I found this slightly buried in the dirt in my garden. It is all brown with no markings. Does anyone know what butterfly/moth it is? It moves so I want to care for it correctly so it will live. Dawn
Whose pupa is this?
It could possibly be a Tersa sphinx moth. I raised one successfully in the past. At this stage. Simply keep it indoor, in a butterfly cage with some thing that it can climb up to when it pupate, then release the purdy one. It would be fun for your children/grandchildren to watch along with you.
What plant did you find it underneath?
It was under a grapefruit tree but there are virginia creeper nearby.
Could be an Achemon Sphinx (Eumorpha achemon)
http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=5304044
they use Virginia Creeper as a larval host. We get a species of Achemon out here and that's why I bought a Virginia Creeper for my yard last year. Am hoping to find those moths using it as a larval host.
You can lay a paper napkin at the bottom of a container and then shred some more paper towels or white paper and lay that on top of the pupa. They often bury themselves into soil but it's so much cleaner and easier to keep track of them using the shredded paper or paper towel method. Make sure you add a twig or strip of cardboard to give the emerging moth something to climb up on.
There are a couple of other moths that use Virginia Creeper as a larval host but the pupa is speckled or more marked and not a solid brown color like yours or much smaller.
Do let us know what it turns out to be.
~ Cat
This message was edited Jul 16, 2009 8:48 PM