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I found two catipillars of a Tersa Sphinx - Xylophanes tersa

on a plant in my flowerbed.

Mom was going to toss them over the fence or spray them so I saved them in a jar instead!

Right now its just a plain mason jar with stem/leaf clippings in it and a paper towel over the top.

What setup do I need to see them through to mothhood? Or should I just release them elsewhere?

Will these guys eat lantana??? if so theres a whole wild patch of it behind the house where they'll be safe.

thanks all!

does this mean he's about to cocoon/pupate?

I went back out to see if it needed more leaves yet and found gooey green stuff all over the place and he had shrunk in size and turned from bright green to a brown color.

I cleaned the container out and put some soil in the bottom then stuck the limb he was on back in.

Hi there,

yup, it's ready to pupate. they do lose a good bit of body weight as they begin the final hardening of their "skin." These are earth pupators but you can successfully let them pupate in an empty toilet paper roll or even some crumpled up paper towel in the bottom of a container. This is a good way if you do not have the time to sterilize the soil - there are potential parasites/predators in regular garden soil that could eat/destroy the pupa. If it has stopped wandering it will begin pupating wherever it is. If still wandering be sure to cover the container with screen or something so it doesn't wander out.

Where do you live? We don't have this species this far north (NH) so I do not know how long they will be before emerging as adults. here's a link w/some veery nice photos - what a lovely creature!

lele
tersa sphinx