INVERTEBRATE ALERT
This blog provides an informal forum for terrestrial invertebrate watchers to post recent sightings of interesting observations in the southern Vancouver Island region. Please send your sightings by email to Jeremy Tatum (tatumjb352@gmail.com). Be sure to include your name, phone number, the species name (common or scientific) of the invertebrate you saw, location, date, and number of individuals. If you have a photograph you are willing to share, please send it along. Click on the title above for an index of past sightings.The index is updated most days.

April 20

2017 April 20

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I saw at least 5 Cabbage Whites from the care window this afternoon when I was driving from downtown to UVic.  I hope this means an end to our butterfly dearth.

 

   Annie Pang sends recent pictures of bees and a butterfly from Gorge Park.

 

Osmia lignaria (Hym.:  Megachilidae)   Annie Pang

 

Andrena sp. (Hym.: Andrenidae)  Annie Pang

 

Andrena sp. (Hym.: Andrenidae)  Annie Pang

 Bombus vosnesenskii (Hym.: Apidae)  Annie Pang

 

Bombus vosnesenskii (Hym.: Apidae)  Annie Pang

 Western Brown Elfin   (Lep.: Lycaenidae)   Annie Pang

April 19

2017 April 19

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  At last, some moths at my Saanich Apartment rear door, if not particularly spectacular ones.  The first is a pug, and I usually by default call them Eupithecia annulata – which I think is actually correct in this case. The second is Emmelina monodactyla.

 

Eupithecia annulata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

 

Emmelina monodactyla (Lep.:  Pterophoridae)  Jeremy Tatum

 

 

   Annie Pang sends a photograph of a female mining bee from Gorge Park, April 16.

 Andrena sp. (Hym.: Andrenidae)  Annie Pang

 

 

   Nathan Fisk writes:  Caught a few flutterings yesterday (18th April) at Fort Rodd Hill.

 2 Cabbage Whites, 1 Moss’s Elfin feeding on Red Flowering Currant and 1 Western Spring Azure.

April 18, evening

2017 April 18, evening

 

   We continue with Rosemary’s adventures with strange creatures in the Sooke Hills.  Here is her photograph of a pair of large millipedes.

 

Millipedes Harpaphe haydeniana (Polydesmida:  Xystodesmidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   Annie Pang photographed a fierce-looking fly in Gorge Park, April 16.  The life history of this fly is unsuited for some viewers.  So is that of its prey, come to think of it.

 

Epalpus signifer (Dip.: Tachinidae)  Annie Pang

 

      Gordon and Anne-Marie Hart report 2 Moss’s Elfins and a Cabbage White in their Highlands garden today.

 

 

April 18, morning

2017 April 18 morning

 

   This morning’s posting is exclusively devoted to the Class Arachnida – a wide range of them: spiders, a tick hard at work, a mite, and even a false scorpion!  There will probably be another posting this evening with more familiar creatures.

 

   Two spiders.  One with an eggsac, moving fast over the hills, west of the Sooke River, photographed by Rosemary Jorna, April 17.  And a tiny money spider  (3.5 mm, not including legs) from Quick’s Bottom, April 17, photographed by Jeremy Tatum.

 

Female wolf spider Pardosa (maybe vancouveri) (Ara.: Lycosidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Money spider (Ara.: Linyphiidae)  Jeremy Tatum

 

Here is a photograph of a tick hard at work on Rosemary Jorna on the Sooke Hills, April17.

 

 Western Black-legged Tick Ixodes pacificus (Acari: Ixodidae)  Rosemary Jorna

 

And here is a velvet mite, also photographed by Rosemary in the Sooke Hills, April 17.

Thanks to Heather Proctor for the identification.

 

Red mite (Acari:  Trombidioidea – probably Trombidiidae)

 

This morning, April 18, in Metchosin, Rosemary Jorna photographed a false scorpion reading the latest news about Senator Rubio and President Trump.

 

 False scorpion (Order Pseudoscorpiones)  Rosemary Jorna

 

 

April 17

2017 April 17

 

   Annie Pang photographed a queen German Wasp Vespula germanica at Gorge Park Community Gardens on April 15.

 

Queen German Wasp Vespula germanica (Hym.: Vespidae)  Annie Pang

Val George writes:  I did my official Butterfly Count Week count yesterday, April16, for Mount Douglas and the surrounding area.  Still not many butterflies around.  My tally was: 1 California Tortoiseshell at the summit (photo attached);  3 Cabbage Whites and 1 Western Spring Azure at the base.

 

California Tortoiseshell Nymphalis californica  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Val George

 

Jeremy Tatum writes:  This morning I saw a Cabbage White at Swan Lake, and another one at my Saanich apartment building.  But, alas, the grey skies have returned this afternoon, and butterflies remain scarce.  Rosemary Jorna reports from Sooke that she has yet to see her first butterfly of the year. Here’s a photograph of a caterpillar of the Common Emerald Moth from Quick’s Bottom today.  This very common moth is a European invader.

 

Common Emerald Hemithea aestivaria (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jeremy Tatum

 

Libby Avis writes, from Port Alberni:  Got a treat this morning, April 17th – a Hyles lineata right on the doorstep. Also the first Scoliopteryx libatrix of the season.

 

White-lined Hawk Moth Hyles lineata (Lep.:  Sphingidae)  Libby Avis

Herald Moth Scoliopteryx libatrix (Lep.: Erebidae – Scoliopteryginae)  Libby Avis

   Jody Wells sends a photograph of a syrphid fly from Martindale Flats, April 14.  Dr Jeff Skevington, syrphid expert, says that he would guess it is Syrphus from the general gestalt.  It is often not possible to identify them from photographs.  The only way to be sure is to check out the upper calypter.  So, Jody, next time be sure to check out the upper calypter.  (And, if you can’t, send a photo anyway!)

 

Hover fly, probably Syrphus sp. (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Jody Wells

Ron Flower writes:  Today we went up little Mount Douglas off of Blenkinsop Road to the south west slope and we found a few Sara Orangetips.

 

Male Sara Orangetip Anthocharis sara (Lep.: Pieridae)  Ron Flower