2024 June 29 evening

West Coast Lady!
Val George writes:  This West Coast Lady was on the reservoir at the Mount Tolmie summit this afternoon. June 29.

West Coast Lady  Vanessa annabella  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Val George

Ian Cooper writes:  Here are a few more photos from yesterday’s (2024 June 28) photo shoot at *Colquitz River Park in Saanich and the #Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal, taken in the pre-dawn and early morning hours.

Probably Clubiona sp.  (Ara.: Clubionidae)  Ian Cooper

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

Juvenile Clubiona lutescens (Ara.: Clubionidae)   Ian Cooper

#Mosquito – Culiseta incidens (Dip.: Culicidae)   Ian Cooper

2024 June 29 morning

   Aziza Cooper sends a photograph of a Golden Jewel Beetle from her home in Saanich yesterday June 28.

Golden Jewel Beetle Buprestis aurulenta  (Col.: Buprestidae)   Aziza Cooper

Marie O’Shaughnessy sends photographs of a Red Admiral from Mount Tolmie yesterday June 28 – the same one that Jeremy Tatum reported from there in yesterday’s posting.

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

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

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  I am happy that Marie refers in correspondence to the underside of the wings shown in the photograph, not, as we sometimes see, the “ventral” side.  This not a ventral view of the butterfly – it is a lateral view.  The words “dorsal” (from above – dorsum meaning “back”), “ventral” (from below, venter meaning belly) and “lateral” (from the side – latus meaning side) should be used to describe the view of the body of the insect.  For the wings, the words “upperside”and “underside” are appropriate.

A butterfly or moth has two pairs of wings  –  forewings and hindwings.  The hindwings are sometimes called the “underwings” – but this can be, and often is, misunderstood to mean “underside”, so it is best avoided.  We see in the above photograph of the lateral view of the butterfly, the underside of a hindwing, and part of the underside of a forewing.

Marie photographed this ladybird larva in the Martindale area, June 28:

Seven-spotted Ladybird Coccinella septempunctata  (Col.: Coccinellidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Also on June 28, she photographed these dragon- and damselflies at the McIntyre reservoir.

Eight-spotted Skimmer Libellula forensis  (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Cardinal Meadowhawk Sympetrum illotum (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Variegated Meadowhawk Sympetrum corruptum  (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Tule Bluets  Enallagma carunculatum (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

2024 June 28

Jeremy Tatum writes:  A couple of days ago I posted the image below, taken by Ian Cooper, as an “unknown beetle larva”.  I subsequently sent the image to beetle expert Charlene Woods wondering if perhaps she might be able to identify it.   Embarrassment – it wasn’t a beetle at all, but something quite different! This, however, was no obstacle to Charlene, who identified it as the larva of a Brown Lacewing (Hemerobiidae), and probably genus Hemerobius.   I hastily asked Ian if he would go out and photograph an adult brown lacewing for us, so we could see what the larva was a larva of.   Because brown lacewing larvae feed on aphids, you can apparently buy the larvae by the bucket-load if you know where, although Ian’s were genuinely wild ones!   Here are Ian’s two photographs:

Larva of a Brown Lacewing, probably Hemerobius sp.  (Neu.: Hemerobiidae)  Ian Cooper

Adult Brown Lacewing  (Neu.: Hemerobiidae)  Ian Cooper

Here’s a photograph of a running crab spider photographed by Ian Cooper along the Galloping Goose trail in View Royal on June 24.

Philodromus rufus  (Ara.: Philodromidae)  Ian Cooper

Anne Ashley sent this photograph of a Golden Jewel Beetle photographed by her neighbour Colleen Irwin in the Fairfield Gonzales area of Victoria.

Golden Jewel Beetle   Buprestis aurulenta  (Col.: Buprestidae)  Colleen Irwin

Here are the results of a predawn and early morning shoot by Ian Cooper this morning, June 28.  All were taken at either *Colquitz River Park in Saanich or the #Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal.

#Larva of Asian Ladybeetle  Harmonia axyridis (Col.: Coccinellidae)  Ian Cooper

#Larva of Seven-spotted Ladybird  Coccinella septempunctata  (Col.: Coccinellidae)
Ian Cooper

#Larva of Seven-spotted Ladybird  Coccinella septempunctata  (Col.: Coccinellidae)
Ian Cooper

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

*Ambigolimax valentianus (Pul.: Limacidae)   Ian Cooper

*Spittle Bug – Philaenus spumarius (Hem.: Cercopidae)   Ian Cooper

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

# Callobius pictus (Ara.: Amaurobiidae)   Ian Cooper

Jeremy Tatum writes:  I went to Mount Tolmie today at 5:30 pm, and the one and only butterfly I saw there was a single Red Admiral just outside the entrance to the reservoir.  That reminds me that, earlier this week, while I was doing a cryptic crossword, I discovered that Red Admiral and the Spanish football team Real Madrid are anagrams of each other.

Kirsten Mills writes:   Today, June 28, Jeff Gaskin and I travelled to Nanaimo.  Along Nanaimo River Road, particularly at Elk Trails Way,  we saw two  Clodius Parnassians.  A little further down the road or towards the highway was a Dun Skipper.

Clodius Parnassian  Parnassius clodius  (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Kirsten Mills

Clodius Parnassian  Parnassius clodius  (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Kirsten Mills

Clodius Parnassian  Parnassius clodius  (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Kirsten Mills

Butterfliers who see any parnassian butterflies are reminded to examine them closely in case any of them might be P. smintheus.  These photographs above are clearly P. clodius, but if you see any red spot on the forewing, or if the antennae are chequered, you may have smintheus.

2024 June 27

   Val George sends a photograph of a Green Pug from the wall of his Oak Bay house this morning, June 27.

Green Pug  Pasiphila rectangulata  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Val George

Jochen Möhr writes from Metchosin:  Yesterday (June 26) finally, after another great hiatus – a moth.  A Cinnabar Moth Tyria jacbaeae.

Cinnabar Moth Tyria jacobaeae  (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)  Jochen Möhr

2024 June 26 evening

Marie O’Shaughnessy visited Mount Tolmie at 5:30 pm yesterday, June 25.  She saw:

1 Cabbage  White
2 Western Tiger Swallowtails
1 Lorquin’s Admiral
2 Red Admirals
2 Painted Ladies

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

Here are more miscellaneous invertebrates from Ian Cooper.
* = Colquitz River Park in Saanich
# = Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal 9 km marker

#Limax maximus (Pul.: Limacidae)    Ian Cooper

*Very small unidentified fly (Diptera)   Ian Cooper
I see these often in Colquitz River Park. They look like miniature houseflies,
but with proportionally larger iridescent wings.

#Springtail  Orchesella cincta (Coll.: Orchesellidae)   Ian Cooper

#Crane fly – possibly Tipula paludosa (Dip.: Tipulidae)
Possibly recently emerged from its pupal state

Plant bug (Hem: Miridae)   Ian Cooper