Big Green Caterpillar On Tomato Plant - Tomato Hornworm

I found this big green caterpillar, a tomato hornworm, on my tomato plant after it had munched on a lot of tomato leaves and even a green tomato. They are incredibly well-camouflaged on tomato leaves and are voracious eaters, they will devastate your tomato plants. They eventuallly turn into a moth - hummingbird moth.

Tomato Hornworm with White Spikes on the Back

I also found this odd and strange looking green caterpillar with lot of white spikes on its back in my garden. The caterpillar is still the tomato hornworm, only difference is that the white things or spikes that ressemble and look like white grains of rice on the back of this caterpillar are actually pupa of the Braconid wasp. The female wasp lays her eggs on the slow moving green caterpillar. My hypothesis is that the "ugliness" or strangeness of the white things on the back of this caterpilar may offer the wasp eggs temporary protection from being eaten by other predators until they hatch.