This blog provides an informal forum for terrestrial invertebrate watchers to post recent sightings of interesting observations in the southern Vancouver Island region. Please send your sightings by email to Jeremy Tatum (tatumjb352@gmail.com). Be sure to include your name, phone number, the species name (common or scientific) of the invertebrate you saw, location, date, and number of individuals. If you have a photograph you are willing to share, please send it along. Click on the title above for an index of past sightings.The index is updated most days.

2024 July 23 evening

2024 July 23 evening

 

Val George photographed these two moths at the Swan Lake Nature House on July 22:

Pero mizon  (Lep.: Geometridae)   Val George

Mesapamea secalis  (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Val George

 

Thanks to Libby Avis for confirming Val’s original identification of the above moth as Mesapamea secalis, and abject apologies from Jeremy Tatum for mislabelling it in the original Invert Alert posting.

 

Jeremy Tatum writes:  I saw a pristine-fresh Autographa californica at Panama Flats today.  With luck, a few more of these migratory day-flying moths will be seen in the coming weeks.  I saw no other moths, or butterflies, or birds at Panama Flats – at least not on the KNOK side – but the botanists will surely love the great profusion and variety of wild flowers there.

At 5:30 pm, the Anise Swallowtail that has been on Mount Tolmie for several days was still on the Oregon Grape just outside the entrance to the reservoir.  A Painted Lady was flying in the vicinity of the Jeffrey Pine.

2024 July 23 morning

2024 July 23 morning

Ian Cooper writes:  Here is a selection of photos taken last night (July 22), by the Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal near the 9 km marker.

Red Carpenter Ant – Camponotus vicinus (Hym.: Formicidae)  Ian Cooper

Crane fly  Tipula pubera  (Dip.:  Tipulidae)   Ian Cooper

   We badly need someone who can identify crane flies. Is there anyone out there who can identify the one below?

Crane fly  (Dip.: Tipulidae)  Ian Cooper

Camel cricket,  Pristoceuthophilus celatus (Orth.: Rhaphidophoridae)  Ian Cooper
Thanks to James Miskelly for confirmation of the identity.  James writes that female Pristoceuthophilus cannot be reliably identified from photographs, but there is only one Pristoceuthophilus  on
Vancouver Island.

Harvestman  (Opiliones)   Ian Cooper

 

Thanks to Steven Roias and Scott Gilmore for the identification of the weevil below, initially wrongly labelled.

Weevil.  Sciopithes obscurus (Col.: Curculionidae)
Ian Cooper

 

Jeremy Tatum writes:  This moth was at my Saanich apartment building this morning:


Plodia interpunctella  (Lep.: Pyralidae)  Jeremy Tatum

2024 July 22 evening

2024 July 22 evening

   This small beetle was observed by Ian Cooper on the Galloping Goose Trail by Talcott Road on July 18, 2024.  We thank Scott Gilmore for the identification.

Enoclerus schaefferi  (Col.: Cleridae)  Ian Cooper

Enoclerus schaefferi  (Col.: Cleridae)  Ian Cooper

 

2024 July 22 morning

2024 July 22 morning

   Aziza Cooper photographed a moth at her Saanich home on July 18, and a dragonfly at Blenkinsop Lake on July 21:

Idaea dimidiata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Aziza Cooper

 

Western Pondhawk Erythemis collocata  (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Aziza Cooper

On July 21,  at 6:45 p.m., Marie O’Shaughnessy found a Red Admiral and two Painted Ladies on Mount Tolmie:

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

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

 

 

More recent pictures by Ian Cooper:

Eratigena duellica  (Ara.: Agelenidae)  Ian Cooper

Unknown Fly  (Diptera)    Ian Cooper
Can any viewer help with this one?

Alucita montana  (Lep.: Alucitidae)  Ian Cooper

Asian Lady Beetle Harmonia axyridis  (Col.: Coccinellidae)  Ian Cooper

2024 July 21 evening

2024 July 21 evening

  Ian Cooper writes: These are all fresh photos from yesterday’s photo excursion along the E&N trail and the  Galloping Goose Trail, July 20, 2024.

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

Telphusa sedulitella  (Lep.: Gelechiidae)   Ian Cooper

Two-spotted Ladybird Beetle  Adalia bipunctata  (Col.: Coccinellidae)   Ian Cooper

 

Raspberry Weevil – Otiorhynchus singularis (Col.: Curculionidae)  Ian Cooper

 

Dyslobus decoratus (Col.: Curculionidae)  Ian Cooper

 

The photograph below, taken by Ian on July 4, shows clearly how different it is from Otiorhynchus singularis.

Dyslobus decoratus (Col.: Curculionidae)  Ian Cooper

 

Probable Male Culiseta incidens (Dip.: Culicidae)  Ian Cooper

   We seem to be running out of butterflies in these hot days.  However, writes Jeremy Tatum, today I saw three Lorquin’s Admirals at Swan Lake,  two Painted Ladies near the Jeffrey Pine at the top of Mount Tolmie, and an Anise Swallowtail  on the Oregon Grape just outside the entrance to the Mount Tolmie reservoir.