2107 February 14

   Nathan Fisk writes (February 13):  With the Sun come the inverts! Only one buzzing around the daisies at Fort Rodd Hill. Looks a lot like the fly I saw in February last year but I’m no expert.  Jeremy Tatum responds:  Nor am I, but I’m certain that this is a drone fly Eristalis sp., and very close to certain that it is “the”  Drone Fly Eristalis tenax.

  Jeremy continues:  Yes, invertebrates are coming back, and I had two noctuid moths at my Saanich apartment this morning (February 14), both of them Egira hiemalis.  This is the first of our woodling moths to appear early in the year.  “Hiemalis” means “of the winter”.  I looked up in the Index to this site (click on INVERTEBRATE ALERT at the very top of the Invert Alert site to find the Index) and I see that Egira hiemalis has appeared on this site on dates ranging from January 21 to March 26.  I have never seen the caterpillar, but Bob Duncan gives the foodplant as Douglas Fir.

Drone Fly Eristalis tenax (Dip.:  Syrphidae)  Nathan Fisk

 Egira hiemalis (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Jeremy Tatum

2017 February 7

  Rosemary Jorna sends pictures of a harvestman from Kemp Lake Road, Otter Point, February 2.  Jeremy Tatum writes: I thought it looked a little different from the usual European Phalangium opilio, so I sent the photographs to Dr Philip Bragg of the University of British Columbia.  While he can’t be certain without seeing the actual specimen, he believes it is a native species of Leiobunum. 

Harvestman.  Probably Leiobunum sp. (Opiliones:  Sclerosomatidae)   Rosemary Jorna

Harvestman.  Probably Leiobunum sp. (Opiliones:  Sclerosomatidae)   Rosemary Jorna

  There is to be a TV program on “The Wild World of Insects Inside Homes” on Channel Shaw 2 = Telus 100, at 8:00 pm on Thursday February 9.  This should be of interest to invertebrate enthusiasts.   You may have noticed a photograph of a spider on the front cover of this week’s TV Scene.  Robb Bennett tells me that the spider is possibly a species of Cheiracanthium (Eutichuridae), often common in homes, but more so in eastern Canada than here on the west coast.

2017 January 31

 Index  

We are pleased to say that we have now re-installed the Index of photographs that have appeared on Invertebrate Alert, dating back to the beginning of the site in 2010.  Once you have logged on to the site, if you then click on the large white words INVERTEBRATE ALERT at the top of the page, if all goes well you will immediately get the Index.  The names are given as scientific names only – so you’ll need to know the scientific name of the animal that you are looking for.  The Index is arranged alphabetically by Class, then alphabetically by Order within each Class, then alphabetically by Family within each Order, and so on. The Index gives the dates on which the species in question was posted, so you then have to go back to the site and scroll down to the date needed.  I’m sorry that the Index doesn’t give more information, such as English names, or name of photographer – but, as you can imagine, it was quite a bit of work as is, and I think you’ll probably be able to find your way about reasonably quickly.  While I compiled the Index myself, thanks to Adam Taylor for managing to get it up on the site in a form that you can easily view and which I can update periodically.  Jeremy Tatum

Over the years, we have had several photographs of our large local June scarab beetle, including two recent photographs of its larva.  I have labelled them as Polyphylla decemlineata.  Thanks to Claudia Copley for pointing out that our local species is in fact more likely to be Polyphylla crinita.  If I can find a moment sometime, I’ll see if I can relabel them

Scott Gilmore sends a photograph of a snout mite from the family Bdellidae, found under stones in his backyard in Lantzville, January 29 – 30.

Snout mite. probably Neomolgus littoralis (Aca.: Bdellidae)  Scott Gilmore

University of Alberta acarologist Heather Proctor writes: It is indeed a bdellid, looking wistfully skywards! Possibly Neomolgus littoralis, if Scott’s backyard is very close to the ocean  –  although the Neomolgus littoralis I’ve seen on Vancouver Island have little white bootees (see attached, from Bamfield).   [Jeremy notes:  Scott’s mite is on a pale background, but it you look closely at Scott’s photograph, and others that he supplied, his mite does indeed seem to have white tarsi, though not quite as conspicuous as Heather’s, which are on a dark background.]

 Snout mite. Neomolgus littoralis (Aca.: Bdellidae)  Heather Proctor

   Scott also photographed a flat-backed millipede from the Family Polydesmidae.  Claudia tells me that we do have someone in Victoria who is knowledgeable about millipedes, but she is out of the country at the moment, so we’ll leave the label at Family level for the time being.

 Flat-backed millipede (Polydesmida:  Polydesmidae)  Scott Gilmore

2017 January 21

   Ian Cruickshank sends photographs of a beetle grub from Sidney Island.  This would appear to be the same species as the one photographed by Morgan Davies from the same island, posted on this site for December 1.  The beetle is in the Superfamily Scarabaeoidea.  Ian’s photograph shows that it is quite a large insect, which suggests that it is very likely indeed to be Polyphylla crinita.

2017 January 8

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  There being no butterflies to look at at*** this time of year, I’m reduced to looking at firebrats and trying to distinguish between the two species that are in our apartment building, the Common Firebrat Thermobia domestica and the Grey Firebrat Ctenolepisma longicaudata.   I photographed three more this morning, two of which I believe to be T. domestica and one which I believe to be C. longicaudata.

*** [My computer doesn’t like the two consecutive ats in my opening sentence.  Nor does it like the plural ats.  I’m going to keep them.]

   I believe the following to be good identification criteria, though I shall be looking out to see if there are any additional reliable characters (and viewers are also encouraged to do so).

Thermobia domestica

Strongly patterned with irregular alternating broad brown and pale transverse bands.

Abdomen shorter than head-plus-thorax.

Third pair of legs nearer to tail than to head.

Thermobia domestica (Thy.: Lepismatidae)  Jeremy Tatum

 Thermobia domestica (Thy.: Lepismatidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Ctenolepisma longicauda

Uniform grey to unaided eye, but on photograph or under a lens seen to be very finely mottled and speckled.

Abdomen longer than head-plus-thorax

Third pair of legs nearer to head than to tail

 Ctenolepisma longicaudata (Thy.: Lepismatidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Viewers’ attention is drawn to today’s email from the Victoria Natural History Society concerning a photograph contest.  I encourage invertebrate enthusiasts to have a go.  [Deadline January 16.]   I don’t think submitting an entry to the competition precludes you from also posting it in on Invert Alert, nor does having had a photo posted on Invert Alert preclude you from submitting an entry to the contest.  There have been many superb photos on Invert Alert, many of which would surely be good for the competition.

    I don’t think my photos of firebrats would stand much of a chance.  Hardly an aesthetically attractive hexapod! 

    You may have to be a better computer expert than I am, because your entry has to be via Flickr, Twitter or Facebook, which are all beyond my ken.  [Please don’t write to me telling me how easy they all are!]