Identification request
Location: Guatemala (Jocotenango, Sacatepéquez)
September 23, 2011 2:13 pm
Dear Mr Bugman:
I am currently volunteering in a combined elemntary & secondary school in Guatemala. Some of our fifth graders found this beauty in the garden. They’d love to turn it into a science project to see it become a butterfly, but I have my doubts that it will accept a jar as proper place for pupation. But I’m getting ahead of myself, since we don’t even know what it is yet.
Thanks for your help & keep up the great work!
Signature: Regards, Reinhard Prosch
Hi Reinhard,
Your caterpillar is that of a Fig Sphinx, Pachylia ficus. The Fig Sphinx is a large Hawkmoth, not a butterfly. According to the Sphingidae of the Americas website: “Larvae pupate in cocoons spun amongst leaf litter.”