2016 November 18

   Mike Yip sends a photograph of a caterpillar of a Large Yellow Underwing moth from Neck Point, Nanaimo, November 18.  Just to the left of the caterpillar’s head, viewers may see a small white spot, which I believe may be an aleyrodid bug.  Viewers may also notice a Rock Wren in the photograph.

Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba (Lep.: Noctuidae) 

Rock Wren Salpinctes obsoletus (Pas.: Troglodytidae)

Mike Yip

2016 November 15

   Jeremy Tatum writes:   The Cabbage White  caterpillar shown on November 12 pupated on November 14.  The chrysalis is shown below.  It is quite a different colour from the one shown on November 9.

 Cabbage White Pieris rapae (Lep.: Pieridae)  Jeremy Tatum

2016 November 14

   Morgan Davies sends a picture of a beetle that was found during the course of ecological restoration of Ammophila grass on Sidney Island on November 6.  Thanks to Scott Gilmore for the identification.

Northern Carrion Beetle Thanatophilus lapponicus (Col.: Silphidae) Morgan Davies

2016 November 12

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  It seems that the caterpillar season isn’t quite over yet.  Yesterday, November 11, I found another Cabbage White caterpillar on Charlock near the MacIntyre reservoir, Island View Road.

Cabbage White Pieris rapae (Lep.: Pieridae)  Jeremy Tatum

   And there are interesting moths around, too.  Rebecca Reader-Lee writes:  Here is a moth from last night (November 11) in the North Highlands.

Autumnal Moth  Epirrita autumnata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Rebecca Reader-Lee

2016 November 10

   Annie Pang sends a picture of a soldier fly from Gorge Park, November 8.  Thanks to Rob Cannings for identifying it as Exaireta spinigera.  This is an Australian species, and the first published record of its occurrence in North America was in a 2006 paper by J.E Swann, R.D. Kenner, Rob Cannings and Claudia Copley (J. Ent. Soc. BC, 103, December 2006).  The paper cited about eight hitherto unidentified specimens all from the Victoria or Vancouver areas, dating from 2002. There had been an unpublished sighting of this species in a greenhouse in California in 1985.  This is a large soldier fly. Annie estimated its length from 10 to 12 mm.  Other sources put it as high as 14 mm.  Congratulations to Annie for this interesting record.

Exaireta spinigera (Dip.:  Stratiomyidae)   Annie Pang

   Jeremy Tatum sends a photograph of a more familiar insect, Autographa californica, from the wall of the Elliott Building at UVic this morning.

 Autographa californica (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum