Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2011 09:00:56 GMT
From: Jackie Strouble
Subject: Re: Look what I dug up now…
N.A. Booko,
Your mystery find is a pupa, but of what?
It took some “digging” of my own to figure it out. My money is on the Imperial Moth (Eacles imperialis) – a large and fabulous member of the moth family found here in NC. It’s that yellow moth lavishly decorated with pink or dusty maroon patches over its fat, furry body and giant wings.
The caterpillars feed on a variety of tree species before burrowing in the ground to pupate. They emerge from the cigar shaped “shell,” such as the one that you found, as the brightly colored moth with the harlequin patches.
Thanks for the mystery. Thanks for the excursion!
Jackie Strouble
P.S. It’s definitely not poisonous!