2017 June 14

   Rare Butterfly Alert!  Monarch!  See Devon Parker’s posting below.

   Gordon Hart writes:  On the weekend we travelled to Denman Island and searched unsuccessfully for the Edith (“Taylor’s”) Checkerspot Euphydryas editha taylori. We saw only a Western Pondhawk, Erythemis collocata, female, or young male. Elsewhere on the island there were many Pale and Western Tiger Swallowtails, an Anise Swallowtail and several Red Admirals. The photo attached is of one on some garden art.
We went up to Mount Washington and Paradise Meadows Monday, June 12, but saw only a Cabbage White amidst the drifts of melting snow and early spring flowers. On the way down, we saw several swallowtails at lower elevations, and a bluet identical to the one I sent in recently. I had not read the post at that point, so I did not focus on the tail appendages.

Anise Swallowtail Papilio zelicaon (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Gordon Hart

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Gordon Hart

Western Pondhawk Erythemis collocata (Odo.: Libellulidae) Gordon Hart

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  In case anyone is wondering about the name I am using for the rare checkerspot.  No one seems to know who Edith was, or if there ever was such a person, just as no one seems to know who the Sara of Anthocharis sara was, if anyone. Therefore I don’t call them “Edith’s” Checkerspot or “Sara’s” Orangetip, but just the Edith Checkerspot and the Sara Orangetip, just as we call Speyeria hydaspe the Hydaspe Fritillary.   The Denman Island population of the Edith Checkerspot is regarded as a distinct subspecies, Euphydryas editha taylori, named after an identifiable Rev. Taylor, so it is indeed “Taylor’s”.  Consistent with way subspecies names are used in ornithology, the checkerspot of Denman Island would be the Edith (“Taylor’s”) Checkerspot Euphydryas editha taylori.

   And talking of dragonflies, Jeremy continues, while looking for the Margined White butterfly at Cowichan Station on June 12, I saw several Common Whitetails Plathemis lydia there.

  Devon Parker writes:  On June 5 I had a Painted Lady at Royal Bay.

On June 11 I had a very worn Cedar Hairstreak near Royal Bay Secondary School.

On June 12 I had 20 Field Crescents at Eddy’s Storage. Apparently someone has found another population behind Zanzibar Restaurant on Stelly’s Cross Road. [Indeed someone has!  See Ron Flower’s June 13 posting.]

Also on June 12 I had my first Monarch at the McTavish Interchange.   [Jeremy says:  Wow!!!!!   For the record, Monarchs are exceedingly rare here, although often wrongly reported.  In case some viewers, today or in the future, are inclined to doubt, it should be clarified here that the observer is a highly-skilled observer (who re-discovered the Johnson’s Hairstreak on Vancouver Island) and the sighting is firm.  Provenance of Monarchs, however, is always a problem, since they are available commercially for release at weddings, etc., although there is no reason why this long-distance migrant should not occasionally make its own way here.]

On June 13 I had 15 Large Heaths at Island View Beach.  [Jeremy Tatum says thank you!   Others call them “Ringlets” – but Devon knows my eccentricities!] I attach an interesting aberration of a grey specimen from there. I also got 7 Purplish Coppers (2 females and 5 males) around the Black Knotweed. [A lifer for you, Devon?]

Grey variety of Large Heath (“Ringlet”) Coenonympha tullia

 (Lep.: Nymphalidae – Satyrinae)

Devon Parker

Female Purplish Copper Lycaena helloides (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Devon Parker

Male Purplish Copper Lycaena helloides (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Devon Parker

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I believe the Field Crescent below is a female.

Field Crescent Phyciodes pratensis (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Devon Parker

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Many more to come – but they must wait!

2017 June 13

   Jeremy Gatten writes: I am not sure if Sphinx perelegans has bigger flight years on occasion, but it’s interesting seeing multiple reports locally.  I have been wanting to see one of these for a while now and I know their host plant is Orange Honeysuckle.  I have been looking at patches of Orange Honeysuckle and thinking "I should go out at night and check this spot".  Of course I never do, but now I don’t need to!  On my wall this morning was an impressive Elegant Sphinx waiting for me!

Sphinx perelegans (Lep.: Sphingidae)  Jeremy Gatten

   Occasionally it’s a bit difficult to be sure whether a tiger swallowtail is a Pale or a Western, but there is no doubt about this one photographed by Aziza Cooper on Mock Orange in Brentwood Bay, June 12. It is a no-questions Pale Tiger Swallowtail.

Pale Tiger Swallowtail Papilio eurymedon (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Aziza Cooper

   Ron Flower writes:  We went out to Eddy’s again today to try and get both sexes of Field Crescent, of which there were many to choose from.  My camera was set to a wrong focal point.  Too bad – so no pics today!  What was good, though, is that we checked out a field behind the Zanzibar Restaurant on the corner of West Saanich and Stelly’s Cross Road and immediately found more Field Crescents. All the same flowers also were there.

2017 June 12

   This small bee was photographed by Ann Tiplady in her Oak Bay garden.  We are grateful to Cory Sheffield for identifying it as a cleptoparasitic bee of the genus Nomada.

In case that long word is a “lifer” for anyone, here is what Wikipedia says:

   Kleptoparasitism or cleptoparasitism (literally, parasitism by theft) is a form of feeding in which one animal takes prey or other food from another that has caught, collected, or otherwise prepared the food, including stored food (as in the case of cuckoo bees, which lay their eggs on the pollen masses made by other bees). The term is also used to describe the stealing of nest material or other inanimate objects from one animal by another.

Nomada sp.: (Hym.: Apidae)  Ann Tiplady

Margined White Pieris marginalis

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  Sorry I missed the Duncan trip on Sunday – I just hadn’t been paying attention to the outings schedule in the Victoria Naturalist!  Looks as though a good time was had by all – but no Margined White.  So Bill Savale and I went up to Cowichan Station today to see if we could find one.  Well, we did – eventually.  We had just about given up without having seen one, when at last we saw just one.

  Here are my thoughts on the Margined White.  I think there are probably two broods – to be seen in April/May, and July/August, but June is probably not a good month. Do not despair – try again in July.  The butterfly has a slightly lighter flight than the Cabbage White. It tends to fly low, and it nectars from Herb Robert.  You have to go along the railway line north from Cowichan Station, over the bridge, and past the church.  Any white that you see beyond there, at the right time of year, is most likely to be a Margined White.

   The male is completely immaculate white on the upperside.  If you get a good look, you may see two faint grey spots on the forewing upperside – that will be a female.  On the underside, the veins are accentuated by grey in the spring brood (remember the butterflies here were once included under “Veined White”), but not in the summer brood, so that, in July, the underside of the wings, like the upperside, is completely white.  In spite of the name, there are no particular markings on the margins of any of the wings.

  The caterpillar feeds on Nasturtium officinale and Hesperis matronalis – both of which were growing strongly north of Cowichan Station today.  In appearance the caterpillar and chrysalis are, as far as I can tell, indistinguishable from those of the European Green-veined White Pieris napi, to which it is obviously closely related.   I would put them all under the banner Pieris napi – a Holarctic species with much variation though its large range.  However, North American taxonomists currently divide the North American populations into several species on the grounds of minor variations in the maculation.

  Other butterflies seen at Cowichan Station today:  Cabbage White, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Cedar Hairstreak, Western Tiger Swallowtail.

  But where have all the Satyr Commas gone?

2017  June 11

   Several butterflyers visited Eddy’s Storage (Stelly’s Cross Road, west of West Saanich Road, Brentwood Bay) to see the Field Crescents there.  There must be at least a dozen or more.   Aziza Cooper sends a photograph of one – nectaring on an Ox-eye Daisy, which is where you will most likely see one.   It would be nice to get a few more photographs, so that we can see the difference between the males and the females.  At one time the two sexes were thought to be different species, and they had different scientific names –  Phyciodes campestris and P. pratensis.  You’ll find both names in the books. To complicate things still further, some authors are now using the name P. pulchella.   Also at Eddy’s, Aziza reports a Western Tiger Swallowtail and a Cabbage White.

Field Crescent Phyciodes pratensis (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Aziza Cooper

   Jeremy Tatum writes that there are still Painted Ladies and Red Admirals to be seen on the Mount Tolmie reservoir and around the Jeffery Pine, after about 5:30 in the evenings.  He also saw a Red Admiral on Livesay Road, Central Saanich, today.

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  The VNHS trip to Duncan produced the following highlights:  At Cowichan Station, no Margined Whites were seen but we did see a comma species, 2 Cedar Hairstreaks, 3 Red Admirals, and 4 Western Tiger Swallowtails.  At Mount Prévost the only butterfly at the top was an Anise Swallowtail,  and near the bottom were both Pale and Western Tiger Swallowtails, and 4 Western Spring Azures.  At the sewage lagoons was a Lorquin’s Admiral.  Altogether we had 8 species.

    As viewers can see, this is a pretty busy time for Invert Alert. Contributors can be a huge help if they will try to adhere to the following guidelines.

    Send observations and sightings to jtatum@uvic.ca   Send photographs as attachments in .jpg format.  Include in your report where you saw the creature (not “my backyard”  – I have no idea where your backyard is) and when  (not “yesterday”, but give the date, writing out the month in words – not 5/6/17 or 6/5/17, but June 5, 2017).  If you do not know the identity of the animal you have photographed, I will try and identify it, or get someone to do so.  But if you do know what the animal is, please say so – then I don’t have to try and identify it myself.  If you can do these things, it will be an absolutely enormous help.  

   And thank you all for your great observations and photographs of so many different sorts.  It’s really great fun.

2017 June 10, evening

   Jochen Moehr sends photographs of a variety of insects from Metchosin.

Bombus vosnesenskii (Hym.: Apidae)  Jochen Moehr

Bombus melanopygus (Hym.: Apidae)  Jochen Moehr

Drone Fly Eristalis tenax (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Jochen Moehr

Spittlebug adult (Hem.: Cercopoidea)  Jochen Moehr

   Jeremy Tatum sends photographs of two noctuid caterpillars, with “probable” identifications.

Probably Eurois occulta (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Probably Egira curialis (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum