09/24/2026
Well, you never know what arrives with your floral shipments.
This not so little guy hitched a ride and what I thought was a piece of a branch turns out to be an amazing caterpillar searching for its spot to transition.
This is a pandora sphinx moth caterpillar.
The features are:
* 🐛 Large, smooth, thick body
* Five prominent white oval “eyespots” along the side, each with a dark centre
* Fine black speckling over the body
* Brown/purple coloration
* No obvious horn at the rear — this is normal in the later stage of Pandora sphinx caterpillars; they lose the horn before pupating.
It is now munching on some wonderful compost and hopefully it pays us a visit once it has turned itself into a gorgeous moth.
Nature can be so cool and also shocking.
