2020 December 10
Winter is fast approaching, yet there are still lots of invertebrates around, and even a butterfly is not impossible. Ron Flower saw two Honey Bees and a bumble bee (probably Bombus vosnesenskii) at Swan Lake on Sunday, and Ian Cooper is finding an amazing array of creatures in Colquitz Creek Park:
![pastedImage.png](https://www.vicnhs.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/pastedImage-41.png)
Sphenophorus sp. (Col.: Curculionidae) Ian Cooper
Thanks to Scott Gilmore for the identification of this beetle. Apparently they are popularly (but not on this site!) called “billbugs”.
Elongate-bodied springtail Tomocerus sp. (Collembola – Entomobryomorpha – Tomoceridae)
Ian Cooper
Dark-bodied Glass Snail Oxychilus draparnaudi (Pul.: Daubebariidae) Ian Cooper
Lauria cylindracea (Pul.: Lauriidae) Ian Cooper
Yesterday, Jochen Möhr wrote from Metchosin: This morning, the abundance of Operophtera continues. There were 25 critters on the wall. I would boldly call 21 of them O. brumata, and at least two occidentalis, and two look like in between.
Here are our best attempts at identification of seven of them:
Operophtera occidentalis (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochem Möhr
Operophtera (maybe occidentalis) (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr
Operophtera occidentalis (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr
Operophtera occidentalis (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr
Operophtera (maybe occidentalis) (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr
Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr
Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr