Owlet Moth Pupa?

A couple of months ago, I discovered a bizarre-looking specimen on the concrete path leading up to our front porch, at the edge of the grass. Thinking it was some sort of eyeless, soil-dwelling creature gone astray, I focused my camera on the wrong end, as I did with a certain furry orange caterpillar once. As it turned out, that end was the anus, not the head, for it was a moth pupa! Also called a chrysalis (usually in reference to butterflies), the pupa is the stage of a moth's (or butterfly's) life after the larval and before the adult stage. The larva (caterpillar) spins a cocoon and then rests inside it, undergoing metamorphosis, until it emerges after a period of time as a winged adult. Now, I found this pupa separate from its cocoon; this is necessary because in order to become an adult the pupa must first exit the cocoon. Yet not all moths spin a silk cocoon. 

Below is photo of a Hyalophora cecropia pupa, with the body parts labeled. You might want to consult this before looking at my photos in order to understand where all the parts are. Remember, though, that different species have different proportions, but the basic anatomy is the same. 

© 2010 Megan McCarty, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CecropiaMothLabelled.jpg

What threw me off at first was the fact that the abdominal region tapered to a point and moved about when prodded, implying a head (like a worm). If you flip through the photos in the slideshow you can see the movement.

Of course I was very excited to see what kind of moth it would turn into. Unfortunately I made the mistake of placing the pupa not on the concrete, but beside the grass, in an area occupied by ants. 

By the next day the ants had opened the pupa and were seeking the larva inside. The poor thing never had a chance. Unable to help it, I let the ants have it; they needed to eat too. 

However, before all this happened, I did notice two things: (1) there was an empty pupa nearby, and (2) there was what I believe to be an owlet moth on a blade of grass not far from the area where I found the pupae. Could there be a connection?

I know this evidence is still circumstantial, but I did think it odd at the time that the moth was resting on a blade of grass instead of in some more secure place. Maybe its wings needed to dry out after emerging from the pupa? I wish I could identify the species of moth that formed the pupae, but the pupae of different species can look very similar, so I'm assuming that sight alone is not always the best method for an ID. If only I hadn't placed the live pupa among the ants! I had considered bringing it inside the house, but I was afraid that if I changed its environment it wouldn't develop properly. I'll act differently next time.