INVERTEBRATE ALERT
This blog provides an informal forum for terrestrial invertebrate watchers to post recent sightings of interesting observations in the southern Vancouver Island region. Please send your sightings by email to Jeremy Tatum (tatumjb352@gmail.com). Be sure to include your name, phone number, the species name (common or scientific) of the invertebrate you saw, location, date, and number of individuals. If you have a photograph you are willing to share, please send it along. Click on the title above for an index of past sightings.The index is updated most days.

2022 April 18

2022 April 18

Jochen Möhr writes, from Metchosin:  Eupithecia ravocostaliata – I presume.  Jeremy Tatum replies:  E. ravocostaliata is one of our largest pugs and is distinctively marked.  One would think that it would be easy to identify.  Unfortunately, it has a look-alike cousin  –  E. nevadata.   I’m sure there must be an obvious difference between the two, but I have not yet figured out a completely reliable way of telling which is which.  If anyone out there knows, please let us know.  Until then, it’ll have to remain an either/or.

Eupithecia ravocostaliata/nevadata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Note added later, by Libby Avis:

I think this one is probably Eupithecia nevadata – lighter brown & larger triangular shaped brown mark along the top (costa) of the wing opposite the discal spot. Like this one on Bug Guide:

https://bugguide.net/node/view/1505131/bgimage

Jeremy Tatum adds:  It’s well worth having a look at the Bug Guide site that Libby gives – the image there certainly does look very like Jochen’s.

2022 April 17 morning

2022 April 17 morning

    Barb McGrenere writes:  Mike and I saw two male Sara Orangetip butterflies on Mount Douglas on April 14.  They were flying low on the south side of Mount Douglas in the Garry Oak meadow area.

2022 April 16

2022 April 16

    April Butterfly Count.  For information on April’s Butterfly Count, scroll down to yesterday’s posting, April 15, to see Gordon’s announcement.

 

Aziza Cooper writes:  Yesterday, April 15, I saw a Mourning Cloak fly across Quadra Street near the corner of Tattersall Road. On Monday, April 11 I saw two Cabbage Whites,  and on April 15, I saw one more Cabbage White. Those are the only butterflies I’ve seen this year so far.  Aziza continues:  Here’s a photo of a tiny beetle, from my apartment on Salsbury Way near Tattersall. I took it on April 6.

 

Anthrenus verbasci (Col.: Dermestidae)  Aziza Cooper

 

Rosemary Jorna writes:  I am sending a number of views of the same bumble bee near the Charters Creek trestle in the Sooke Hills.   I left home in sunshine , hoping for butterflies, but I got grey, cool and sprinkles of rain.   The bee was the only insect. The flowers were lovely.

 

Thanks to Gordon Hart for identifying the bee as the Vancouver Bumble Bee.  A lumper taxonomist would regard it as a subspecues of Bombus bifarius, namely  B. b. vancouverensis;  whereas a splitter would give it full species status as Bombus vancouverensis.  Perhaps from a sense of local pride (supported by an impression that the splitters are currently winning, believing that true bifarius is restricted to a few southern U.S. States) we’ll label it in this site as Bombus vancouverensis. There are previous records in this site – In 2020 they were labelled B. bifarius;  in 2021 they were labelled B. vancouverensis.

 

Bombus vancouverensis (Hym.: Apidae)  Rosemary Jorna

 

 

Bombus vancouverensis (Hym.: Apidae)  Rosemary Jorna

 

 

Bombus vancouverensis (Hym.: Apidae)  Rosemary Jorna

 

2022 April 15

2022 April 15

Notice from Gordon Hart re April Butterfly Count

Hello Butterfly Enthusiasts,

Despite the cool spring weather, butterflies are being sighted and we will have an April count! The count period starts Saturday April 16 until Sunday April 24. This is an informal census of butterfly numbers and species in Greater Victoria. The area is defined by the Christmas Bird Count circle, extending from Victoria to Brentwood Bay and Island View Road in Central Saanich, and west to Happy Valley and Triangle Mountain, and Langford Lake and Goldstream areas.

You can submit a count any time over the count period, just use a separate form for each count and location. In the case of repeat or duplicate counts, I will use the higher numbers. To submit counts, please use the form from the VNHS website at https://www.vicnhs.bc.ca/?p=33
If you have difficulty with the form, just send me an email with the information.
Thank-you for submitting your sightings and good luck with your count.

Gordon Hart,

Butterfly Count Coordinator
Victoria Natural History Society
Note: if you no longer wish to receive these notifications, please let Gordon know by email at butterflies@vicnhs.bc.ca

2022 April 14

2022 April 14

    Jeremy Tatum writes:  Today I saw a Cabbage White flying across busy McKenzie Avenue, and also I’m pretty sure I had a brief glimpse of a Western Brown or Moss’s Elfin in Carey Road at the very urban UpTown end, Victoria.