Imperial Moth Caterpillar

imperial moth catepillar?
November 1, 2009
this guy fell off a night blooming cereus plant. 11/01/09. i put him in the pot and took a few more photos. when i checked on it 20 minutes later it was gone. buried in the pot maybe? will this be its ground to pupae stage? will it eat the roots if this is indeed where it went?
Cathy Saunders
Longview Tx

Imperial Moth Caterpillar
Imperial Moth Caterpillar

Hi Cathy,
The only question we are able to answer for certain is to confirm that this is an Imperial Moth Caterpillar.  Finding it on the cactus plant is unusual and we would not expect that it was feeding there.  It may have buried itself in the pot where it will not eat the roots (guess we answered a second question), but it may also have wandered off or fallen prey to some hungry bird or other predator.

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