2016 November 3

    Jeff Gaskin writes:  Today there was a still a Cabbage White in the Gorge Park community garden. This sighting breaks my old personal late record for Cabbage White, as the latest Cabbage White I ever saw in Victoria was on November 1st.  I believe the mild and rainy weather we’ve been having coupled with the few sunny breaks is the main reason for that. I’m almost sure that there are other Cabbage Whites around – one just has to be around at the right time. I like checking around 12:45 pm to just past 1 pm.  In past experience I found the Capital City Allotment Gardens on Kent Road and the Martindale valley are worth checking because of vegetables still growing there.

2016 November 2

     Today is the anniversary of the last butterfly reported in 2015 – a Red Admiral on November 2, 2015.

     Annie Pang sends a picture of a rough stink bug, identified by Claudia Copley as Brochymena affinis.

Brochymena affinis (Hem.: Pentatomidae)  Annie Pang

   Thomas Barbin sends photographs of a wasp, a snail and three spiders.  Ichneumonid and braconid wasps are exceedingly numerous, and rarely identifiable with confidence.  They are often uncritically lumped as just “ichneumons” – although this term should strictly be used for the Family Ichneumonidae.  (Even better, call them ichneumonid wasps and braconid wasps, since the unqualified word “ichneumon” is also used for a species of mongoose.) However, we can see the venation of this example well enough to be reasonably certain that this insect is indeed an ichneumonid wasp and not a braconid.

Ichneumonid wasp (Hym.: Ichneumonidae)  Thomas Barbin

   Next is a rather familiar Garden Spider from Europe.

Araneus diadematus (Ara.: Araneidae)  Thomas Barbin

Araneus diadematus (Ara.: Araneidae)  Thomas Barbin

   The snail below was no taller than 5 mm and was working its way across a Salal leaf.  Because of its size, we believe it is probably Lauria cylindracea.

Probably Lauria cylindracea (Pul.: Lauriidae)  Thomas Barbin

The spider below is probably a youngster and it may be difficult to identify it reliably.

We’ll stick to Superfamily Araneoidea.

Spider (Ara.: Araneoidea)  Thomas Barbin

Spider (Ara.: Araneoidea)  Thomas Barbin

Spider (Ara.: Araneoidea)  Thomas Barbin

Spider (Ara.: Araneoidea)  Thomas Barbin

   But we can go down to Family level with this one.

Jumping spider (Ara.: Salticidae) Thomas Barbin

2016 November 1

   Rosemary Jorna sends pictures of a Rose Leafhopper ovipositing in a rose stem in her garden at Kemp Lake Road, October 31.  The position of the antennae between the eyes (rather than at the side of the head) plus the spines on the hind tibiae place this bug firmly in the Family Cicadellidae rather than in other closely-related families.

Edwardsiana rosae (Hem.: Cicadellidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Edwardsiana rosae (Hem.: Cicadellidae)  Rosemary Jorna

2016 October 31

   Jeff Gaskin reports that there was still one Cabbage White on October 30, at 12:50 p.m. in the community garden at Gorge Park.

2016 October 29

   Annie Pang reports that there are still a few Cabbage Whites around, and she managed to photograph one at Gorge Park on October 28.

Cabbage White Pieris rapae (Lep.: Pieridae)  Annie Pang