Joining ABC Wednesday - Round 15
Click on "red words above to find posts by other participants!
"A"
Actually,
As I was outdoors this morning, removing the spent daylily blossoms and the "empty" stems, I found myself RUNNING back into the house to retrieve my camera!
There were
Absolutely no two ways about it, I had to get a photo,
Alright! For I had spotted a most unusual moth... camouflaged, no less!
Anyhoo, back to the Sunny Corner Bed I hurried!
And,
Ah-Ha(!), it was still there, hiding on and in the iris foliage,
As if I hadn't noticed. :-)
Alright. Might you be
Agreed that this is no less than
Awesome?
Actually,
According to Bugguide.net, it is an
Eumorpha pandorus - Pandoris Sphinx.
Awww.
Aren't you glad you
Arrived here today?
Again, before you go, I'll offer a few bits of information gleaned from Wickipedia today.
Female adults lay
translucent eggs singly on leaves of the host plant, mainly
Vitis (grapes), which we do not have, and
Parthenocissus (Virginia creeper) which is found growing all around "chez Shady!"
The larval photo below was copied from the internet, but it was taken by Patrick Coin. I hope it is
Alright that I post it below. It might be difficult to spot the larvae...
... but I'd love to see it in person!
"Larvae consume copious amounts of
foliage (which I would encourage here, as there are COPIOUS amounts of Virginia Creeper "creeping" everywhere it's allowed!) and when they are ready they climb down their
host plant and burrow underground, where they
pupate. The
pupa is dark brown in color, quite slender, and has a long
cremaster. There the pupa will remain for either a couple of weeks or a couple of months, depending on the
generation. When the pupa is ready, it wiggles to the surface just prior to
eclosion.
The newly emerged adults then climb on a plant or some other surface,
and pump fluid into their wings to extend them. Females emit
pheromones at night, and males fly into the wind to pick up and track the
pheromone plume." (Wickipedia)
This process is one my son and I observed first-hand when we put a tomato horn worm in an aquarium when he was quite young. We fed it "copious" numbers of tomato branches with leaves. It then buried in the soil. When it was ready, the hidden pupa gave way to a sphinx moth with different markings. :-)
Alack! Many types of hornworm larvae (caterpillars) eat garden plants... and can cause damage.
Alas. The best way to control may be to find and "do away" with them.
As for Me? Stand
Aside while I run back into the house! :-)
Arrivederci!!
Shady Gardener
