2017 October 5 afternoon

   I followed up Ron’s message by going to McIntyre reservoir myself this afternoon, and sure ’nuff at the north end of the reservoir I saw several Cabbage Whites and four Orange Sulphurs – and also a pristine Painted Lady.  I went right to the northernmost tippytip of the reservoir.  Beyond that, there is a whole line of yellow Raphanus  in flower, parallel to the ditch, and there were sulphurs all the way up towards Island View Road.  Now that most of the Teasel has gone to seed, Raphanus is the nectar source de choix.  I saw a second lady, which may have been an American Lady, but I couldn’t be sure.  Several Autographa californica.

  Probably shan’t be able to do another posting today.   Jeremy Tatum

2017 October 5 morning

   This is a very brief posting, but I thought I should post it now in case anyone would like to try for a last look at the sulphur butterflies today.  Ron Flower writes:  October 4 we saw many Cabbage Whites at McIntyre reservoir and four or five sulphurs . All moving too fast and not settling for pictures. Sulphurs were mostly in yellow flowering mustard type plant at north end of reservoir. [I believe the yellow flower in question is Raphanus sp., but you’d have to check with a botanist.   Jeremy Tatum]

2017 October 4 morning

   Jochen Moehr writes:  This Ennomos magnaria was sitting on my wall in Metchosin all day yesterday.

Ennomos magnaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Moehr

Ennomos magnaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Moehr

   Jody Wells writes:  At first I thought this Chestnut-backed Chickadee was eating a bud on a branch…but NO a really camouflaged caterpillar type insect. Very interested in what type of insect this might be.  About 35 feet up in a Weeping Willow.

Jeremy Tatum responds:  What a gruesome photograph!  I can’t possibly identify the caterpillar, though I think it is probably a geometrid.  Willow is a sort of default foodplant for many species of caterpillar. Are there more of these caterpillars still there?  If so, I’d be interested.

Chestnut-backed Chickadee Poecile rufescens (Pas.: Paridae)

with caterpillar (Lep.: Probably Geometridae)

Jody Wells

Scott Gilmore writes from Upper Lantzville: I found this Lophocampa roseata caterpillar in the middle of the car park at work this afternoon. I moved it to the side so it had a better chance to pupate.

Lophocampa roseata (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)  Scott Gilmore

Lophocampa roseata (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)  Scott Gilmore

2017 October 3

  Sorry – No October 2 posting.

Jochen Moehr showed Agrochola pulchella in our last posting, October 1.  Today he has the other, equally pretty, Agrochola – Agrochola purpurea.

Agrochola purpurea (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Moehr

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Running this site is beginning to interfere with my physics work at UVic.  Recently I have been having to write a great deal about the geometric moment of inertia of a rigid body or a system of particles.  I find that I have frequently mistyped this as the geometrid moment of inertia.  Obviously my mind is not on physics all the time.

I shall have to make an effort to correct this, but don’t be surprised if I inadvertently start to write about geometric moths. For example, I suppose the moth Euclidia ardita (which has been on this site three times) might be described as a geometric moth.  (But not a geometrid – it is an erebid).  Also, a moth’s wing is roughly a triangle – look at the moth’s wing above.  Like any triangle, it has three sides (costa, termen and inner margin) and three angles (tornus, base and apex) so it could fairly be described as geometric.

I’m wandering.  To bring me back to reality, Jochen sends yet another moth from the wonderful biodiversity he is seeing in Metchosin.  Regular viewers will recall that in the past I’ve had difficulty in distinguishing between Triphosa haesitata and Coryphista meadii.  I think we finally decided that if the fourth tooth on the outer margin (termen) of the hindwing is shorter than the adjacent teeth, it is Coryphista meadii.  The caterpillar feeds on Berberis and Mahonia.

Coryphista meadii (Lep.:Geometridae)      Jochen Moehr

2017 October 1

   Jochen Moehr sends a photograph of a pretty little (“pulchella”) moth from Metchosin.

Agrochola pulchella (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Moehr

   Jochen also sends photographs of two parasitoidal ichneumonid wasps.  There are thousands of species of ichneumonids, and identifying them is a bit of a problem.  Beyond saying that the first of Jochen’s photographs below might be Ophion luteus (or it might not!), I think I’ll play it safe and label both of them merely Ichneumonidae.

Ichneumonid wasp (Hym.: Ichneumonidae) Jochen Moehr

Ichneumonid wasp (Hym.: Ichneumonidae) Jochen Moehr

   Looking my kale over this morning, Jochen continues. I found another P. rapae caterpillar. It was less than 1 cm in length, so I think it is at most second instar. 

Cabbage White Pieris rapae (Lep.: Pieridae)  Jochen Moehr

   The VNHS Monthly Butterfly Walk took place today.  Seven brave members, who I think must belong also to the Optimists’ Club, turned up expecting to find butterflies on a partly cloudy day in October – and they did so!  We went to McIntyre reservoir in Central Saanich.  For about half-an-hour it was cloudy, with never a butterfly in sight.  Then the sun came out and almost immediately Cabbage Whites started to appear.  There must have been about two dozen in all.  Alas, no sulphurs or ladies, but there were other things to see. Thus we saw several of the migratory day-flying moth Autographa californica. And on the broccoli plants in the next field we found three cocoons with living pupae inside of A. californica’s close relative, Trichoplusia ni.  Also seen was an adult Large Yellow Underwing Moth Noctua pronuba, and a Banded Woolly Bear, caterpillar of the Isabella Moth.  October is the month for Banded Woolly Bears, so we should be seeing more of them in the next few weeks.  They are often common at Panama Flats.

Cocoon and pupa of Ni Moth Trichoplusia ni (Noctuidae – Plusiinae) Val George

Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba (Lep.: Noctuidae – Noctuinae) Val George