2018 June 10

    (In case you are wondering where June 9 is, there were no reports yesterday, so no June 9 posting.)

    Jeremy Tatum writes:  Here is a caterpillar of Egira crucialis.  The adult moths E. crucialis and E. simplex look so similar that it is often difficult to tell them apart.  So – are they really different species?  I have a theory that if two very similar moths are really different species, their caterpillars will be quite different.  Here is a case in point.  The final instar caterpillars of crucialis and simplex are so different that they are obviously quite distinct species.  On the other hand the adults and the caterpillars and chrysalides of  Pieris napi and P. marginalis are as indistinguishable as the adults.

   Why is the caterpillar of Egira crucialis white?  Doesn’t this make it very visible and vulnerable?  The answer is no – the white caterpillar hides inside the equally white panicles of Ocean Spray flowers.  This one is on its way there now.

Egira crucialis (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Jeremy Tatum

   Aziza Cooper writes:   Yesterday, June 9, at Jordan River, dozens of Rufous Hummingbirds were competing with many bees at an array of nine feeders near the former town.  I’m not sure this shows much detail of the bees, but the pile-up of bees on the feeder is impressive.

Rufous Hummingbirds and bees    Aziza Cooper

   Jochen Möhr sends photographs of flies from Metchosin.

Drone fly Eristalis sp.  (Dip.: Syrphidae)   Jochen Möhr 

Drone fly Eristalis sp.  (Dip.: Syrphidae)   Jochen Möhr 

  We don’t know the exact species of the next fly, but anyone who rears caterpillars will recognize the bristly abdomen and will know that this is a dreaded tachinid fly.

Parasitoidal fly  (Dip.: Tachinidae)  Jochen Möhr

   Jochen also sends a photograph of the Broom Seed Beetle Bruchidius villosus – we thank Scott Gilmore for the identification.

Broom Seed Beetle Bruchidius villosus (Col.: Chrysomelidae)  Jochen Möhr

2018 June 8

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Thanks to several people for keeping me informed about recent butterfly sightings.  This will help me in finding them for my Sussex visitor.  Kirsten Mills writes that she has seen a Lorquin’s Admiral at Island View Beach (photograph below), and that there is a group of Cedar Hairstreaks on daisies along the second small path past the gate at the end of Goldstream Heights Drive.  Also there, a Pale Tiger Swallowtail.

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Kirsten Mills

      Gordon Hart has both tiger swallowtails at his Highlands property, as well as a Cedar Hairstreak.

     Aziza Cooper writes:  On Saturday, June 2, at the reservoir on Mount Tolmie, there was a Grey Hairstreak with others which I noted previously.   On Wednesday June 5, on the west slope of Mount Douglas, there was a Cinnabar Moth, one tattered Western Spring Azure, a Western Tiger Swallowtail, a Pale Tiger Swallowtail and a Lorquin’s Admiral.

Grey Hairstreak Strymon melinus (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Cinnabar Moth Tyria jacobaeae (Lep.: Erebidae  – Arctiinae)  Aziza Cooper

Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

   We sometimes have difficulty in distinguishing between the several species of Bombus (bumble bees).  Apparently we are not the only ones having this difficulty – evidently the bees don’t always get it right.  The photograph below, obtained by Liz Sparkes in Parksville in August 2017, shows a B. vosnesenskii  and a B. occidentalis in copula. Although the date does not strictly qualify for Invertebrate “Alert”, we thought the photograph was sufficiently interesting to make an exception.

Bombus vosnesenskii (male, left) and B.occidentalis (female. right)  (Hym.: Apidae)  Liz Sparkes

2018 June 7

   Request for help.  David Harris, butterfly enthusiast from Sussex, England, is visiting here from Monday June 11 to Tuesday June 19, specifically to see some butterflies.  I imagine that I shall find no difficulty in finding the two Tiger Swallowtails and Lorquin’s Admiral.  There need be no special search for Red Admirals, Painted Ladies or Cabbage Whites, since these are plentiful in Sussex.  But there seems to be a little lull in butterflies at the moment, and I may be hard-pressed to find anything else.  I ask viewers, therefore, to let me know of sightings of any other than the aforementioned species between now and June 19, so that I can show some to David.

   If there are rather few butterflies at the moment, moths are doing a little better.  Jochen Möhr sends photographs of Adela septentrionella from Metchosin.  These remarkable little moths with long antennae are variously known as fairy moths or longhorn moths.  Ren Ferguson has also been seeing them recently on Salt Spring Island. The adult moths seem to be particularly attracted to Ox-eye Daisy.  There is a similar species that occurs locally, A. trigrapha.  It would be interesting to know whether it, too, is attracted to Ox-eye Daisy.

Adela septentrionella (Lep.: Incurvariidae)  Jochen Möhr

Adela septentrionella (Lep.: Incurvariidae)  Jochen Möhr

   The story about the baby who had a caterpillar of a Silver-Spotted Tiger Moth in her mouth (see yesterday’s posting) is on the front page of today’s Times-Colonist, including a photograph of the caterpillar, which is indeed a Silver-Spotted Tiger Moth.  Amazingly, the Times-Colonist spelled Lophocampa argentata correctly, even to the capital L, so we can perhaps forgive them for not setting it in italics.  Less forgivable is their use of “larvae”, as though it were a singular noun.  I erred yesterday in saying that the caterpillar had dropped into the baby’s mouth.  Apparently she picked it up while it was crawling nearby, and placed it in her mouth.

   From the small to the large.  The Polyphemus Moth shown below emerged today from the cocoon found at Rithet’s Bog and shown on March 2.  This is a male.  Matthew Powell’s Polyphemus moth shown on June 4 was a female.  See the difference in the antennae.

Male Polyphemus Moth  Antheraea polyphemus (Lep.: Saturniidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Although last Sunday’s  (June 10) butterfly walk produced no butterflies (it was raining!) we found a very hairy moth pupa near Blenkinsop Lake.  Today it produced the moth shown below.

White Satin Moth Leucoma salicis (Lep.: Erebidae – Lymantriinae) Jeremy Tatum

2018 June 6

   Jeremy Tatum sends a photograph of a Sheep Moth caterpillar from Snowberry on Mount Tolmie.  If you find one of these caterpillars, you should be aware that, if handled, the caterpillar may give you a rash.

Sheep Moth Hemileuca eglanterina (Lep.: Saturniidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Some viewers may have heard a news item today on CBC about a caterpillar that fell from a tree into a baby’s mouth.  The baby was taken to the hospital where the caterpillar was identified as a Silver-spotted Tiger Moth (amazing that someone knew!) and the caterpillar and its hairs were painstakingly removed.  This is not, of course, a “funny” story – it could have been very serious and it must have been a terrifying experience for the baby and the mother.  The mother had seen similar caterpillars before and had thought that they turned into beautiful butterflies, but now she learned that this particular one turns into a horrible ugly moth.  To most of us, the Silver-spotted Tiger Moth is a beautiful creature, but we can certainly understand the mother’s view after such a traumatic experience.

  Caterpillars and Rashes.  I have never experienced any trouble at all with tiger moth caterpillars (“woolly bears”  – Arctiinae).  I am more cautious with tussock moths (Lymantriinae) although I have never  actually experienced any discomfort from them.  Some people refer to Lophocampa maculata as the “Spotted Tussock Moth”.  This is quite wrong – it is a tiger moth not a tussock moth.  The only local caterpillar that affects me is that of the Sheep Moth, illustrated above.  Tent caterpillars (Lasiocampidae) don’t affect me at all, though I remember from my younger days that there is a lasiocampid in Britain called the Fox Moth which gives a very bad rash indeed.  I have never tried handling our local American Lappet Moth (a lasiocampid) – I would be a bit wary of it.  There is apparently a South American saturniid whose rash can prove fatal.

   Jochen Möhr sends a picture of a rough stink bug from Metchosin.   Probably wise not to handle it.

Rough stink bug Brochymena sp.: (Hem.: Pentatomidae) Jochen Möhr

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Here is a Western Tiger Swallowtail, reared from a first instar caterpillar found at Panama Flats last year.  The adult butterfly emerged today, and has already found company of his/her own species at Playfair Park, where there is lots of nectar to be had.

Western Tiger Swallowtail Papilio rutulus (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Jeremy Tatum

2018 June 5

   Nathan Fisk spotted a Lorquin’s Admiral chrysalis on an Ocean Spray bush, at Fort Rodd Hill Learning Meadow, June 4.

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Nathan Fisk

   Jeremy Tatum writes that last night (June 4) at 6:00 pm there was a Painted Lady on the Mount Tolmie reservoir, and today he saw a beautiful pristine Lorquin’s Admiral at Swan Lake.  Lorquin’s Admiral will presumably pretty soon be a daily sight everywhere.