2021 March 23
More photographs by Ian Cooper from Colquitz River Park and the Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal.
Adult Limax maximus. Light colored variant (Pul.: Limacidae) Ian Cooper
Young Limax maximus (Pul.: Limacidae) Ian Cooper
Springtail Orchesella villosa (Coll.: Orchesellidae) Ian Cooper
Pimoa altioculata (Ara.: Pimoidae) Ian Cooper
Sac spider Anyphaena sp. (Ara.: Anyphaenidae) Ian Cooper
2021 March 22
More photographs by Ian Cooper from Colquitz River Park and the Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal. We’ll start with two that we can’t identify. Suggestions (reasonable ones!) from viewers welcomed.
We don’t know this slug. Maybe a species of Prophysaon? Or not?
Unknown slug Ian Cooper
The next one is probably the larva of some nematoceran fly.
Fly larva? Ian Cooper
Snail-eating Beetle Scaphinotus angusticollis (Col.: Carabidae) Ian Cooper
Dark-bodied Glass Snail Oxychilus draparnaudi (Pul.: Daubebariidae) Ian Cooper
Cryptomastix germana or Vespericola columbianus (Pul.: Polygyridae) Ian Cooper
Robust Lancetooth – Haplotrema vancouverense (Pul.: Haplotrematidae)
Very small snail – Lauria cylindracea (Pul.: Lauriidae) Ian Cooper
Well, it might be a very small snail – but Rosemary Jorna has some yet smaller ones on the trunks of the maple trees in her Kemp Lake area garden. 75 of them today, and 85 yesterday. The ones below were photographed today. They are Nearctula sp., truly tiny snalis from the Family Vertiginidae.
Nearctula sp. (Pul.: Vertiginidae) Rosemary Jorna
Nearctula sp. (Pul.: Vertiginidae) Rosemary Jorna
2021 March 21
Here’s another picture of that harvestman at dinner:
Probably Protolophus sp. (Opi.: Phalangiidae) Ian Cooper
2021 March 20
More creatures from Ian Cooper:
Male sheetweb spider (Ara.: Linyphiidae) Ian Cooper
Next: Two springtails from different Families, or perhaps different Orders
Left: Orchesella villosa (Coll.: Orchesellidae)
Right: Elongate-bodied springtail, Tomocerus sp. (Coll.: Entomobryomorpha – Tomoceridae)
Rough Woodlouse Porcellio scaber (Isopoda: Porcellionidae) Ian Cooper
Trapdoor spider – Antrodiaetus pacificus (Ara.-Myg.: Antrodiaetidae) Ian Cooper
Banana slug – Ariolimax columbianus (Pul.: Arionidae) Ian Cooper
Banded Garden Snail – Cepaea nemoralis (Pul.: Helicidae) Ian Cooper
Banded Garden Snail – Cepaea nemoralis (Pul.: Helicidae) Ian Cooper
…and here’s another view of yesterday’s harvestman at dinner. Dr Philip Bragg writes: This species has been recorded eating dipteran larvae before, as well as collembola, aphids, lepidopteran larvae, ants, isopods, small snail and bird droppings.
Probably Protolophus agrestis (Opi.: Phalangiidae) Ian Cooper
2021 March 19
More photographs by Ian Cooper from Colquitz River Park and the Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal yesterday morning, March 18. We start off with an extraordinary wingless hymenopteran kindly identified for us by Claudia Copley as Polyaulon canadensis. Jeremy Tatum writes: I know nothing about the natural history of this unusual insect, although it is classified in the Family Ichneumonidae, most (all?) of whose members are parasitoidal on other invertebrates.
Polyaulon canadensis (Hym.: Ichneumonidae) Ian Cooper
Polyaulon canadensis (Hym.: Ichneumonidae) Ian Cooper
Ian writes: I finally got to see the mature resident trapdoor spider of the large burrow entrance spotted some days ago that I was so excited about.
Trapdoor spider – Antrodiaetus pacificus (Ara.-Myg.: Antrodiaetidae) Ian Cooper
Possibly Neriene sp. (Ara.: Linyphiidae) Ian Cooper
Harvestman probably Protolophus sp. (Opi.: Phalangiidae)
feeding on a larva of some sort
Drone Fly Eristalis tenax (Dip.: Syrphidae) Ian Cooper
Rosemary Jorna sends photographs of a bumble bee from her Kemp Lake area garden, March 18. We are grateful to Gordon Hart, who, while pleading that he is not an expert, answered our request to have a go at identification. He comes up with probably Bombus sitkensis
Probably Bombus sp. (Hym.: Apidae) Rosemary Jorna
Probably Bombus sp. (Hym.: Apidae) Rosemary Jorna
Probably Bombus sp. (Hym.: Apidae) Rosemary Jorna