2017 May 9

   Jeremy Tatum sends a photograph of a Large Yellow Underwing from his Saanich apartment last night.

Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Rosemary Jorna sends a photograph of a beetle found under a rock in her Kemp Lake area garden, May 7.  Charlene Wood writes:  This is the Greater Night-stalking Tiger Beetle Omus dejeanii. Primitive, nocturnal, wingless, and distributed from southwestern BC to southwestern Oregon. A nice sight! Similar to the threatened Omus audouini, but separated by dejeanii having larger punctures on the elytra, pronotum constricted behind (rather than parallel), and pronotum with a depression on the midline.  

Greater Night-stalking Tiger Beetle Omus dejeanii (Col.: Carabidae – Cicindelinae)

Rosemary Jorna

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I wonder if the Mount Tolmie hill-topping season has at last arrived.  At 4:30 this afternoon I went there, and there were two Painted Ladies near the Jeffery Pine, and a Painted Lady and a Red Admiral on the reservoir.

2017 May 8

May Butterfly Walk

Gordon Hart

   We had beautiful weather for the second butterfly walk of 2017 . Eleven observers saw three species at Mount Tolmie: two Western Spring Azures, two Cabbage Whites, and a Propertius Duskywing that circled around close enough for everyone to get good looks.

Eight people continued on to Munn Road powerlines and the ponds by the Pike Lake substation where we saw five species of butterfly: about 10 Western Spring Azures, four Sara Orangetips, a presumed Painted Lady fly-by, and a Western Brown Elfin perched on salal. We also saw a fresh male Spiny Baskettail Epitheca spinigera dragonfly, and a pink lady beetle.

[Jeremy Tatum writes: The beetle was later identified for us by Charlene Wood as a colour variety of Calvia quatuordecimguttata, known as the Cream-spotted Ladybird.  It is very variable in colour, and some varieties (not this one) actually have cream spots!  Latin scholars will note that the specific name means 14-spotted – but that there should be two ts in quattuor. However,the rules of taxonomy don’t allow you to change the spelling of a name once it has been conferred on an organism by its original describer, even if he/she spelled it wrongly.  In fact I believe Linnaeus originally spelled it 14-guttata, but numerals are no longer allowed.]

    Five people travelled a bit further to Gordon and Anne-Marie’s property, where Rick Schortinghuis got a glimpse of an unidentified elfin and two commas. We were able to find one of the commas, a Green Comma, Polygonia faunus, my first of the year.

Finally, the three members who returned early to Mount Tolmie saw a Painted Lady near the Jeffery Pine, so that species can safely be included in the total of seven species.

-Gordon

The next seven photographs are from the Butterfly Walk.

Western Brown Elfin Incisalia iroides (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Gordon Hart

Western Brown Elfin Incisalia iroides (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Ladybird Beetle Calvia quatuordecimguttata (Col.: Coccinellidae) Gordon Hart

Spiny Baskettail Epitheca spinigera (Odo.: Corduliidae) Gordon Hart

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

Propertius Duskywing Erynnis propertius (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Aziza Cooper

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

   Two more Ken Vaughan photographs from Beaver Lake Ponds, May 6.   Thanks to Sean McCann for help with the identifications.

 Mining bee Andrena sp. (Hym.: Andrenidae)  Ken Vaughan

Ichmeumonid wasp (Hym.: Ichneumonidae)  Ken Vaughan

Rosemary Jorna sends a picture of a J ohnson’s Jumping Spider from her Kemp Lake area garden, May 7.

Phidippus johnsoni (Ara.: Salticidae) Rosemary Jorna

Aziza Cooper photographed the moth below on the deck of the BC Ferry on May 4.

Cladaria limitata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Aziza Cooper

2017 May 7 morning

   Annie Pang sends a photograph of a pair of Harmonia axyridis not wasting any time.  This is a very variable species of ladybird, but the black W on the pronotum identifies it as this species.

Harmonia axyridis (Col.: Coccinellidae)   Annie Pang

Mike Yip writes:  Butterflies are still scarce around Nanoose Bay, but I did see a few Sara Orangetips, Western Spring Azures, and Western Brown Elfins. A surprise find was a Hoary (“Zephyr”) Comma at Cross Road – they are usually at higher elevations and Cross Road is probably less than 50 m.

Hoary (“Zephyr”) Comma Polygonia gracilis zephyrus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Mike Yip

   Annie Pang sends two spider pictures, and we thank Robb Bennett for his comments and identifications.

Of the first picture, Robb comments: Young orb-weavers / garden spiders, starting to disperse.  They have overwintered in an egg case hidden away somewhere last fall by their dear departed mother.  Likely your spiders are young of Araneus diadematus – a species introduced years ago from Europe and one of the most common orb-weavers in southeastern BC.  Could also be one of our native orb weavers — I can’t tell them apart as juveniles.

Of the second, he comments:  That’s another introduced species — a female [you can clearly see her epigynum (mating apparatus) on her abdomen] giant house spider.  Now Eratigena atrica, formerly Tegenaria duellica.

Araneus diadematus (Ara.: Araneidae)  Annie Pang

Eratigena atrica (Ara.: Agelenidae)  Annie Pang

 Ken Vaughan sends more pictures from Beaver Lake Ponds, April 6.

Leafhopper Hordnia atropunctata (Hem.: Cicadellidae)  Ken Vaughan

Midge (Dip.: Chironomidae)   Ken Vaughan

Ellychnia hatchi (Col.: Lampyridae)  Ken Vaughan

Silver-spotted Tiger Moth Lophocampa argentata (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)

Ken Vaughan

Jeremy Tatum comments:  Unusual foodplant.  Not sure what it is – Thimbleberry, maybe – but the caterpillar seems to be enjoying it anyway.  Usual foodplant is Douglas Fir.

Ken Found the moth below at his home this morning.

Cyclophora dataria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Ken Vaughan

  Gordon Hart writes:  On May 4 I thought I would check the Pike Lake Substation pond area past the yellow gate. There were lots of  Western Spring Azures, at least 20,  two Sara Orangetips, a Painted Lady, and a fresh Two-banded Grizzled Skipper nectaring on wild strawberry.  [Jeremy comments:  Interesting – that’s also the larval foodplant.]  A Propertius Duskywing flew off before I had a proper look I also attach a picture of a click beetle I saw at Francis/King Park.

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Gordon Hart

Two-banded Grizzled Skipper Pyrgus ruralis (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Gordon Hart

Click beetle Selatosomus suckleyi (Col.: Elateridae) Gordon Hart

2017 May 6

   Reminder:  Monthly Butterfly Walk tomorrow.  Meet at the top of Mount Tolmie, 1:00 pm. Sunday May 7.  All welcome.  For details, see the May 4 posting.

Jeremy Tatum writes:  I have been visited by very few moths at my Saanich apartment this year, and I have been feeling neglected.  This morning, however, I was at last favoured with a visit by a moth – the Common Clothes Moth Tineola bisselliella.

Common Clothes Moth Tineola bisselliella (Lep.: Tineidae)

Jeremy Tatum

   I went up Bear Hill today, the centre of the Gypsy Moth infestation, but I didn’t see any in any of its stages. And I saw only one butterfly – a lone Western Spring Azure.

   Ken Vaughan writes:  I went to the Beaver Lake Retriever Ponds today, with high hopes of finding some odes. I did. I believe the first photo is a male Pacific Forktail, and the second is a female, although I’m less sure of it than the first photo.  [Thanks to Rob Cannings, who confirms that this is indeed a teneral female Pacific Forktail.]

Pacific Forktail Ischnura cervula (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)  Ken Vaughan

 Pacific Forktail  Ischnura cervula (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)  Ken Vaughan

Val George writes:  On Thursday, May 4, I was in Tofino.  The 22 ºC weather produced for me the first significant display of butterflies I’ve seen this year:  about a dozen Western Brown Elfins (photo),  2 Western Pine Elfins (photo), a Mourning Cloak, and 3 Cabbage Whites.  On the way home I photographed a White-ribboned Carpet Moth Mesoleuca gratulata at Somenos Marsh in Duncan.

Western Brown Elfin Incisalia iroides (Lep.: Lycaenidae) Val George

 Western Pine Elfin (Lep.: Incisalia eryphon) Val George

Mesoleuca gratulata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Val George

2017 May 5

   Mike Yip writes from Nanoose Bay:  I would like to compile a list of butterfly friendly garden flowers so I’m hoping you will post a note asking the invert folks to send me a list of their garden flowers and the butterflies that like nectaring on them. If you like I can send you the list to publish later in the summer. My email is mikyip AT hotmail DOT com.  Mike also sends a photograph of a moth, Behrensia conchiformis, that he found when he was cutting some alder firewood.  B. conchiformis is remarkable in that a freshly emerged specimen shines, when illuminated in  sunlight at the right angle, with brilliant, sparkling bright green areas.  The caterpillar, too is quite distinctive.  It feeds on the leaves of Snowberry, and it rests by stretching itself fully elongated and closely appressed to a twig, so that it is very difficult to detect.

Behrensia conchiformis (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Mike Yip