2016 September 12

   Gordon Hart sends the results of the August Butterfly Count, as follows:  (August 2015 numbers in parentheses)

Anise Swallowtail                               1          (0)

Cabbage White                              302      (259)

Cedar Hairstreak                               0          (1)

“Ringlet”                                           32        (19)

Grey Hairstreak                                 0          (4)

Lorquin’s Admiral                              4          (5)

Mourning Cloak                                 0          (2)

Painted Lady                                       5          (6)

Pale Tiger Swallowtail                       0          (3)

Pine White                                          6          (2)

Purplish Copper                                  0          (2)

Red Admiral                                        0          (3)

West Coast Lady                                 0          (1)

Sulphur sp.                                          1          (0)

Western Tiger Swallowtail                1          (3)

Woodland Skipper                         357      (595)

Total                                                 709      (905)

Observers                                         12        (17)

Reports                                             29        (40)

Locations covered                            27

   Jeff Gaskin saw a  skipper (presumably woodland) today on Cecilia Avenue.

   More reports of interesting invertebrates received today – but they’ll have to wait until tomorrow’s posting!  Jeremy Tatum

2016 September 11

   There are still Cabbage Whites around.  Aziza Cooper sends a photograph of one from Panama Flats, September 10.  The boldness of the black spots indicates that it is a late summer female.

Cabbage White Pieris rapae (Lep.: Pieridae)  Aziza Cooper

   Aziza also saw two Pine Whites in East Sooke Park on September 9.

   Jeremy Tatum sends pictures of two woolly bears.  The first is a Fall Webworm – a later instar than the one shown on September 8.  The second is an unusually pale variety of Lophocampa maculata in its third instar, from Poirier Lake, September 10.

Fall Webworm Hyphantria cunea (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)  Jeremy Tatum

Spotted Tiger Moth Lophocampa maculata (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Aziza Cooper photographed a slug and a dragonfly at East Sooke Park, September 9.  Thank you, Rob Cannings, for confirming the dragonfly identification.

Reticulate Taildropper Prophysaon andersonii (Pul.: Anadeniidae) Aziza Cooper

Variegated Meadowhawk  Sympetrum corruptum (Odo.: Libellulidae) Aziza Cooper

2016 September 9

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  The small moth shown below, Udea profundalis, appeared on the wall of my Saanich apartment this morning.  Larval foodplant: Stinging Nettle.  It may not look much like Aziza’s unidentified crambid shown on September 5, but in recent years the taxonomists have expanded the Crambidae to include many moths (such as Udea) that were formerly in Pyralidae.

Udea profundalis (Lep.: Crambidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  On September  8, I may have seen the last of the Woodland Skippers in the Gorge community.  There was just one on the lavender in the Gorge Park community garden where before I was seeing up to a dozen.

  Devon Parker found the tiger swallowtail caterpillar shown below from Mount Sicker today.  Jeremy Tatum comments:  I haven’t yet found any reliable way of distinguishing between the caterpillars of our two local tiger swallowtails other than foodplant.  Since this one was on alder it is almost certainly a Pale Tiger Swalllowtail.  I am a little concerned  about the numerous tiny black spots on it.  I think this is a virus and it may be fatal. I shall give it some TLC and see what happens.

Probably Pale Tiger Swallowtail Papilio eurymedon (Lep.: Papilionidae)

Devon Parker

   Devon says he also saw a skipper on Mount Sicker today, and, a few days ago he saw a comma at Parry Bay.  While our default skippers and commas are Woodland Skipper and Satyr Comma, you never know, and, in these less-visited places, one can’t assume anything!   Devon and his Dad and I saw a Red Admiral still on the Mount Tolmie reservoir at 4:30 this afternoon.

2016 September 8

   Aziza Cooper sends photographs of a moth and a snail, both photographed on September 7.  The moth was on the wall of the Bob Wright Building at UVic.  It is the July Highflyer, an exceedingly variable Holarctic species.  So great is the range of variation in the July Highflyer that it took some time to recognize this one for what it is. The snail was at Fort Rodd. It is the Pacific Sideband Snail, also known as the Faithful Snail.

July Highflyer Hydriomena furcata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Aziza Cooper

Pacific Sideband Monadelia fidelis (Pul.: Bradybaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  There are still lots of Cabbage Whites around.  Also, I have noted, in several places, nests or tents of the Fall Webworm.  These are not at all related to the “tent caterpillars” that we get in the spring.  Here is a photograph of a Fall Webworm caterpillar in its penultimate instar from an alder at Maber Flats today.  Being a species of woolly bear, it was very active, and I just got a not-very-good photo indoors.

Fall Webworm Hyphantria cunea (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)  Jeremy Tatum

2016 September 06

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Jannaca Chick sends a photograph of a Catocala from Pedder Bay, September 5.   Our commonest Catocala here is C. aholibah,  though I can’t be completely certain that this isn’t the rather similar C. allusa, which also occurs here.  The caterpillars are distinct, with aholibah feeding on oak, and allusa  on willow.  I’ll be cautious, and label it Catocala aholibah/allusa.

Catocala aholibah/allusa  (Lep.: Erebidae – Catocalinae)  Jannaca Chick

   Annie Pang sends photographs of two bees, with identifications by Linc Best.  The first, photographed on August 17, is Megachile fidelis. The second, from Gorge Park, September 1, is a species of Melissodes.

Megachile fidelis (Hym.:  Megachilidae)   Annie Pang

Melissodes sp. (Hym.:  Apidae)   Annie Pang