Sphinx ID needed.

Chris Conlan conlan at adnc.com
Sun Aug 15 12:23:18 EDT 1999


Not sure which Sphingid your larva is (many look similar and not sure of
your location...Canada somewhere?) but you can get them to pupate without
soil.  Just put the larva in a small plastic box (like tupperware) with some
moist paper towels on the bottom.  For the first couple days the larva will
race around the box and shred the towels.  Then it will become sedentary for
a few more days (you may want to change the towels at this point if they are
badly destroyed) before it makes the final molt to pupa.  I do all my
Sphingid and Saturniid (those that burrow) larvae this way.  If I have a
large number I will have two boxes.  One for larvae still wandering and then
another to transfer them to when they become sedentary.  This prevents an
active larva from running over a newly molted pupa.

Chris
----------
>From: gwang <gwang at mb.sympatico.ca>
>To: leps-l at lists.yale.edu
>Subject: Sphinx ID needed.
>Date: Sat, Aug 14, 1999, 6:41 PM
>

>Hi y'all,
>
>I found this really huge caterpillar in my backyard today but my
>resources for IDing hawkmoth caterpillars is....well, pathetic.
>


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