Hi,
Perhaps someone can help me. I found this huge cocoon on the ground in my back yard. The size is about 2" long and 1 inch" across. It is made of Elm leaves and some type of spun fibre. It was opened on both ends. Inside was some brown matter, maybe exoskeleton or shell, with 2 opened little white eggs. I have never seen anything like this before.....
Thanks!
Jw, since it was made of Elm leaves, I would guess it's an Elm Sphinx Moth cocoon, with pieces of the pupa. I'm not sure what the eggs are....maybe from a predator?
I couldn't find any pics of this Sphinx cocoon, the only one I found was the Cecropia Moth, and it looks somewhat like yours:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://entomology.unl.edu/images/cecropia/cecrop_pupa2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://entomology.unl.edu/images/cecropia/cecropia.htm&h=406&w=600&sz=66&hl=en&start=30&um=1&tbnid=0ORAvO2-g_j_HM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmoth%2Bcocoon%26start%3D18%26ndsp%3D18%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN
Thanks fly_girl! That is most likely what it is, or we do have a few Hummingbird moths that love my Pentas....I wonder if it could have maybe been one of those?
