2022 May 30

     Here is a photograph of the original woolly bear caterpillar – the caterpillar of the Garden Tiger Moth Arctia caja.  This one was found along Munn Road Hydro right of way. 

Garden Tiger Moth Arctia caja (Lep.: Erebidae)   Jeremy Tatum

2022 May 29

     Jochen Möhr  (Metchosin) writes:  After several days of nothing, this morning a

Litholomia napaea:

Litholomia napaea (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Jeremy Tatum writes:  On May 26 I showed a photograph of an egg of the geometrid moth Coryphista meadii.   Today the egg hatched.  Here is the empty egg shell:

Coryphista meadii (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jeremy Tatum

Here is the tiny first instar caterpillar.  Like many youngsters, it was exceedingly active and it wouldn’t stay still for a decent photograph.

Coryphista meadii (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jeremy Tatum

   As soon as I saw that the egg had hatched I went up to Mount Tolmie to get a fresh Mahonia leaf for the young caterpillar to feed upon.  With a pair of scissors I snipped off the first decent-looking fresh leaf that I saw, and I hurried home.  Only when I looked at the underside of this leaf did I see that it had on it another egg of Coryphista meadii!  So now I’ll have two Coryphista caterpillars to look after.

Coryphista meadii (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jeremy Tatum

2022 May 28

    Jeremy Tatum writes:  Happy Birthday!

    Jeff Gaskin writes, May 27:  I saw a Western Tiger Swallowtail fly across Sooke Road near the Colwood exit,  a Satyr Comma at Fisher’s Field, a Mourning Cloak along Veteran’s Memorial Parkway south of Kelly Road,  and a second Mourning Cloak on the Galloping Goose trail near Hatley Park memorial gardens.  The only other butterflies I saw today were Cabbage Whites – some nine of them.

2022 May 27 afternoon

    Viewers may recall Rosemary Jorna’s photograph of a Ceanothus Silk Moth Hyalophora euryalus ovipositing, May 6.  Rosemary writes that the caterpillars have now hatched, and she sends photographs of the tiny first-instar caterpillars feeding on Thimbleberry Rubus parviflorus.

Hyalophora euryalus (Lep.: Saturniidae)   Rosemary Jorna

Hyalophora euryalus (Lep.: Saturniidae)   Rosemary Jorna

Hyalophora euryalus (Lep.: Saturniidae)   Rosemary Jorna

  Jody Wells sends photographs of a dragonfly from Pendray Farm, near Victoria Airport, May 25.  Dr Rob Cannings writes:  This is a female Cardinal Meadowhawk  Sympetrum illotum. Note the brown marks at the base of the wings and the white lateral thoracic spots.  Just the right time for them to be appearing, although the first ones might have been a bit late this cool spring. This one has recently emerged, thus the muted colours and the rather filmy wings. Looks healthy and intact, though.

Sympetrum illotum (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Jody Wells

Sympetrum illotum (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Jody Wells

   Jeremy Tatum writes that there was a Painted Lady (butterfly) on the Mount Tolmie reservoir at 4:45 this afternoon.  [Viewers of this site will have learned recently (May 21) that there is also such a thing as a Painted Lady beetle!]

2022 May 27 morning

    A correspondent sends a photograph of a pristine-fresh Spilosoma virginica seen in East Metchosin yesterday.  This is the adult of the familiar Yellow Woolly Bear caterpillar that we see in late summer.

Spilosoma virginica (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)