2021 March 31 morning

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  On March 29 I saw a Sara Orangetip at the Mill Bay ferry terminal, and a Cabbage White was near the Duncan sewage lagoons also on March 29.

    Jeremy Tatum writes:  While I, as an astronomer, insist that Spring starts when the declination of the Sun is zero degrees, which was on March 20, there are many who regard Spring as starting when the first Orangetip of the year is seen.

    Charlene Wood sends a photograph of a small staphylinid beetle.  She writes:  The staph found on my property on March 29 was a female Philonthus cognatus. In the Camosun neighbourhood of Saanich, near the greenway on King’s Road.  This introduced species bears a characteristic first antennal segment that is bicolored, with yellow below and black above. The head, pronotum, and elytra are slightly metallic with a greenish lustre. ~10 mm long. 

Philonthus cognatus (Col.: Staphylinidae)  Charlene Wood

2021 March 30

   Val George saw his first butterfly of the year.  It was a California Tortoiseshell sunning itself on the Mount Tolmie reservoir.

California Tortoiseshell Nymphalis californica (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Val George

   Here are more fascinating night-time photographs by Ian Cooper from the Galloping Goose Trail and Colquitz River Park.   Thanks to Charlene Wood for confirming Ian’s identification of the first two insects.

Nut Leaf Weevil Strophosoma melanogrammum (Col.: Curculionidae)  Ian Cooper

Nut Leaf Weevil Strophosoma melanogrammum (Col.: Curculionidae)  Ian Cooper

Ground beetle larva (Col.: Carabidae)  Ian Cooper

Millepede, possibly Ophyiulus pilosus (Diplopoda: Julidae) Ian Cooper

Lauria cylindracea (Pul.: Lauriidae) Ian Cooper

Possibly Prophysaon sp. (Pul.:  Anadeniidae)  Ian Cooper

Arion rufus (Pul.: Arionidae)  Ian Cooper

Female spider, Neriene sp. (Ara.: Linyphiidae) Ian Cooper

Probably Philodromus dispar (Ara.: Philodromidae)

2021 March 29

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  My first butterfly of the year today – a brief glimpse of a Cabbage White flying over Shelbourne Street.

Meanwhite Ian Cooper is continuing with his wonderful photographs of interesting animals.  First, a remarkable photograph of a moth that has just ecloded (emerged) from its pupa probably only a minute or so ago.  Its wings are just mere stubs – they will expand to their full size within the next fifteen minutes.  At this stage, without being able to see the wing pattern, or much of it, it is impossible to identify it.  Or is it?  I had a guess myself, and I asked Libby Avis to have a guess, too, at this impossible task.  Well, we both came up with the same genus – Orthosia –  that’s pretty impressive, though I says it meself.  Libby’s guess was O. hibisci; mine was O.praeses. Remarkable photograph in any case.

Added later:  Libby reminded me that the first thoracic segment of praeses should be a rich orangey-brown, so it’s definitely not praeses.  I’m tempted now to label it as a definite hibisci, but I shan’t push my luck, so we’ll leave it as O. sp.

Orthosia sp. (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Ian Cooper

Probably Oniscus asellus (Isopoda:  Oniscidae)  Ian Cooper

Grey Field Slug Deroceras reticulatum (Pul.: Agriolimacidae) Ian Cooper

Pimoa altioculata (Ara: Pimoidae) Ian Cooper

2021 March 28

   So called “pussy willow” catkins at this time of year are good places to see nectar-seeking insects.  Rosemary Jorna sends a March 25 photograph of a pussy willow twig from near Parkinson Creek on the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail, with a variety of flies and bees on it.  The most obvious fly, on the right just below centre, is a tachinid.  I see two more tachinids, and at least one bee.  It is often exciting to go out at night with a strong flashlight to see moths nectaring at pussy willows catkins.

In addition to these flies at Parkington Creek on March 25, Rosemary also saw a Mourning Cloak butterfly there.

“Pussy willow” catkins with flies and bee   Rosemary Jorna

   Shown below are two images of a tachinid fly.  Tachinid maggots develop inside other insects, such as the caterpillars of butterflies and moths.  Many adult tachinids can be recognized as such by their bristly abdomens.

Tachinid fly (Dip.: Tachinidae)   Rosemary Jorna

Tachinid fly (Dip.: Tachinidae)   Rosemary Jorna

   I have to admit, continues Jeremy, that flies are not among my favorite insects, tachinids in particular being rather low down in the scale of insects that I find attractive.  Syrphid flies (known as hover flies or flower flies) are exceptional, and I think I am not alone in finding some of them to be quite attractive as flies go.  Below is a syrphid, paying attention to its personal hygiene, keeping its eyes clean.  It was a dead heat between Jeremy Gatten and Jeff Skevington, both of whom immediately identified it as Sericomya chalcopyga.  Jeremy G even came up with an English name:  Western Pond Fly.

Sericomyia chalcopyga (Dip.: Syrphidae)   Rosemary Jorna

   And here is another dipteran, photographed by Ian Cooper.  It stumped me, writes Jeremy Tatum, but we thank Dr Rob Cannings for confirming Ian’s original identification as a non-biting midge of the Family Chironomidae.  Males often have elaborate plumed antennae;  this one is a female.

Female non-biting midge (Dip.: Chironomidae)  Ian Cooper

Female non-biting midge (Dip.: Chironomidae)  Ian Cooper

Jeremy Tatum writes:  Egira crucialis and E. simplex  are two moths of springtime that are often quite difficult to distinguish.  However, although the adults are confusingly similar, the final instar caterpillars are very different.  The moth below emerged from its pupa this morning, and since it was reared from a caterpillar (feeding on Ocean Spray), we have no doubt that it is Egira crucialis.

Egira crucialis (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Jeremy Tatum

2021 March 27 afternoon

   Rosemary Jorna sends pictures of flies from the Kemp Lake area.   She points out that the first two are the same species that she photographed last year and which we identified then as:

                          Certainly Empididae    Probably Empis    Possibly  Empis barbatoides.

She says they put her off her dinner, and she’s glad they aren’t her size.

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  The third fly, in its actual size, would more likely put me off my dinner than the empidids.   I don’t know exactly what it is, although I think it is most likely one of the Calliphoridae.

Probably Empis (Dip.: Empididae)  Rosemary Jorna

Probably Empis (Dip.: Empididae)  Rosemary Jorna

Diptera, probably Calliphoridae     Rosemary Jorna

   Ian Cooper has been continuing wandering, on bicycle, along the Galloping Goose Trail in the middle of the night.  He photographed these creatures in the dead of night.  I don’t think any of us would like to meet them if they were our size.

Callobius pictus (Ara.: Amaurobiidae) Ian Cooper

Unidentified sheetweb spider (Ara.: Linyphiidae)  Ian Cooper

Unidentified sheetweb spider (Ara.: Linyphiidae)  Ian Cooper

Eratigena (probably duellica) (Ara: Agelenidae)   Ian Cooper

Flat-backed Millepede (Polydesmida:  Eurymerodesmidae) Ian Coope

     Almost as difficult as identifying millepedes is deciding how to spell them.  Millipede or millepede?  I can think of convincing arguments to support either spelling.  After arguing with myself for a while, I persuaded myself that we can make finer use of the English language if we distinguish between “milli” to mean a thousandth part of, as in millimetre, and “mille” if we mean a thousand, as in millepede.   To use the same spelling for both uses blurs its meaning and weakens our language.