2017 July 2

   Reminder:  From July 6 to July 22 (Jeremy Tatum writes) I shall be on holiday and very unlikely to be able to operate Invert Alert.  By all means save up a very few of your most interesting photographs for when I get back, especially of insects rarely photographed, but it would be nice if, upon my return, I did not have to process large numbers of photographs of our frequently-photographed insects.  Thank you all.

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  Yesterday, July 1, I was at Swan Lake and I found the following butterflies :  28 Lorquin’s Admirals, 11 Western Tiger Swallowtails, 10 Cabbage Whites, 2 Essex Skippers, and 1 Painted Lady.

  Gerry and Wendy Ansell write:  A visit to Cowichan Station on Saturday July 1, 2017, produced the following butterflies:

Margined Whites 6+

Red Admiral 2

Cabbage White 5

Western Tiger Swallowtail 4

Lorquin’s Admiral 2

Margined White Pieris marginalis (Lep.: Pieridae)  Wendy Ansell

Margined White Pieris marginalis (Lep.: Pieridae)  Wendy Ansell

Margined White Pieris marginalis (Lep.: Pieridae)  Wendy Ansell

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I am very interested in this butterfly, so I hope viewers will excuse a few paragraphs of text.  I have once found a caterpillar, and once a chrysalis, of this species north of Cowichan Station.  Both were on Dame’s Rocket Hesperis matronalis, and were successfully reared on this plant.  However, I suspect the main foodplant is Watercress Nasturtium officinale.  Both of these plants grow abundantly there.  The first two photographs show a butterfly nectaring on Watercress. The third photograph shows one nectaring at Herb Robert Geranium robertianum, which is not a larval foodplant, but the adults frequently take nectar from these flowers.  [Added in press, just before posting:  The identity of the plant I have been calling Watercress Nasturtium officinale needs confirmation.  If a botanist can help, let us know.  Keep an eye on this site for what we eventually conclude.]

  Many of our Margined White butterflies are totally immaculate – pure white with no markings. There are no particular markings on the margins of the wings – the English name is just copied from the scientific name marginalis, which is merely a label, and not descriptive.  However, in some (such as the one in the third photograph) the veins on the underside of the wings are accentuated with grey.  I have seen specimens with veins more accentuated than this.  Also occasionally I have seen a pair of gray spots in the middle of the upperside of the forewings.

   I suspect (but am not 100 percent certain) that there is a sex difference, the females being more heavily marked than the males. I also suspect that the species is bivoltine, and the spring generation is more heavily marked than the summer generation.   Thus if you see a heavily-veined butterfly on the underside, with two grey spots on the forewing upperside it is likely to be a spring generation female.  A summer-generation male, on the other hand, is pure unsullied white.

  Finally (for now anyway!) from what I have been able to see, the caterpillar and chrysalis are indistinguishable from those of the European Green-veined White Pieris napi.  I believe that, depending on one’s concept of “species”, a case could be made for saying that the two are conspecific, and that Pieris napi is a Holarctic species with a wide range, and with a corresponding wide range in the variation of its maculation.  I have seen Green-veined Whites in Scotland that are very heavily marked, and one could be forgiven for doubting that they are the same species as our immaculate Margined White – until one has seen the very similar caterpillars and chrysalides.

2017 July 1

Canada Day

   Reminder:  Monthly Butterfly Walk on Sunday July 2.  For details see June 30 morning entry.  All welcome.

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I went to Latoria Creek Park today. That is a good place for butterflies in the spring – however, there were no adult butterflies there at all today.  I did, however, find a Satyr Comma caterpillar on a nettle, so we haven’t lost this species entirely.  I also saw a Red Admiral caterpillar on nettle at Swan Lake. Near the front door of the Nature House there were two superficially similar all-white moths, though a closer look showed that one was Spilosoma virginica and the other was Leucoma salicis – a nice opportunity to see the differences.

  Wylie Thomas writes:  I spotted these in Uplands Park on Friday (June 30)!

Sheep Moths Hemileuca eglanterina (Lep.: Saturniidae)  Wylie Thomas

2017 June 30 evening

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  The West Coast Lady was still on the concrete reservoir on Mount Tolmie as of 5:30 pm, June 29.  Nearby were two Red Admirals as well as several Painted Ladies and other butterflies.

Mike Yip writes:  I flushed this fairly large moth from a grassy area next to a forested area in my yard today.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  Nice find!  It is a Rough Prominent, a notodontid.  Larval foodplant Garry Oak.

Rough Prominent Nadata gibbosa (Lep.: Notodontidae)  Mike Yip

2017 July 30 morning

   Monthly Butterfly Walk The monthly butterfly walk will be this Sunday, July 2.  We will meet at Mount Tolmie at 1 p.m.. You can park at the main parking lot north of the summit, or in the lot by the reservoir where we will have an initial look for butterflies and then decide where to go from there.
Hope to see you Sunday!
-Gordon Hart

Jeremy Tatum writes: If more photographs of observations come in during the day, I may get round to posting them this evening, but I thought I’d better get Gordon’s notice up now.

Also…

Invert Alert Temporary Close-down.  I shall be going away on holiday from July 6 – 22, and it is very unlikely that I shall be able to run Invert Alert during that period.  It may be difficult for me to deal with hundreds of contributions when I get back, so maybe go easy on the number of photos of our most frequently-photographed insects.  However, we don’t want to lose exciting or rare observations, so by all means send in a few of your most exciting photos when I get back. 

2017 June 29

   Ron Flower writes:  We were out on West Saanich Road today (June 28) and did some more hunting for Field Crescents.  We found another population in a field close to Woodwind Farm. There is a small native graveyard on the left side of the road heading north on West Saanich Road before Woodwind. The field to the left of the graveyard holds the crescents. I don’t know the ethics of reporting this location so I will leave that dilemma up to you, but it’s good to know that the population seems to be holding its own.

Jeremy Tatum replies:  I haven’t thought much about the ethics, either, and so I’d welcome any comments from viewers. One danger in reporting sites of rare butterflies is that it brings them to the attention of butterfly collectors – we don’t want to see any butterfly nets being wielded.  Or if the site is on private property, we must respect property rights. The graveyard in question is presumably not only First Nations property, but is sacred to them, and permission should be sought.

Although the Field Crescent is regarded now as locally rare, this was not always so.  It was a not uncommon butterfly fifty years ago.  They were even in Uplands Park.

Val George writes:  This afternoon, June 28, I walked the railway track at Cowichan Station to look for Margined Whites Pieris marginalis.  I counted 7 or 8.  Other butterflies there:  At least a dozen Western Tiger Swallowtails, 1 Pale Tiger Swallowtail, 3 Lorquin’s Admirals, 1 Red Admiral, 2 Cabbage Whites.

Margined White Pieris marginalis (Lep.: Pieridae)  Val George

 Margined White Pieris marginalis (Lep.: Pieridae)  Val George

    Jeremy Tatum writes:  Exciting!   I think the first one is resting on Dame’s Rocket – one of the larval foodplants.  The second is nectaring at Herb Robert – something they apparently like to do.  These are both completely immaculate.  The ones I saw earlier this year had the underside veins strongly accentuated with grey.  I believe there are two generations per year (bivoltine), and that the difference is a generational difference.  Future observations (and photographs of this quality!) will tell.

Jeremy Tatum writes:  Huge numbers of Essex Skippers at Panama Flats this afternoon.  This evening at Mount Tolmie, the usual bunch – several Painted Ladies, Lorquin’s and Red Admirals, Western Tiger Swallowtails, and a West Coast Lady.

   Nick Doe sends a photograph of a male Mylitta Crescent taken on Gabriola Island a few days ago. He writes that they’re quite common in the woods he frequents and they often pose nicely for the camera.

  Mylitta Crescent Phyciodes mylitta (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Nick Doe

   Rosemary Jorna writes: This Golden Bupestrid Beetle Bupestris aurulenta joined us on the neighbours’ deck in the Kemp Lake area June  29 2017. It even let me get in for a close up.

Golden Bupestrid Bupestris aurulenta (Col.: Bupestridae)  Rosemary Jorna

Golden Bupestrid Bupestris aurulenta (Col.: Bupestridae)  Rosemary Jorna

   Rosemary also sends a photograph of a caterpillar from nearby.

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

Rosemary Jorna