I am not sure I have the correct terminology here, cocoon? Larvae? I found this in the compost tonight. It's soft (opposed to rigid/dead) and almost two inches long. One healthy sized puppy. Might anyone know:
1. What this is, or will be?
2. Bad guy or good guy?
3. If its a good guy, put him back outside in soft dirt?
Thank youuu!!!
Oh, we are in Merced, CA, zone 9, if that helps.
It is the pupa of a moth, more than likely a noctuid moth, the brownish-grey ones that often buzz around the back door light. Their larvae are cutworms...nasty.
I'm certainly no expert but I'll bet it's some type of moth pupae. If you google for images using the search phrase "moth pupae" you will get a lot of very similar pictures.
Looks like sphinx moth (hawkmoth) pupae, especially if they're 2 inches long. Good or bad depends on your point of view. It could be tomato hornworms or it could be another type of sphinx moth.
I learned somthing new today. Thanks,
Patti
Wow! Thanks for the post and the answers. I learned something new, too. I'm glad I've been smashing their bodies all the while. We don't need more cutworms.
I'm learning, too! Now I know I can kill them and know what I'm doing, except if they are large enough to be a sphinx moth, I would certainly protect it! They are just beautiful! I found the caterpillar to one last year on some Gaura. I was so excited I wanted to protect the thing so I brought it inside in a jar with the plant inside. It did well, but I felt bad for it being inside and didn't want to risk losing it, so I put it back on the gaura plant. The next day it was gone. Probably something ate it. I felt terrible because it was the coolest thing I've ever seen in my garden. I had named it 'Wormy'. I get teary eyed just remembering how I loved that caterpillar. And I've never even seen another one. Rats.
Now I'm feeling so guilty. If they're cutworms I don't want them but if they're beautiful moths I would. How do I decide?
pirl, would you cry more over the dead moth or the dead flowers? LOL
We find those in the garden sometimes. I took 5 into the garage and put them in a pot of dirt. They hatched and were sphinx moths, black with pink on the wings, big as bats but pretty!
Thank you guys, ever so much. I looked up Hawk moth and sure enough. Guess he's bound for de dump de dump. (Can't squish it, nope) We have had a few Hummingbird moths before, wonder what their pupae (thank you, Todd and Tom!) looks like, off too Google land.
Remember, size is everything in moth pupae land! LOL The little 1 inch ones cannot be sphinx moths. They have to be big enough to qualify for that. I've never seen a big one in my garden. Just Wormy. But I am glad to know that these moths have a chrysalis that I would not see hanging from a stem. Maybe he lived afterall.
trackinsand: "Dead on target"
