2024 June 26

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Owing to some procedural error in my posting of yesterday’s photographs, some of the photographs did not appear as sharp as they should have done.  I have removed them from yesterday’s posting, and I’ll make another attempt here.  ‘Pologies to all.

Aziza Cooper wrote: At the field north of Stelly’s Cross Road and West Saanich Rd. there were 17+ Essex Skippers. Further north near the cemetery along W. Saanich Rd. there were two Field Crescents.

Essex Skipper Thymelicus lineola  (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Aziza Cooper

Field Crescent Phyciodes pulchella  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Aziza Cooper

Ian Cooper photographed the fly shown below.  We have not been able to identify it with certainty. Jeremy Tatum suggested Psilidae, but we cannot find a good fit.  If any viewer can help with this identification, please do let us know.

Unknown fly  (Diptera)   Ian Cooper

Unknown fly  (Diptera)   Ian Cooper

2024 June 25

   Marie O’Shaughnessy photographed this young Blue Dasher at Outerbridge Park,  June 23:

Blue Dasher Pachydiplax longipennis  (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Marie saw these between 4 and 5 pm at Government House on June 24:

4 Western Tiger Swallowtails
2 Cabbage Whites
6 Essex Skippers
1 Lorquin’s Admiral
1 Blue-eyed Darner.

 She photographed one of the Western Tiger Swallowtails:

Western Tiger Swallowtail  Pterourus rutulus  (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Here are a few results of recent overnight photo shoots by Ian Cooper:

Hedya nubiferana  (Lep.: Tortricidae)   Ian Cooper

Protolophus niger (Opiliones:  Protolophidae)   Ian Cooper

Mosquito  (Dip.: Culicidae)  Ian Cooper

We don’t know what this is, but we presume it is an immature stage (nymph) of some bug:

Presumed nymph of a bug (Hemiptera)  Ian Cooper

Enoplognatha ovata (Ara.: Theridiidae)   Ian Cooper

An Enoplognatha ovata (Ara.: Theridiidae) has captured a Strawberry Root Weevil Otiorhynchus ovatus (Col.: Curculionidae).   Ian Cooper

Enoplognatha ovata variant with distinctive red ‘candy stripe’ markings (Ara.: Theridiidae)
Ian Cooper

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

Jeremy Tatum writes:  At 5:30 this afternoon (June 25) there were two Painted Ladies and one Red Admiral at the top of Christmas Hill.

Aziza Cooper writes:  Today, June 25, at Layritz Park there were two Western Tiger Swallowtails, one Cabbage White and two Lorquin’s Admirals. At Viaduct Flats there was one Essex Skipper.

Butterflies still missing this year:    Clodius Parnassian,    Margined White,    Purplish Copper,    Grey Hairstreak,    Mylitta Crescent.

2024 June 24

Invertebrates spotted by Ian Cooper at Colquitz River Park before dawn, June 23 2024

Woodlouse Hunter Spider – Dysdera crocata  (Ara.: Dysderidae)   Ian Cooper

Dicyphus discrepans (Hem.: Miridae)   Ian Cooper

 Strawberry Root Weevil – Otiorhynchus ovatus (Col.: Curculionidae)
Ian Cooper

Nut Leaf Weevil, Strophosoma melanogrammum (Col.: Curculionidae)   Ian Cooper

Jumping Bristletail  Pedetontus saltator. (Microcoryphia – Machilidae)   Ian Cooper

  Male Snipe Fly. Probably Chrysopilus sp. (Dip.: Rhagionidae)    Ian Cooper

   Marie O’Shaughnessy writes:  Outerbridge Park tour Sunday June 23rd 2024, for butterflies and dragonflies.  Butterflies were:
1 Western Tiger Swallowtail
2 Cabbage Whites

  Dragonflies were:
1 male Cardinal Meadowhawk.

Four-spotted Skimmer  Libellula quadrimaculata   (Odo.: Libellulidae)   Marie O’Shaughnessy

Sympetrum  sp. (Odo.: Libellulidae)   Marie O’Shaugnessy

Marie also photographed this exuvia.  Dr Rob Cannings rises to the challenge and writes:
The exuvia is definitely an aeshnid by its form. The view doesn’t show the characteristics required for a foolproof identification, but it has the short labium of a Rhionaeschna (and it just looks like one to me – hard to describe why). Because we are at the height of the appearance of R. multicolor and R. californica, emergence is probably mostly over, my guess is that this is a Blue-eyed Darner exuvia. The fact that this species is the most common darner around here in the summer just adds to the high probability. And the local Aeshna species have hardly begun emergence yet.

Probably Blue-eyed Darner Rhionaeschna multicolor (Odo.: Aeshnidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Marie photographed this Painted Lady at Mount Tolmie:

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

Jeremy Tatum shows a small moth reared on blackberry from a caterpillar found at Swan Lake.  Thanks to Dr Jason Dombrowskie, who writes:  I’m 95% sure that is a female Archips rosana.

 Probably Archips rosana  (Lep.: Tortricidae)  Jeremy Tatum

2024 June 23 evening

Marie O’Shaughnessy photographed this immature male meadowhawk at Panama Flats of June 22.  Because its colours are not yet fully developed, it is hard to be certain of its exact identity.

Immature male meadowhawk Sympetrum sp, (Odo.: Libellulidae)   Marie O’Shaughnessy

Aziza Cooper photographed this beetle at the railroad tracks near Goldstream campground on June 20.  Scott Gilmore makes the tentative suggestion: Toxoleptura vexatrix

Probably Toxoleptura vexatrix  (Col.: Cerambycidae)  Aziza Cooper

She also photographed these beetles (below) in the same area.  Scoot Gilmore identified them for us as Bruchidius villosus.   If you Google this name, you will find a lot of interesting information about this beetle.

 Bruchidius villosus  (Col.: Chrysomelidae)   Aziza Cooper

Jeff Gaskin writes:  Both yesterday, June 22, and today I’ve been seeing Common Green Darners in the city.  Yesterday I was at UVic and there were three of them in a grassy field near Gordon Head Road and McKenzie Avenue. Today I saw at least two of them at Cuthbert Holmes Park.  This makes me feel that there are a number of them around as compared to other years.  Jeremy Tatum adds:  I was at Swan Lake for only a few minutes today, but I saw one there.  Also at Swan Lake there were lots and lots of Lorquin’s Admirals, all new and fresh.  I found a caterpillar of a Western Spring Azure on the Ocean Spray.

Aziza Cooper writes:  At Mount Tolmie about 6 pm, there was one Red Admiral, two Painted Ladies by the Jeffrey Pine, and one Painted Lady on the reservoir.

Painted Lady  Vanessa cardui  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)   Aziza Cooper

Red Admiral  Nymphalis atalanta  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Aziza Cooper

   She also sends a photograph of a Pacific Forktail from Swan Lake

Pacific Forktail  Ischnura cervula  (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)  Aziza Cooper

2024 June 23 morning

   Here are two dipterans photographed by Ian Cooper.  We *think* we know what they are, but we can’t be quite certain, and we would welcome opinions by knowledgeable viewers.  We think the little yellow fly is probably a vinegar fly (Drosophilidae), but we can’t be quite certain.  We think the other is probably a nonbiting midge (Chironomidae), but it might possibly be a mosquito (Culicidae).

Probably a vinegar fly (Dip.: Drosophilidae)  Ian Cooper

Probably a vinegar fly (Dip.: Drosophilidae)  Ian Cooper

Probably a vinegar fly (Dip.: Drosophilidae)  Ian Cooper

Probably a nonbiting midge (Dip.: Chironomidae)  Ian Cooper

We thank Dr Frans Janssens for the identification of the springtail below.

Entomobrya katzi  (Coll.: Entomobryidae) Ian Cooper

We thank Dr Rob Cannings for the identification of the young male Blue Dasher below, photographed by Aziza Cooper at Mary Lake.

Blue Dasher Pachydiplax longipennis  (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Aziza Cooper