2017 March 1

   Best wishes for St David’s Day, Val.

   Dar Churcher photographed the micro moth below in Metchosin last week.  Many thanks to Eric LaGasa for identifying it for us.  Eric writes:  This nice image is a very dark Oegoconia novimundi, a fairly common detritivore species that does seem to overwinter as an adult and can be very common at porch lights in summer.

  It apparently also has an English name:  Four-spotted Yellowneck.   It is the first representative of its Family to appear on Invert Alert.

Oegoconia novimundi (Lep.:  Autostichidae)  Dar Churcher

  In the February 16 posting, we mentioned the appeal for volunteers for “butterfly rangers” for the David Suzuki Foundation’s Butterfly Project.  I am told that, in spite of the very short notice before the application deadline, there were more than 100 applications from Victoria.  Wow! Isn’t that something!  If any contributors to the Invert Alert Website are among the rangers, we would be glad to hear how things go.

2017 February 24

   Note that today is February 24.  Last year the first butterflies reported for the year were on February 25!  (A Mourning Cloak and a Satyr Comma.)

   Dar Churcher sends us an interesting silhouette of Alucita montana from Metchosin, February 23.

Alucita montana (Lep.:  Alucitidae)   Dar Churcher

   She also sends a picture of a spider and spiderlings.  Robb Bennett writes:  Not entirely sure, but I think it is a female Parasteatoda tepidariorum with spiderlings emerging from her two egg sacs.  A common cob-web spider (Theridiidae)  found in and around homes around the world.

Parasteatoda tepidariorum (Ara.: Theridiidae) Dar Churcher

   Ian Cruickshank sends a photograph of a mass of eggs of the Vapourer Moth (also called Rusty Tussock) laid by the flightless female on her own cocoon, Sidney Island, February 24.

Vapourer Moth Orgyia antiqua (Lep.: Erebidae – Lymantriinae)   Ian Cruickshank

2017 February 22

   Devon Parker saw this caterpillar cross a sidewalk today.  It is almost certainly a ground- or underground-feeder in the Family Noctuidae,  Subfamily Noctuinae.

Noctuine caterpillar (Lep.: Noctuidae – Noctuinae)   Devon Parker

2017 February 20

   Rosemary Jorna found this snail at Kemp Lake Road, February 21.  It should be possible to identify the snail.  Suggestions, anyone?

Snail – for identification someone, please?    Rosemary Jorna

   Rosemary writes that, a metre from the live snail, she came across three shells close together all open in the same way.  She asks what would bring them to one spot and eat them in such a manner.  I wonder if they were broken by a crow or a gull dropping them from a height.  But then you wouldn’t expect to find three close together.  Ideas, anyone?  Identification of the snail, anyone?   It looks like a different species to me from the one above.  Jeremy Tatum

Broken snail shell.  Rosemary Jorna

   Another snail photographed by Rosemary is this tiny, tiny Vertigo snail on a maple tree. 

 Vertigo snail (Pul.: Vertiginidae)    Rosemary Jorna

And lastly, a small moth:

Alucita montana  (Lep.: Alucitidae)    Rosemary Jorna

2017 February 16

Jeremy Tatum writes:  Four items today, numbered  1,  2,  3, 4

There are two butterfly and other invertebrate related items in today’s (February 16) Times-Colonist.

1. I’ll type the first of them (page A3) in full.  I have not been involved in this and have no further knowledge of it, but it looks very interesting and it would be great if some of the viewers of this site became involved.  If any of you do, let us know how it goes!

The David Suzuki Foundation is recruiting volunteers to act as “butterfly rangers” in Victoria.  The Butterfly Project aims to increase habitat spaces for the winged insects in five Canadian cities. “We’re looking at creating patches of butterfly- and bee-friendly habitats,” said Lindsay Coulter, a green-living expert with the Foundation.

In Victoria, 20 to 25 volunteers will be selected for the training, then equipped with seeds.   The hope is that they will share the information with neighbours and other community members, Coulter said.

The local butterfly population is on the decline, she said, as a result of habitat loss.  But that can be stemmed by avoiding pesticides, replacing grass with pollinator-friendly plants, and taking other measures.

[Jeremy interjects here:  Re not using pesticides – refer to our posting for December 29.  The forestry people are going to be spraying for the mythical Gypsy Moth again this spring, targeting the Elk Lake area in particular.  While some of us are trying to protect butterflies by not using pesticides, others are trying to kill them by widespread spraying from aircraft.  Re replacing grass, etc., for more suitable habitat – fine, but do bear in mind that the caterpillars of all our satyrine butterflies and hesperiine skippers, as well many moths, feed on grasses.]

Newspaper article continues:

“We’ll be teaching people about our local situation in Victoria and what the needs are of the native butterfly species and the plants they require,” she said. For example, among the 70 native butterfly species on Vancouver Island, 10 prefer to lay their eggs on Ocean Spray and Stinging Nettle only, she said.

The Foundation is also hosting the project in Richmond, Toronto, Markham and Montreal.  The application deadline in February 19.  Applications are accepted at davidsuzuki.org/butterflyway

Training will take place March 4 and 5 at Goward House in Oak Bay.  Much of the work will take place in the fall, she said.  “Part of it is about increasing the local populations of different species, but even more so it’s about getting people out and connecting with their neighbourhoods and building social capital.

Coulter, who will lead the local training, said volunteers will have a curiosity and interest in supporting pollinators, as well as a willingness to reach out to their family, friends and colleagues.

  2.  Page D7 of today’s (February 16) Times-Colonist also carries an advertisement from the Butterfly Gardens at Brentwood Bay.  They are opening a new Insectorium on March 1, and the Grand Opening Week will be from March 1 to March 7, which will exhibit not just butterflies, but other insects and invertebrates from around the world.  Although viewers of this site may think of the Butterfly Gardens from a wide range of viewpoints, this will undoubtedly be interesting.

3.  I received an email (some of you may have received the same one) about bioblitzes.   There are to be three Parks Canada BioBlitzes this year:

1.  Fort Rodd Hill   May 13                          Aimee.Pelletier@pc.gc.ca

2.  Pacific Rim National Park    May 21      Diana.Lukinuk@pc.gc.ca

3.  Pender Island      June 10                         Athena.George@pc.gc.ca

There’s too much detail in the email for me to reproduce here,  but I think many of you know what a bioblitz is, and have participated in one or more before, or would like to participate in one of these, so I have given the contact persons’ addresses above.   Get in touch with them if you would like to participate.

4.   I have a few Clodius Parnassian ova that Devon Parker found last year, and I have started to keep a daily eye on them to see when they hatch.  When they do, I shall urgently need some Bleeding Heart Dicentra formosa.   Can anyone tell me where I may find some?  Preferably near UVic or my Poplar Avenue apartment, but when the eggs hatch I’ll need to get some Bleeding Heart immediately, no matter how far I have to drive.  I don’t need a general statement such as that it is a common and generally-distributed plant in the area, or there are probably some in such-and-such an area.  I’ll need an actual precise location where I can guarantee to find a few leaves for some Very Hungry Caterpillars.   Suggestions, anyone?   jtatum at uvic dot ca