This early in the year, chances are it will eclose sometime this summer.

Keep it in a container where it has the ability to climb up a side to dry its wings. The pupa does not have to be covered with anything. Keep it out of the sun and don't let it get real hot. I guess think about what temperatures it would have experienced where you found it.

If you still have it come October, then we need to discuss overwintering procedures.

FYI: There are butterfly chrysalises that wiggle too.

Thanks, KC. I'm glad that I won't have to keep it covered because it would be nice to be able to see it. My husband wasn't around when I found it and I'd like to show it to him, so I guess I'll carefully get it back out of the small container that I put it in.

About your last statement, I might not have been clear enough. I know that my butterfly chrysalises/pupas wiggle (I think probably almost every kind I've raised wiggled, at least a few of them). I just wasn't sure whether to call this pupa a pupa for sure, but now I know that's what it is. I guess only the silk moths make cocoons? I know a lot about butterflies but am pretty lost when it comes to moths. Some year when I have things under control, I might just get into raising some moths too.
Cathy

Depending on where your entomology degree is from, you may or may not refer to a moth pupa as a chrysalis. Same is true for how entomologists pronounce many of the binomial names.

Many moth cats make cocoons. Many don't. Some like the gypsy moth spin just enough silk to keep the pupa where they want it. I've been asked at least once during my travels whether the majority of moths make cocoons or not. I don't know the answer and I'm guessing the answer depends on your definition of cocoon.

The difference between cocoon and pupa is pretty well defined. The cocoon is something a moth caterpillar spins or creates prior to forming its pupa inside the cocoon. Most butterflies just make a pupa.

It is not clear from the above text which one Cathy found in the soil. If it is smooth and shiny like a pupa, keep in mind that many kinds of insects pupate in the soil, not just moths.

Considering it is 2" long and that Cathy thinks it is a moth pupa, that really limits what it could be. A large beetle or solitary wasp are the other pupae that come to mind but they have protruding body parts that differentiate them from lepidoptera. A fly puparium can be mistaken for a moth pupa but I'm not familiar with a fly in the US that has a 2" puparium.

I agree that the difference between cocoon and pupa is easy to define. OTOH, cocoons are a moving target. During my first entomology class at Ohio State, I learned that some lepidopterous larvae form an underground "cell" to pupate in (e.g. regal moths). Other larvae produce silk which may be used to sew leaves together to form a "protective chamber" for the pupa or, alternatively, the silk is spun into a "cocoon" surrounding the pupa. So I asked whether the luna moth makes a "cocoon" or a "protective chamber" because it uses leaves, it is not surrounded by silk and I always thought it made a cocoon. And that is when I found out that the word "cocoon" was a moving target because the answer I got was "it depends on whom you ask."

Back then, I also read a paper on Australian flies that made "cocoons." I guess it was a big deal because the practice was much more common than had been thought. Anyway, one of the maggots in the study would make a space in some dung and then use a fluid/glue from its mouth to tie the dung fibers together. The maggot would eventually be totally encased in dung fibers, and that case was called a "cocoon" in the article. My prof said it was a cocoon because the fluid from the maggot pretty much saturated all the fibers. I pointed out that the regal caterpillar uses a fluid to cement soil particles together in its "cell." That comparison got shot down because the "cell" has only a top half. I never found out whether a moth exists that makes a complete cell so I could continue my argument.

Anyway, I know a cocoon when I see it but my colleague may disagree with me.

KC

Larry, Maybe I can get my daughter to take a picture of it someday if I can ever catch her not rushing off to do something. Well, I know how to take the picture but it's her camera, and I also don't mess with putting them on the computer. I'm 99% sure it's a moth pupa and am anxious to see what comes out of it eventually, but it's always good to be reminded that not just moths pupate in the soil.

KC, That's very interesting. I think I'd have been majorly confused had I taken that entomology class. I'm really anxious to see what comes out of this pupa. I have no idea how easy it is to tell one moth pupa from another. I guess if they're huge like this, it at least kind of narrows it down to a few.

Cathy

Cathy, do they look like any of the attached photos?

I immediately thought sphinx moth pupae because that is what it sounds like to me.

Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: Sphinx moth pupa images

Susan, Thank you! I think it's one of those! Several pictures look the same to me, so I'm not sure exactly which one but I'm now almost certain that it's some type of sphinx moth. I know that we had a big cat eating away at the nicotiana last year and I was thinking that maybe it was that. I also kept seeing a white-lined sphinx moth cat up in the bean patch last summer and always admired how pretty it was.

One of these days I'll start raising moths too. I certainly have enough small walnut trees here (the aquirrels like to plant them) that I could feed some luna moth cats. I planted a moon vine this year at a trellis right outside our back porch this year and am hoping that it will draw some moths. Some of them are really pretty!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that after seeing your post I "dumped" the moth pupa out of the ground that I had it in and measured it. It's actually 2-1/2" long. Funny, I didn't even remember it having that "tail" on it, but it's there! :)

Cathy

The "tail" is "housing" the probiscus. Not all sphinx moth pupae (considered "bare pupae" unlike say, many of the moths that build a cocoon around the bare pupae) have a juglike handle that houses the probiscus. A likely candidate is the Tobacco Hornworm, Manduca sexta, which are more common East of the Rocky Mountains. Did you have any tomato, pepper, eggplant, or other solanceae family members growing in your garden?

Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: Manduca sexta pupa aka Tobacco Hornworm

Chances are if you had one munching your nicotiana, it was the tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta). Nicotiana is its host. There is a ton of research on these little guys as they were a major pest of tobacco farms. Which IMO is not fair as they were here eating tobacco first. The relationship between the tobacco plant and the moth is very complicated. It is one of the few plants that pollination depends on the very bug that eats it as well.

The tobacco plant produces nicotine as a pesticide. It even produces some in the nectar. The thought is that by having nicotine in the nectar at varying amounts, the plant forces the moth to try different flowers. In addition, there is the possibility it get's a little buzz from small amounts of nicotine.

Neat bug.

Let us know how it goes,
Elisabeth

Susan, Well, if that isn't the neatest thing, having the proboscis in there! I just learned something new! Since I found this huge pupa, moths are interesting me more these days, and I really would like to raise some sometime. I guess it would have to be at another time when I have the gardens more under control. Considering the size of those big silk moths, I think they'd go through a ton of food and it would require pretty much of my time gathering food for them.

A little off of the moth subject...I think I probably gathered the last of the food that I'll need for the Pipevine Swallowtails, as they're mostly all in pupas or soon ready to pupate. I've been gradually moving them into the pupa chamber, aka laundry room, and am down to only half a dozen containers now. I had told my husband that I was only going to raise about 30, but every time I went out to gather food I'd see some more and they look so gosh darn cute that it's hard to resist bringing them in. So I ended up with about 80.

I've been making my rounds around the garden weeding tackling a section or two each day and trudging on to the next, trying to get caught up. I've pretty much given up on getting any vegetables planted besides the tomatoes and peppers that I planted about a month ago. I'm putting part of the gardens back into lawn because I'm finding out that I'm not Wonder Woman. lol

Elisabeth, I'll have to read up on the Tobacco Hornworm because I think that's what it is. I know what you mean about it not being fair for the hornworms because they were here first eating the tobacco and then we came along.
Hee hee, so the moth gets a bug buzz from the tobacco then. :) Neat! Very interesting info!

Cathy