It's not a butterfly — it's a moth! Learn how to identify the promethea silk moth, a beautifully patterned backyard visitor.

Characteristic cocoon with final instar larva and pupa of the alpine rose leaf-miner moth on Rhododendron ferrugineum in Ardez, Graubünden, Switzerland. Alpine rose leaf-miner moth adults resting ...

The caterpillar, along with most others in the Saturniidae family, spins a silk cocoon. This is where it then spends its time as a pupa, the stage of development before the moth becomes an adult.

Adult atlas moths may be massive, but they do not feed at all after they have emerged from the cocoon. The proboscis, which other butterflies and moths use to drink nectar, is tiny and does not work.