© jciv
Habitat: United States (from Massachusetts south to southern Florida, west to Nebraska, New Mexico and southern Arizona), through Mexico, the West Indies and Central America and into parts of South America (including Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil)
Status: Not Evaluated
My dream when I was younger and mildly obsessed with Pokémon (okay, that’s a straight-up lie – I was freaking insanely obsessed) was to one day have these creatures come to life so that I could really “Catch ’em all.” Little did I know that my dream would actually come true one day! Er, sorta.
This is a Teresa Sphinx Moth caterpillar (Xylophanes tersai) and it has the uncanny resemblance to Weedle Caterpie (I’m rusty, ok?). In fact, the illustrators must have used this caterpillar as real life inspiration for their design. If they don’t admit to it they’re lying.
The larva of the Teresa Sphinx Moth eventually transforms from a snake-like worm with several glaring false eyespots into an incredibly streamlined, almost military-esque moth that looks like it was carved from wood and then polished into a smooth finish.
This is another example of ‘which version is cooler?’ as first proposed in this post on the jewel-turned-muppet creature. Let me know what you think in the comments!
