2021 June 21

    Dr Cara Gibson sends a photograph of a chrysalis of a Mourning Cloak that she found on a pepper plant on June 8.

Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa (Lep.: Nymphalidae)

She also sends a photograph of a Polyphemus Moth, from just above the door of the Swan Lake Nature House on June 11.

Polyphemus Moth Antheraea polyphemus (Lep.: Saturniidae)  Cara Gibson

Val George sends a photograph of a crab spider from his Oak Bay garden, June 20.

Crab spider Misumena vatia (Ara.: Thomisidae)  Val George

Aziza Cooper writes:  Yesterday, Sunday, June 20, I found at least four Field Crescents in an overgrown field near the Tsartlip Cemetery on West Saanich Road. Two of the Crescents were mating.  One Essex Skipper was also there.

Access to the field is from the back left corner of the cemetery area.  It is choked with hawthorn and blackberry canes, so dress in heavy fabrics! The path is a game trail which curves eventually to the left where there is an opening with the butterflies. The Tsartlip Cemetery is just south of the Our Lady of Assumption Church Cemetery.

I didn’t visit the other known sites for Field Crescents, including Eddy’s Self Storage on Stelly’s Cross Road.  Next door to that site are two big new apartment buildings built on former fields.

[Jeremy Tatum writes:  This butterfly has borne several scientific names.  There are difficulties in frequently changing the name on this site, so we are retaining the name pratensis.  An alternative name is P. pulchella.]

Field Crescent Phyciodes pratensis (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Aziza Cooper

Field Crescents Phyciodes pratensis (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Aziza Cooper

Field Crescents Phyciodes pratensis (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Aziza Cooper

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

Jeremy Tatum sends a photograph of a caterpillar from a willow at Durrance Lake.  The moth resulting from this caterpillar will spend the winter in the adult state, and will then be one of the first moths to herald in the spring next year – hence the name Herald for this moth.

Herald Moth  Scoliopteryx libatrix (Lep.: Erebidae – Scoliopteryginae)   Jeremy Tatum

2021 June 20

    Summer starts at 8:32 pm PDT this evening.

Jeremy Tatum writes:  Just as we have (more or less) sorted out our recent computer problems, my car has developed problems.  This means that for the rest of this week there will probably be delays in posting Invert Alert contributions.  So, if your contribution does not immediately appear, that will be the reason; it will eventually appear.

Jochen Möhr sends a photograph of Stenoporpia excelsaria  from Metchosin yesterday morning.

Stenoporpia excelsaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Jeremy Tatum sends a photograph of a male White Satin Moth that was outside his Saanich apartment this morning.  A caterpillar of this species was shown in yesterday’s Invert Alert.

Male  White Satin Moth Leucoma salicis (Lep.: Erebidae – Lymantriinae)  Jeremy Tatum

Here are photographs of two comma butterflies, which emerged from their chrysalides in the last few days.  Commas habitually rest face downwards.   Both are females.  Unfortunately I didn’t manage to photograph the uppersides.  The colour renderings are, I think, accurate.

Female Satyr Comma Polygonia satyrus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)   Jeremy Tatum

Female Green Comma Polygonia faunus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)   Jeremy Tatum

Jeremy Tatum writes:  Yesterday, in the late afternoon, I visited Mount Tolmie and I saw Anise, Western Tiger and Pale Tiger Swallowtail, Painted Lady, Lorquin’s Admiral, Essex Skipper and Cabbage White.

   Val George sends photos of the two tiger swallowtails, suggesting that I show them side-by-side to show the features that I mentioned in the June 18 posting.  Alas, my computer skills are only up to showing them one above the other!   Viewers will notice that I prefer, on this site, to retain the name “tiger” for both species – some recent authors drop the “tiger” from eurymedon.

Western Tiger Swallowtail  Papilio rutulus (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Val George

Pale Tiger Swallowtail  Papilio eurymedon (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Val George

Cheryl  Hoyle sends a photograph of a katydid (also known as bush cricket) from her back yard in View Royal yesterday.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  I’m no expert on katydids (or on anything else for that matter), but I believe this one is probably Meconema thalassina.  We don’t see many katydids here, and I believe this species, the one most often seen, is not native to our area.

Meconema thalassina (Orth.:  Tettigoniidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

2021 June 19 morning

June Butterfly Count.  Message from Gordon Hart.

Hello, Butterfly Enthusiasts ,

The June count period starts today, Saturday June 19 until Sunday June 27. 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 on the VNHS website at: https://www.vicnhs.bc.ca/?p=33.

If you have difficulty with the form, please send me an email with the information.

Thank-you for submitting your sightings and good luck with your count.

Gordon

Gordon Hart,

Butterfly Count Coordinator,

Victoria Natural History Society

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Yesterday, June 18, I saw the first moth at the light at my apartment door in Saanich since March, and it turned out to be just one of the abundant lackey moths or an adult “tent caterpillar”, Malacosoma sp.    The question is: Which one?   Last July I tried to photograph both sexes of both Malacosomas, though I never succeeded in photographing a male M. disstria.  This one is a male Malacosoma californicum.

Malacosoma californicum (Lep.: Lasiocampidae)  Jeremy Tatum

  I brought in some Stinging Nettle for some Satyr Comma caterpillars that I am rearing, and I got an unexpected surprise when I found another caterpillar, shown below, on the nettles.  Followers of this site will not need to be told what genus this caterpillar belongs to.

Hypena californica (Lep.: Erebidae – Hypeninae)   Jeremy Tatum

Cheryl Hoyle Sends a photograph of a caterpillar she found on a willow in her back yard in View Royal yesterday:

White Satin Moth Leucoma salicis (Lep.: Erebidae – Lymantriinae)  Cheryl Hoyle

2021 June 18

   Marie O’Shaughnessy was up at Mount Tolmie on June 16 around 6 pm and she saw 2 Painted Ladies as well as 3 Western Tiger Swallowtails  feasting on blossoms of the Blackberry bushes and Mock Orange. The Painted Lady was on the concrete reservoir at the summit. She also saw a Sheep Moth caterpillar.

Western Tiger Swallowtail Papilio rutulus (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Jeremy Tatum comments:  This, I think, is an unmistakeable rutulus;  eurymedon is much paler and the black stripes are thicker.   Nevertheless, observers, including myself, sometimes find that we are not certain which of our two species of tiger swallowtail we are seeing.  Is the backfround colour pale enough for eurymedon?  Is it yellow enough for rutulus?  Are the black stripes thick enough for eurymedon?  Thin enough for rutulus?  Here are two criteria that I use, in addition to the paleness or brightness of the yellow.  Viewers may see a recent close-up of eurymedon on May 27 morning.

1. Look at the first (proximal – i.e. starting from the body) yellow stripe.  In rutulus it is wider than the adjacent (next outward) black stripe.  In eurymedon it is narrower.

2. Look at the crescent immediately at the base of the “tail” on the hindwing.  In rutulus it is yellow.  It eurymedon it is red.

I don’t guarantee that from now on no one (especially not myself) will ever be uncertain again! Maybe, by looking at the two pictures, viewers can suggest other useful criteria.

Also photographed by Marie:

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Sheep Moth Hemileuca eglanterina (Lep.: Saturniidae) Marie O’Shaughnessy

This caterpillar, warns Jeremy Tatum, can give you a rash if you handle it.

The following day, June 17, Jeremy Tatum reported three Painted Ladies near the Jeffery Pine on Mount Tolmie, 6:00 pm.

Jeff Gaskin writes:  Kirsten Mills and I saw a rather ragged Satyr Comma on June 16, at Beckwith Park.   It was near the ponds.

Rosemary Jorna had a productive June 17 in the Kemp Lake area and Sooke Potholes:

Goldenrod Crab Spider , Kemp Lake area

Azure, Sooke Potholes
Azure, Kemp Lake area
Swallowtail,Kemp Lake area

Golden Rod Crab Spider Misumena vatia (Ara.: Thomisidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo (Lep.: Lycaenidae)   Rosemary Jorna

Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo (Lep.: Lycaenidae)   Rosemary

OK!, writes Jeremy Tatum – before you look at the label on the next one  – were you paying attention?!

Western Tiger Swallowtail Papilio rutulus (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Rosemary Jorna

2021 June 17

    Jeremy Tatum writes:  Moths in their several stages have to exercise several strategies to avoid being eaten by predators.  The caterpillar of the moth Behrensia conchiformis, and also the cocoon that it spins in which to pupate, adopts the very simple expedient of being invisible.  Below is a photograph of the cocoon of Behrensia conchiformis.  There’s no point in staring at it.  It is invisible.

Cocoon of Behrensia conchiformis  (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

     Here are two recent geometrids from Jochen Möhr in Metchosin.   One can appreciate how difficult it is to sort all these moths out!  Thanks to Libby Avis for doing so.

Spargania magnoliata (Lep.:  Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Hydriomena californiata/marinata  (Lep.: Geometridae

   Gordon Hart and Jeremy Tatum saw several Essex Skippers at Panama Flats this afternoon, June 17.