2022 July 6 evening

    Ken Vaughan and Marie O’Shaughnessy independently visited Mount Tolmie yesterday, and apparently saw more-or-less the same butterflies!

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta (Lep.:  Nymphalidae)   Ken Vaughan

Anise Swallowtail Papilio zelicaon (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Ken Vaughan

Lorquin’s Admiral  Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Ken Vaughan

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Ken Vaughan

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Pale Tiger Swallowtail Papilio eurymedon (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

2202 July 6 morning

    Ken Vaughan sends photographs of a miscellany of insects from the Beaver Lake Retriever Ponds, July 5.  The first, writes Jeremy Tatum, is another fly that I can’t identify, although the Family might possibly be Sciomyzidae.  Again we ask if there are any dipterists out there who can help, please help!

Diptera, maybe Sciomyzidae      Ken Vaughan

Cicada Okanagana (probably occidentalis)  (Hem.: Cicadidae)   Ken Vaughan

Male Blue-eyed Darner Rhionaeschna multicolor (Odo.: Aeshnidae)  Ken Vaughan

Male Western Pondhawk Erythemis collocata (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Ken Vaughan

Female Blue Dasher Pachydiplax longipennis (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Ken Vaughan

Agrilus (probably politus)  (Col.: Buprestidae)  Ken Vaughan

   Val George and Jeremy Tatum both have moths to show:

Emmelina monodactyla (Lep.: Pterophoridae)  Val George

Elder Moth Zotheca tranquilla (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

2022 July 5 evening

    Aziza Cooper sends photographs of a damselfly from Panama Flats, July1;  and an Essex Skipper and a fly from Swan Lake, July 4.  Jeremy Tatum also notes that several  Essex Skippers are now (July 5) flying at Swan Lake.

 Jeremy Tatum writes:  The fly is beyond my knowledge to identify, although the genus Pollenia passes through my mind – although I am by no means sure of this.   If any dipterist out there has a suggestion for its identification, please do let us know.

Tule Bluet Enallagma carunculatum (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)  Aziza Cooper

Essex Skipper Thymelicus lineola (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Aziza Cooper

Unknown fly – possibly Pollenia?  (Dip.: Polleniidae)   Aziza Cooper

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I found two small (early instar) caterpillars at Swan Lake today, July 5:

Rusty Tussock or Vapourer Moth Orgyia antiqua (Lep.: Erebidae – Lymantriinae)

  Jeremy Tatum

Western Spring Azure Celestrina echo (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Here are three snails from Carey Road.  Two of them were camera-shy (or to be honest, I lacked patience), but one obliged.  You can appreciate how fast snails can move only if you are sitting behind a camera with your finger on the expose button.

Cepaea nemoralis (Pul.:  Helicidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Cepaea nemoralis (Pul.:  Helicidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Jochen Möhr sends photographs of moths from Metchosin this morning.

Female Malacosoma californicum (Lep.: Lasiocampidae)   Jochen Möhr

Idaea dimidiata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Noctua pronuba (Lep.; Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

2022 July 5 morning

     Jeremy Tatum writes:  I thought it might be of interest to gather in one place the three white moths that have appeared in recent weeks on this site.  The excellent Spilosoma photograph is unattributed at the request of the photographer.

Spilosoma virginica

Hyphantria cunea   Jeremy Tatum

Leucoma salicis  Jeremy Tatum

And while on the subject of identification difficulties, it is often straightforward to distinguish between the Western and Pale Tiger Swallowtails, but I’m sure many butterfliers have occasionally not been quite sure of a particular specimen.  The photograph in today’s (July 5) Times-Colonist, page B8, shows a Tiger Swallowtail that I cannot be 100 percent certain about.  The butterfly is yellow enough for a Western, but the black stripes are fairly thick, and the crescent at the base of the tail is orange.  I wonder if the two occasionally hybridize.  The caterpillars are indistinguishable, and I have often wondered if they are genuiniely different species.   Comments from viewers would be welcome.

On the other hand the butterfly below,  photographed at Esquimalt Lagoon June 30 by Aziza Cooper, looks, to my eye and to Aziza’s, like a fairly clear Pale Tiger Swallowtail.

Pale Tiger Swallowtail Papilio eurymedon (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Aziza Cooper

2022 July 4

    We have three fairly common medium-sized white moths locally: Hyphantria cunea, Leucoma salicis and Spilosoma virginica.  So, which is the one shown below, found at UVic today?

Leucoma salicis (Lep.: Erebidae – Lymantriinae)  Jeremy Tatum.

For Hyphantria cunea, see June 20.  For Spilosoma virginica, see May 27.

   Mike Yip writes: 

  Mark Wynja and I did two Canada Day surveys. On July 1 we spent 4 sunny hours on Northwest Bay logging road. Except for numerous Lorquin’s Admirals it was very quiet with a few Western Blue Azures, Pale Tiger Swallowtails and Western Tiger Swallowtails and singles of Hoary Comma, Green Comma and Dun Skipper. 

  On July 2 we spent 5 intermittently sunny hours (30% of the time it clouded over) on Cameron and Pass Main (Mount Cokely Road). The road to the top was open, but it was still early spring conditions with snow on the mountain, not many wildflowers, and only 15° C at the upper levels.  We managed to scrounge up a disappointing 10 species. There were several Western Meadow Fritillaries,  Green Commas, Silvery Blues, Persius Duskywings, Pale Tiger Swallowtails, Western Tiger Swallowtails, and Sara Orangetips; singles of Cedar Hairstreak and Mourning Cloak; and many Mylitta Crescents. 

  I hadn’t been up Cokely for a couple of years and didn’t recognize much of the area on the drive in. What used to be a well-forested area has been nuked and looks more like a barren moonscape dotted with huge teepees of usable wood (fence posts, pellets, etc) soon to be torched during slash burning.

Female Sara Orangetip Anthocharis sara (Lep.: Pieridae)  Mike Yip

Male Sara Orangetip Anthocharis sara (Lep.: Pieridae)  Mike Yip

Persius Duskywing Erynnis persius (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Mike Yip

Male Dun Skipper Euphyes vestris  (Lep.: Hesperiidae)   Mike Yip

Male Dun Skipper Euphyes vestris (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Mike Yip

Male Mylitta Crescent Phyciodes mylitta (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Mike Yip

Female Mylitta Crescent  Phyciodes mylitta (Lep.: Nymphalidae)   Mike Yip

Silvery Blue Glaucopsyche lygdamus (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Mike Yip

Silvery Blue Glaucopsyche lygdamus (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Mike Yip

Green Comma Polygonia faunus  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)   Mike Yip