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Photo#57152
Pupa opened! (Pachylia ficus Fig Sphinx) - Pachylia ficus

Pupa opened! (Pachylia ficus Fig Sphinx) - Pachylia ficus
Boca Raton, West Palm Beach County, Florida, USA
Size: 1.5 inches
Some of you may have been waiting for this. I captured a large caterpillar version of this moth and it went into chrystallis a couple of weeks back. Well, he just hatched out today. Here is the spent chrystallis.

Images of this individual: tag all
Bright green caterpillar - Pachylia ficus Bright green caterpillar (now orange backed) - Pachylia ficus Bright green caterpillar (now orange backed) - Pachylia ficus Pupa opened! (Pachylia ficus Fig Sphinx) - Pachylia ficus Top View, drying wings (Fig Sphinx) - Pachylia ficus Side View (Fig Sphinx) - Pachylia ficus

one of these has moved in to our backyard! what do i do?
showed up yesterday morning, wasnt sure if its poisonous and we have 4 dogs, so we moved him, pretty far we thought, and he came back this afternoon! it took a few minutes to find ur pics and actually identify it, and shortly after reading the info and figuring out what stage its in, i took it over to a good spot with leaves, and he burried himself right before my eyes! guess thats what he was looking for! now im really excited and wanna learn more and see what happens, when can i dig up the pupa?

 
Digging up is hard to do without injuring the pupa
A better solution might be to cage the burial area (with window screening or something similar) so you can catch the moth when it emerges. Read Tony Thomas's comments on this one (below) that I unearthed (from a pot of soil I had it in, which is easier than getting it out of the ground) for some warnings if you do decide to give it a try (just click on the image to see the discussion).


Thanks!
I was waiting! I've linked your caterpillar images to these recent ones, as they are all of the same specimen - easy to do with tagging.
I have to say, I think the caterpillar is even more handsome than the moth.

 
Yes, the caterpillars are pre
Yes, the caterpillars are pretty grand creatures, but the moth is BIG and has a stately presence as well.

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