2017 December 21

December Solstice – welcome to winter!

   Val George writes:  Here is a photo of one of the Indian Meal Moths Plodia interpunctella that we were discussing.  As I mentioned to you, we’ve had a plague of these guys in our house in Oak Bay for the past several months.  I think my daughter brought them in, either as eggs or larvae, in a bag of flour she bought.  Fortunately, the one in the photo seems to be one of the last.  Today I found a larva in my bird seed which I keep outside the house.  Looks like a larval Indian Meal Moth to me.  I guess one or more of the adult moths from the house must have got into the birdseed.

Jeremy Tatum writes:  They could well have come in with the bag of flour, but in case your daughter pleads not guilty, the Indian Meal Moth is quite common in houses here – we get them in our apartment building from time to time – so it is possible that she is quite innocent!  I don’t know where the species originally came from, but I don’t think it was necessarily India.  The name arises because the caterpillar is supposed to eat Indian Meal (whatever that might be) as well as other stored grains.  Also, while I can’t be absolutely 100 percent certain, I agree that the larva from your birdseed is almost certainly that of an Indian Meal Moth.

Indian Meal Moth Plodia interpunctella (Lep.: Pyralidae)  Val George

Indian Meal Moth Plodia interpunctella (Lep.: Pyralidae)  Val George

2017 December 20

   Jody Wells writes:  Surprised to see this moth outside my window yesterday despite the snow.  Jeremy Tatum replies:  No need for surprise – this is the European Winter Moth, and this is their time of year.  They are all over the place just now, but we are on the look-out for its North American relative, Bruce’s Winter Moth.  We hope that someone might take a camera out to the Nature House at Goldstream Park and photograph a winter moth there – it will probably be Bruce’s.  Numbers will fall off in January, so we need to find one fairly soon.  See Jochen Moehr’s photographs of probable Bruce’s from Metchosin on December 1 and 15.

European Winter Moth Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jody Wells

2017 December 18

   Jochen Moehr is on the hunt for Operophtera bruceata.  He sent us several photographs from his Metchosin property, but I agree with Jochen that they are all probably Operophtera brumata.  Viewers who live out in the countryside should keep a look-out for the native bruceata.  Winter moths at the Goldstream Park nature house are probably bruceata, so if you are out that way, try and photograph one!

European Winter Moth Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Moehr

2017 December 15

   Jochen Moehr writes from Metchosin:

   After a few nights of nothing but one or two Winter Moths (probably O. brumata), I finally had visits from two other moths, one outside my window (of which I did not get pictures) and one inside, of which I include several pictures.  

   I looked through my collection of pictures and wonder whether it might be 

Triphosa haesitata American Tissue Moth (Lep.: Geometridae)

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Ah!   This perpetual problem – is it Triphosa haesitata, or is it Coryphista meadii?

   In meadii, the fourth tooth on the outer margin of the hindwing is shorter than its neighbours.  Also, meadii has a dark discal spot;  haesitata doesn’t.  You can see that Jochen’s moth has a small fourth tooth, and it has a discal spot, both pointing to meadii. However, the fourth tooth is only very slightly smaller than its neighbours, and the discal spot is very tiny.  Are they enough to clinch it as meadii?  Maybe not.  At this time of year, I think haesitata is much more likely.  What other differences might there be?  The wingtip of meadii is sometimes slightly pointy, even slightly falcate, whereas haesitata has a blunter wingtip.  Unfortunately the right wingtip of this moth is missing – though the left wingtip looks rather blunt to me.  In spite of the difficulties, I’m pretty sure (close to 100 percent certainty) that Jochen is correct, and it is Triphosa haesitata.

   Some viewers may wonder:  If these moths are so difficult to distinguish one from the other, are they really different species?  I often wonder about this myself about pairs of very similar moths.  However, in the case of these two species, the caterpillars are entirely different and there is no doubt at all that they are genuinely different species.  The caterpillars are specialist feeders – haesitata feeds on Frangula, and meadii on Mahonia and the related Berberis.

   I hope viewers will continue to send in photographs of both of these species.  After a time we’ll all get so used to them that we’ll all be able to them apart at a glance!  I’m not there yet!

American Tissue Moth Triphosa haesitata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Moehr

   Jochen also sends a photograph of a winter moth – another difficult problem.  Is it the European Operophtera brumata or the native O. bruceata?  I am leaning towards bruceata.  Not 100 percent sure, but maybe 80 percent?

Operophtera (probably bruceata) (Lep,: Geometridae)  Jochen Moehr

2017 December 8

  Thomas Barbin writes:   Here are a few photos of some springtails that I found in my backyard in the Highlands on December 5. All of them were identified by Frans Janssens on bugguide.net.

   Included are one photo of Pogonognathellus bidentatus, three photos of Morulodes serratus (one to show how small it is – they are tiny!) and two photos of Vesicephalus occidentalis. Frans says that this last species is quite uncommon. It is also interesting because it has interocular vesicles (the white lumps between its ‘eyes’) which are a kind of photoreceptor unique to the genus.

   Jeremy Tatum writes:   These are remarkable photographs of tiny animals.  They present me, however, with a puzzle as how to label them in the captions and in the Index, where I aim for consistency and I label them by Order and Family.  In simpler times, springtails belonged to the Order Collembola of the Class Insecta.  Now, however, they are no longer regarded as insects (and with good reason), but they belong to the Class Entognatha.  The name Collembola still exists, but it is promoted to Subclass, which includes three Orders.  I believe Thomas has managed to photograph one representative of each Order!  I hope I have the Orders and Families right in the labels below.  I suspect that the taxonomy of the springtails is still under discussion by those who specialize in them.

Pogonognathellus bidentatus  (Entomobryomorpha:  Tomoceridae)  Thomas Barbin

Morulodes serratus (Poduromorpha:  Neanuridae)  Thomas Barbin

Morulodes serratus (Poduromorpha:  Neanuridae)  Thomas Barbin

Morulodes serratus (Poduromorpha:  Neanuridae)  Thomas Barbin

Vesicephalus occidentalis  (Symphypleona:  Katiannidae)  Thomas Barbin

Vesicephalus occidentalis  (Symphypleona:  Katiannidae)  Thomas Barbin