns.^[2] 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). M. sexta has mechanisms for selectively sequestering and secreting the neurotoxin nicotine present in tobacco. ^{[citation needed]}

M. sexta is a common model organism, especially in neurobiology, due to its easily accessible nervous system and short life cycle. Due to its immense size M. sexta is big enough for medical imaging modalities (like CT, MRI, or PET) and used as a model in imaging and gut inflammation.^[3] It is used in a variety of biomedical and biological scientific experiments. It can be easily raised on a wheat-germ-based diet. The larva is large, and thus it is relatively easy to dissect it and isolate its organs.