and it's really nasty looking!! and what's WORSE is that we put it in a bug cage and forgot about it for about 2 days and then I started smelling something DEAD in the garage. It had opened and there was nasty brown liquid and a bunch of worms!! BLECH!!! I thought one big thing would come out, not a bunch. I left it outside and glanced at it this morning and saw ants all in it, so apparently they ate all the worms. EEEEWWWW!!!! What is it?!
konkreteblond - it was a pupa of a sphinx moth (family Sphingidae). Some of the more common varieties that you might be familiar with are the hummingbird moths (see some pictures over in the humminbird and butterfly thread) that buzz around and visit flowers at dusk. I can't tell how large this one is, so I don't know whether this one was a hummingbird moth or not, because sphinx moths can range in size from medium sized to fairly large. Most typically have big bodies and pointed wings and usually fly quickly.
Sphinx moths typically pupate in the soil - that "handle" on it which is actually the long tongue iIbelieve, is typical of sphinx moth pupae. Whenever you see the "handle," you know that's what you've got.
I thought it might be some large thing, like a Cicada or a large moth, but when it opened up with a bunch of small worms, that kind of went out the door. Maybe something parasitized it underground?? More EEEWWWW!!!
...this is really disgusting...lol...I have raised butterflies for about 3 years now and have always brought my cats inside when young or before they pupate, and have been lucky to not have had any of them parasitized. I think I would just be so devastated! I am sad that this hummingbird moth didn't make it. I've only seen one in my yard. Oh well, maybe there will be more.
Thanks for the ID! oh, Night_Bloom, I just realized it was you! When I posted this I thought about you!
This message was edited May 11, 2005 11:55 PM
This message was edited May 11, 2005 11:56 PM
