2021 February 18

   Ian Cooper sends an unusual photograph of a harvestman on snow, Colquitz River Park, February 17.   Dr Philip Bragg writes:  I have not seen a harvestman on snow before. I notice that it is keeping its body well away from the snow on its long legs. The photo is not clear enough for a positive identification but I think that it is Platybunus triangularis.

Harvestman, probably Platybunus triangularis (Opiliones: Phalangiidae)  Ian Cooper

  Rosemary Jorna, sends photographs of spider engaged in Anglo-Saxon attitudes in her Kemp Lake basement, February 17.   Dr Robb Bennett writes:

Hmm, not your usual indoor trashy theridiid. It’s a linyphiine linyphiid – always have trouble eyeballing them based on colour patterns: probably either a Neriene or Microlinyphia but I really don’t know.

Probably Neriene or Microlinyphia (Ara.: Linyphiidae – Linyphiinae)  Rosemary Jorna

Probably Neriene or Microlinyphia (Ara.: Linyphiidae – Linyphiinae)  Rosemary Jorna

2021 February 17

   Ian Cooper cycles along the Galloping Goose trail, which is covered with hard-packed snow and ice, alone at night, and gets down his hands and knees to photograph all sorts of unfamiliar invertebrates.  Pretty risky – but he gets some interesting results.  How many of us, I wonder, have seen the animal below, or know what it is?  It’s a springtail – a group formerly in an Order Collembola, but now considered to comprise several Orders within a Subclass Collembola of the Class Entognatha.  (Not an insect.)  The one in the next two photographs (two different individuals, same species) is in the Order Entomobryomorpha.

Orchesella villosa (Orchesellidae)   Ian Cooper

Orchesella villosa (Entomobryomorpha – Entomobryidae)   Ian Cooper

   The globose springtails are perhaps more familiar (if they are familiar at all!), and belong to the Order  Symphypleona.  The one below is in the genus Ptenothrix, but Collembola expert Frans Janssens tells us that this one is a new, undescribed species!

Ptenothrix sp. nov. (Symphypleona – Dicyrtomidae)  Ian Cooper

    Thanks to Dr Robb Bennett for identifying the spider below.

Pimoa altioculata (Ara.: Pimoidae)  Ian Cooper

Large Yellow Underwing Moth Noctua pronuba (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Ian Cooper

2021 February 16

   Libby Avis sends a photograph of Egira hiemalis from Port Alberni, February 6, her earliest date for the species there.   This is often the first noctuid to appear in the year, often appearing in February or even January.   The earliest recorded by Invertebrate Alert  was  January 16, in Victoria, 2014.

Egira hiemalis (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Libby Avis

2021 February 15

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Here is a Ctenolepisma longicaudata from my Saanich apartment.   This is a three-pronged bristletail – but this individual seems to have lost one of its prongs.

Ctenolepisma longicaudata (Zygentoma – Lepismatidae)  Jeremy Tatum

     Jeremy Tatum writes:  The moth shown below emerged today from a pupa formed from a caterpillar last year.  Fortunately it just missed the cold weather – today is much warmer and the snow is melting. Identifying the moth was a bit tricky, but Libby Avis and I both came up with Orthosia praeses.  The reddish brown head gave it away.

Orthosia praeses (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

2021 February 12

    Some slugs and spiders from near the 9 km marker along the Galloping Goose Trail, View Royal, by Ian Cooper, February 5.   Thanks to Dr Robb Bennett for confirming Ian’s spider identifications.

Limax maximus (Pul.: Limacidae)   Ian Cooper

Ariolimax columbianus (Pul.: Arionidae)  Ian Cooper

Eratigena duellica (Ara.: Agelenidae)  Ian Cooper

Probably Scotophaeus blackwalli (Ara.: Gnaphosidae)  Ian Cooper

Pimoa altioculata (Ara: Pimoidae)  Ian Cooper

Just possibly Helophora sp. (Ara.: Linyphiidae – Linyphiinae)  Ian Cooper