2016 April 24

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I found this bug on Mount Tolmie yesterday, April 23.  Thanks to Scott Gilmore for the identification:

Eurygaster sp. (Hem.:  Scutelleridae)   Jeremy Tatum

  Annie Pang photographed the highflyer moth below in her back porch in Victoria, April 23.   At present I’m labelling it Hydriomena (probably marinata), but we’ll see what other moth-ers think.

 Hydriomena (probably marinata) (Lep.: Geometridae)  Annie Pang

   Rosemary sends some high drama from Kemp Lake Road.  The spider is Misumena vatia. The caterpillar is a geometrid.  I can’t tell for sure beyond that, but I’d guess that there’s a very good chance that it is a pug of the genus Eupithecia.

Crab spider Misumena vatia (Ara.: Thomisidae)  Rosemary Jorna

The caterpillar is a geometrid, probably Eupithecia sp.

   Rosemary sends a photograph of a ladybird beetle from Kemp Lake Road.  I was hoping it was something different, but, alas, Scott Gilmore tells me that it is just the familiar and ubiquitous Multicoloured Asian Ladybird Beetle Harmonia axyridis.  At any rate, it does illustrate how variable this beetle can be.  Scott writes:  I think this is the most variable insect I have ever seen. For a while I was thinking it was something different as well, as it does not have the "usual" head coloration. When I looked at it further it seemed that even those characters vary!

 Multicoloured Asian Ladybird Beetle Harmonia axyridis (Col.: Coccinellidae)

Rosemary Jorna

April 23

St George’s Day

Libby Avis sends two photographs of a male Ceanothus Silk Moth Hyalophora euryalus taken in Port Alberni today (April 23).  She writes: This was a real treat – we don’t see it very often! Five years since our last sighting, but I opened the front door this morning and there it was. Just had time to take a few photos. It was slowly opening and closing its wings and was gone five minutes later.

Hyalophora euryalus (Lep.: Saturniidae)  Libby Avis

Hyalophora euryalus (Lep.: Saturniidae)  Libby Avis

   Aziza Cooper writes:  At the summit of Mount Douglas, on Thursday, Apr. 21, there were:

2 California Tortoiseshells

1 Painted Lady

1 Red Admiral

1 Western Spring Azure

1 Sara Orangetip

Here are photos of the Red Admiral and the two California Tortoiseshells perching near each other. Getting the two together is quite rare since they mostly seem to be madly dashing around the top of the hill.

Today, April 23, Aziza continues, I found an Autographa californica on the west slope of Mount Douglas.

 Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta (Lep.:  Nymphalidae)  Aziza Cooper

California Tortoiseshells Nymphalis californica (Lep.:  Nymphalidae)  Aziza Cooper

Autographa californica (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Aziza Cooper

2016 April 22

   Thomas Barbin sends photographs of a few arthropods observed on April 21 in the Highlands District.

 Exoskeleton of a cicada nymph (Hem.: Cicadidae)  Thomas Barbin

Soldier beetle Silis sp. (Col.: Cantharidae)  Thomas Barbin

 Soldier beetle Silis sp. (Col.: Cantharidae)  Thomas Barbin

Sawfly Dolerus sp.(Hym.: Tenthredinidae) Thomas Barbin

 Sawfly Dolerus sp. (Hym.: Tenthredinidae) Thomas Barbin

Sawfly Dolerus sp. (Hym.: Tenthredinidae) Thomas Barbin

 

 Jumping spider (Ara.:  Salticidae) Thomas Barbin

   Robb Bennett writes that the spider is probably a male Evarcha proszynskii, though he cannot be completely sure of this.

   Annie Pang recently photographed a robber fly, and she (and InvertAlert!) are grateful to Rob Cannings, who supplied the following identification and comments:    The robber fly is a species of Nicocles. It’s a female and is probably N. canadensis, although the species (and especially females) are often difficult to identify even if one has a specimen under a microscope. There are several species in our area. They all have dark markings on the wings and males have the last couple of abdominal segments flattened and silver coloured. The only reddish species, Nicocles rufus, in Canada is restricted to dry habitats on the BC southwest coast.

 Robber Fly Nicocles (probably canadensis) (Dip.: Asilidae)   Annie Pang

   Nathan Fisk writes:  Had a fantastic day in the hills around Thetis Lake yesterday (April 21) – so many creatures around. Saw a pair (male/female) of Propertius Duskywings sunning, both male and female Western Spring Azures sunning, two Cabbage Whites floating, Grey Hairstreak feeding on Spring Gold and two or three Pale Tiger Swallowtails sunning on fresh oak leaves. To cap it off I observed a Red Admiral back at Fort Rodd getting the last of the days heat.  What a day!

Pale Tiger Swallowtail Papilio eurymedon (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Nathan Fisk

2016 April 22 morning

Annie Pang sends a photograph of a green lacewing  from Gorge Park, April 20.

Green lacewing (Neu.:  Chrysopidae)   Annie Pang

      Scott Gilmore writes:  There are lots of things flying in the late afternoon in Upper Lantzville over the last few days. Some of the good stuff includes

1  A new beetle family for me Heteroceridae, the Variegated Mud-loving beetles.

2. Cryptarcha ampla.

3. A wasp from the genus Atanycolus was found flying in our house. Thanks to Ross Hill for the identification.

Variegated mud-loving beetle (Col.: Heteroceridae)

Scott Gilmore

 Cryptarcha ampla (Col.: Nitidulidae)  Scott Gilmore

Atanycolus sp. (Hym.: Braconidae)  Scott Gilmore

   Jeremy Tatum comments:  I hope viewers appreciate just how small the insects are that Scott is managing to photograph!   Another thing to appreciate is that braconids are constantly in motion.  Many braconids are parasitoids of moth caterpillars, so I see them fairly often, though I think this one is a beetle-grub parasitoid.

   Rosemary Jorna writes:  15 to 20 of these were crawling over the stucco of our home near Kemp Lake on the evening of April 20 .   Scott Gilmore writes: This is Agriotes lineatus, a European introduction that is very common in gardens and around homes here on the island. The species is identifiable from the variable width and colour of the striae (lines) on the eltyra.

Agriotes lineatus (Col.: Elateridae)  Rosemary Jorna

2016 April 21

   Jeremy Gatten writes from Saanichton:   I had my first Coryphista meadii last night (April 20) – two or three actually. 

   This species can be difficult to distinguish from Triphosa haesitata, so Jeremy Gatten has sent us a straight photograph of Coryphista meadii plus a copy of the photograph in which he has circled two features that he finds to be indicative of Coryphista meadii, namely the black discal spots and the short tooth on the hindwing margin (gives an uneven pattern, whereas Tissue Moth seems regularly toothed).

Coryphista meadii (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jeremy Gatten

Coryphista meadii (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jeremy Gatten

   Jeremy Tatum writes that he, too, had his first Coryphista meadii of the year on April 21 – as in the photograph below.  Probably not much help for identification!

Coryphista meadii (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jeremy Tatum

   They were on the underside of a Mahonia leaf near Munn Road.

   Jeremy Gatten also found a micro moth, which he describes as "quite a nice sight last night – it is Retinia picicolana."  He writes:  I don’t know anything about its life history, but it appears to have a distribution from southern BC through California (not sure if it extends beyond to the south).  The fuzzy little orange head gives it a rather endearing quality.

Retinia picicolana (Lep.: Tortricidae)   Jeremy Gatten

   [Jeremy Tatum remarks:  I have had one or two tiny micro moths in my apartment recently, also with fuzzy little orange heads.  But in that case (Tineola besselliella, the Common Clothes Moth) neither the fuzzy little orange head nor anything else gives it, in my view, any endearing quality!]

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  Today, I did a Butterfly Count along the Pathfinder Trail (along one of the hydro lines off Munn Road).  Besides Sara Orangetips and Western Spring Azures, I encountered several (not quite all) of the local Small Brown Jobs – Western Brown Elfin, Moss’s Elfin, Cedar Hairstreak, Two-banded Grizzled Skipper, Propertius Duskywing.  I also saw several day-flying geometrids:  Mesoleuca gratulata, Rheumaptera hastata, Leptostales rubromarginaria, Epirrhoe plebeculata.

   Jody Wells spotted a California Tortoiseshell on Mount Douglas on April 20, as he writes: “begging to be photographed”. 

California Tortoiseshell Nymphalis californica (Lep.: Nymphalidae)

Jody Wells

California Tortoiseshell Nymphalis californica (Lep.: Nymphalidae)

Jody Wells