2024 August 5 morning

Here are some photographs from yesterday’s Butterfly Walk.

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

Woodland Skipper Ochlodes sylvanoides  (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Aziza Cooper

California Ringlet Coenonympha californica  (Lep.: Nymphalidae – Satyrinae) Aziza Cooper

Complicated Essay on a Complicated Butterfly    (Jeremy Tatum)
   The butterfly above, photographed by Aziza at Island View Beach, is part of an enormous assemblage of similar butterflies stretching across North America and Europe, sometimes referred to as the “tullia complex”.   We have usually referred to it as a “ringlet” with or without some preceding adjective.  The huge Holarctic complex has many different variations, some clinal, some disjunct, most with a few to many “ringlet” markings on the wings, although the ones we get here in the Victoria area seem not to have even a trace of any ringlet mark.  (Let us know if you find any with a trace of a ringlet.)

From this year, 2024, I am trying to follow the 2023 Annotated Taxonomic Checklist  (ATC) edited by Pohl and Nanz.  The ATC treats most North American populations as a single species Coenonympha california, of which it lists 18 named subspecies.  Whether all of these are genuine subspecies or whether some of them are “forms” I don’t know.  I think our subspecies is Coenonympha california insulana.  The ATC does not deal with English names, but I propose on this site to call our butterfly the California Ringlet (in spite of its absence of ringlet marks).

If we follow the ATC, then, C. california is specifically distinct from C. tullia, which is known today in the U.K. as the Large Heath (but at one time called there the Small Ringlet).  There are apparently a few populations of genuine C. tullia in North America, but not here.  The ATC also lists a third species, C. haydenii.  North American records of the Small Heath, C. pamphilus are apparently erroneous, this being strictly an Old World species.  As one further slight complication, the butterfly known in the UK as The Ringlet is a quite different species, in a different genus altogether, Aphantopus.

2024 August 4

Ian Cooper sends some invertebrate photographs. Most were taken along the Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal near the 9 km marker on Aug 2nd. The banded snail was spotted on July 31st 2024.

Unidentified crane flies in copula (Dip.: Tipulidae)    Ian Cooper

Unidentified male crane fly  (Dip.: Tipulidae)  Ian Cooper
If anyone can identify these crane flies for us, please do so.  Write to tatumjb352 at gmail dot com

Western Black Carpenter Ant – Camponotus modoc (Hym.: Formicidae) Ian Cooper

Western Black Carpenter Ant  Camponotus modoc (Hym.: Formicidae)
hauling the carcass of a small hymenopterous insect
Ian Cooper

Banded Garden Snail – Cepaea nemoralis (Pul.: Helicidae)  Ian Cooper

Slug, Limax maximus (Pul.: Limacidae)  Ian Cooper

Five people attended the August Butterfly Walk today, August 4. We saw five species of butterflies:

Cabbage White – 13
Woodland Skipper – 13
Lorquin’s Admiral – 3
Painted Lady – 1
California Ringlet – 1

These were distributed as follows:

Mount Tolmie: 
Cabbage White – 1

McIntyre Reservoir:
Cabbage White – 9
Painted Lady – 1
Lorquin’s Admiral – 1
Woodland Skipper – 12

Island View Beach:
Cabbage White – 3
Lorquin’s Admiral – 2
Woodland Skipper – 8
California Ringlet – 1
Swallowtail sp. – 1  (Possibly an Anise Swallowtail)

Some photographs obtained during the Walk will be shown tomorrow (August 5).

2024 August 3

   Aziza Cooper photographed a damselfly at Blenkinsop Lake on August 2.  It has not been long since it emerged into its adult form, and has not yet reached its full colour.  Consequently, it is difficult to identify with absolute certainty.  Nevertheless, Dr Rob Cannings feels 90 percent sure that it is Enallagma carunculatum.

Probably Enallagma carunculatum (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)   Aziza Cooper

Marie O’Shaughnessy visited the Nanaimo River area on August 2, when she saw:

3 Cabbage White Butterfly
3 Common Woodnymph
2 Skipper    [Most likely a Woodland Skipper]
1 Mylitta  Crescent
2 Western Tiger Swallowtail
1 Sulphur sp.

Male Mylitta Crescent  Phyciodes mylitta   (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Marie O.Shaughnessy

Male Mylitta Crescent  Phyciodes mylitta   (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Marie O.Shaughnessy

Here are more pictures by Ian Cooper from along the ^E&N and #Galloping Goose Trails, August 2.

# Cybaeus signifer (Ara.: Cybaeidae)  Ian Cooper

# Folding-door spider – Antrodiaetus pacificus (Ara. – Myg.:  Antrodiaetidae)  Ian Cooper

# Obscure Root Weevil – Sciopithes obscurus  (Col.: Curculionidae)   Ian Cooper

^ Asian Lady Beetles – Harmonia axyridis (Col.: Coccinellidae) Ian Cooper

# Psyllobora borealis (Col.: Coccinellidae)  Ian Cooper

^ Bald-faced Hornet  Dolichovespula maculata (Hym.: Vespidae)   Ian Cooper

2024 August 2

Here are some photographs by Aziza Cooper from Goldstream, August 1.  She noted a dozen Woodland Skippers there.

Woodland Skipper Ochlodes sylvanoides  (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Aziza Cooper
  Woodland Skipper Ochlodes sylvanoides  (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Aziza Cooper

  We don’t yet know the exact identity of the fly below, but Drs Jeff Skevington and Rob Cannings identify the Family as Bombyliidae, known as bee flies.

Bee fly (Dip.: Bombyliidae)   Aziza Cooper

Toxoleptura vexatrix  (Col.: Cerambycidae)   Aziza Cooper
We thank Scott Gilmore for the identification of this beetle.

Paddle-tailed Darner Aeshna palmata  (Odo.: Aeshnidae)  Aziza Cooper

Male Bombus flavifrons  (Hym.: Apidae)  Aziza Cooper
We thank Steven Roias for the identification of this bee.

    Ian Cooper writes:  Here are six daytime pictures taken on July 31^st along the E&N trail in View Royal and Vic West.   We thank Dr Jeff Skevington for the identification of the flies.

Lapposyrphus lapponicus  (Dip.: Syrphidae)    Ian Cooper

Melanostoma mellinum  (Dip.: Syrphidae)   Ian Cooper

Spot the harvestman!  Probably Phalangium opilio (Opiliones)   Ian Cooper

If anyone can identify the bee below, please do let us know.  We think probably a sweat bee (Halictidae).

Probably a sweat bee (Hym.: Halictidae)  Ian Cooper

Likewise, if anyone can identify the wasp below, please help.  Our best shot for the present is Dolichovespula arenaria, but we’d welcome confirmation (or otherwise!)

Probably Dolichovespula arenaria  (Hym.: Vespidae)  Ian Cooper

Lastly – an easy one!  :-

Seven-spotted Ladybird Beetle  Coccinella septempunctata  (Col.: Coccinellidae)  Ian Cooper

Butterflies are so scarce just now that it is worth noting sightings of any individual butterflies.  For example, Jeremy Tatum writes that he saw a Lorquin’s Admiral and a Cabbage White at Swan Lake today, August 2.

Val George found this moth at his Oak Bay house this morning, August 2.   It is in the geometrid genus Drepanulatrix, but is difficult to say whether it is D. monicaria or D. secundaria.

Drepanulatrix monicaria/secundaria  (Lep.: Geometridae) Val George

2024 August 1

There was no Invert Alert on July 31.

   Loxostege cereralis  (Lep.: Crambidae)  Aziza Cooper

Jeremy Tatum writes:  The caterpillar shown on July 29 evening produced this chrysalis [Greek Chrysos = gold] last night.  It will produce a beautiful Red Admiral butterfly in two or three weeks.  It doesn’t matter how often I see this, I still marvel at the wonder of it.

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Jeremy continues:  I saw my first Woodland Skipper of the year today (August 1), on Lavender along Carey Road.  This is usually one of our most abundant butterflies, yet we have had few reports of them so far this year.  I saw another on the top of Mount Tolmie at 6:00 pm – the only butterfly there.

Skippers have traditionally been included among the butterflies, yet there are some who would.  distinguish between “skippers” and “true butterflies”.  The “true” butterflies were in the Superfamily Papilionidae, and the skippers in the Superfamily Hesperioidea. However, the 2023 Pohl and Nanz Annotated Taxonomic Checklist, which we are endeavouring to follow on this site, has no Hesperioidea, and it includes the skippers in the Papilionidae.  Hence you may refer to skippers as butterflies with a totally clear conscience.

Ian Cooper writes:  Here is a selection of pictures taken around dawn and early morning on July 31 2024 at *Colquitz River Park and the #Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal near the 9 km marker.

# Prophysaon (probably foliolatum) (Pul.: Arionidae)  Ian Cooper

# Banana slug – Ariolimax columbianus (Pul.: Arionidae)   Ian Cooper

# Female Running crab spider – Philodromus dispar (Ara.: Philodromidae)   Ian Cooper

# Unidentified linyphiid spider (Ara.: Linyphiidae)   Ian Cooper

* Cybaeus signifer (Ara.: Cybaeidae)   Ian Cooper

* Common striped woodlouse – Philoscia muscorum (Isopoda: Oniscidae)   Ian Cooper