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Two pod/cocoon type things I found while gardening in my backyard. Not sure if they are going to be some sort of wasp or moth. The ends will move around slightly when the are handled. I know there is some sort of wasp that kills locust but I'm not sure if this is one of them. Feel free to help identify!
Soil
Do you know what species of tree they were under? Some caterpillars, like the catalpa sphinx, depend on one host plant, so you could make a pretty good ID, knowing that. Judging by the dark color of the pupae in your hand, they're going to emerge soon, so if you still have them, you could keep them for a little while longer to see what comes out!
Thanks everyone for your input! Latimeria, they were under a tree with no other plant life near by, hence the gardening to fix that problem :)
Definitely a sphinx moth pupa. What kinds of plants were around where you dug these up? That could be helpful in identifying them.
About the wasps, there are Braconid wasps which will lay their eggs inside of a caterpillar host. The eggs will hatch and the juvenile wasps will eat their way out of the caterpillar's body and then spin their cocoons on the caterpillar. You can see the results here: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/509...
Very cool find! I did a little research after seeing your post. I had to find out what lives in that cocoon. :)
Spotted on Apr 13, 2011
Submitted on Apr 13, 2011
