NFR Chrysalis?

[Dave Boyle]

Dug up some of these doing yard work and my poor attempts at online ID drew a blank. My lab ate one but didn’t like it. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Dave

 

[chrome/22]

Best guess it's a moth pupa, likely from a moth in the Noctuidae (owlet moths) or Sphingidae (sphinx moths) families.

 

[chrome/22]

Cutworm is common here, this is the life cycle

 

[Dave Boyle]

That looks like it, thank you!

Dave

 

[chrome/22]

Your plants are safe now, the larva do all the damage

 

[Dave Boyle]

Your plants are safe now, the larva do all the damage

Funny I’ve dug up the larvae before too, now I know. Exterminate them.

Dave

 

[chrome/22]

They attacked my wife's Asters one spring, big mistake.

She went after them with a flashlight & finished off a whole generation!