Animal>insects?

I found a "pod" in my flower garden. It is approximately the size of an egg and made out of a material similiar to the paper-type bees nests. Inside this "pod" was a large worm-like creature with a sectioned hard shell. The worm-like creature is approximately 1 - 2 inches long and as big around as a finger. What is this? I live in western PA.

Animal%26gt;insects?
It almost sounds as if you've found a pupa inside a butterfly's cocoon. Each butterfly has a differently designed cocoon which usually hangs off or is attached to a leaf or twig. The pupa inside is often enclosed within a hard shell, and may or may not be able to move, especially when genetly squeezed. In this state, the pupa is helpless and harmless, and does not even have a mouth to bite with.





The pupal stage is the third stage in the metamorphasis cycle of a butterfly or moth. They begin life inside an egg, then hatch into a caterpillar, then weave a cocoon and become a pupa, and then, finally reaching adulthood, they emerge as a winged moth or butterfly.
Reply:I think you've found Elvis
Reply:I do not know which species it is, but that sounds like the galls made by certain wasps. They build a special "pod" on tree branches and lay their egg inside. You found it before it got finished metamorphasizing.