2106 June 11

   Jeremy Tatum shows caterpillars of three butterflies. First, a Western Spring Azure.  Found yesterday in an Ocean Spray panicle at Blenkinsop Lake.

Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo (Lep.: Lycaenidae)

Jeremy Tatum

  Next a Red Admiral, found while I was looking (unsuccessfully) for caterpillars of the Satyr Comma, usually so common in Lochside Drive south of Blenkinsop Lake.

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Jeremy Tatum

Lastly a Two-banded Grizzled Skipper..  This came from the egg found by Devon Parker near Jordan River (see May 15 posting).  Although the egg was laid on Rubus ursinus, the caterpillar seems to prefer Fragaria vesca.  The caterpillar is resting in classical pyrgine caterpillar style, looking backwards over its shoulder.

Two-banded Grizzled Skipper Pyrgus ruralis (Lep.: Hesperiidae)

Jeremy Tatum

Annie Pang sends a picture of a Common Emerald moth from her back door yesterday.  This European moth has become quite common in Victoria.

Common Emerald Hemithea aestivaria (Lep.: Geometridae) Annie Pang

Aziza Cooper writes:  Yesterday, June 9 and today, June 10 I saw Milbert’s Tortoiseshell briefly. Yesterday was at the lollipop boardwalk at Swan Lake, and today was on the south face of Mt Douglas below the west summit.

Other butterflies June 10 at Mt Douglas were:

Pale Tiger Swallowtail – 1

Anise Swallowtail – 1

Western Tiger Swallowtail – 1

Lorquin’s Admiral – 4

Cabbage White – 1

Reddish-brown flyby – possible Sheep Moth

Aziza sends a photograph of a moth, taken on June 10, on the south face of Mount Douglas below the west summit just above treetop level.  Jeremy Tatum responds:   This is Digrammia muscariata,  a moth associated with Garry Oak.

Digrammia muscariata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Aziza Cooper

2016 June 10

   Annie Pang writes:  I had quite a few of these Common Emeralds a few nights ago here in Victoria BC at my back porch.

Common Emerald Hemithea aestivaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Annie Pang

   Devon Parker writes:  I was up on the Malahat today (June 9) with my Dad. This was our sighting list for the day along the power lines. I also attach a photo of a Lorquin’s Admiral caterpillar that my Dad had found on a Salix sp. at the Spectacle Lake Parking lot on May 22 2016.

1 Western Tiger Swallowtail
4 Pale Tiger Swallowtail
10 Western Spring Azure
4 Lorquin’s Admiral
1 Dun Skipper
2 Boisduval’s Blue
1 Grey Hairstreak
1 Hemaris thetis

Grey Hairstreak Strymon melinus (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Devon Parker

(and a pentatomid bug)

 Grey Hairstreak Strymon melinus (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Devon Parker

Dun Skipper Euphyes vestris (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Devon Parker

Boisduval’s Blue Icaricia icarioides (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Devon Parker

Hemaris thetis (Lep.: Sphingidae)  Devon Parker

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Devon Parker

2016 June 9

   Gordon Hart writes:  I am enclosing a picture of a Western Eyed Click Beetle (Alaus melanops).  I almost did not see it on the black asphalt of our Highlands driveway, but I saw the two false “eyes”. It is quite large, about 30 mm.

Western Eyed Click Beetle Alaus melanops (Col.: Elateridae)  Gordon Hart

   Louise Rushton found a caterpillar which we couldn’t identify, but she kept an eye on it, and a yellow maggot of a parasitoidal tachinid fly emerged from the now-dead caterpillar.

Tachinid fly maggot (Dip.: Tachinidae)  Louise Rushton

   In the June 7 posting, we mentioned that Gordon Hart had photographed a beetle and some “tiny insects” on a daisy at Currie Creek Road.  Scott Gilmore has identified the beetle for us as Lepturobosca chrysocoma (thank you, Scott), so we now show Gordon’s photograph.  I challenged Scott to go further and to see if he could identify one of the “tiny” insects, which was also a beetle.  This probably needs close examination of the insect with a lens, but Scott rose to the challenge, and he believes that the little beetle is probably Bruchidius villosus.  Then there is a very tiny insect indeed on one of the petals on the right hand side. Jeremy Tatum is pretty sure that this is a parasitoidal wasp of the hymenopteran superfamily Chalcidoidea.  These insects insert several (sometimes many) eggs inside the egg of another insect (such as a moth egg), and these several eggs hatch into several grubs, which grow and spend their entire immature lives (larvae and pupae) inside the egg of the host insect.

Lepturobosca chrysocoma (Col.: Cerambycidae)

  and  Bruchidius villosus (Col.: Chrysomelidae)

Gordon Hart.

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  Today, June 09, I went with Rick Schortinghuis to look for Field Crescents on Stelly’s Cross Road, and almost immediately we started seeing them.  We counted at least five and there probably were more. Also, there were a few European or Essex Skippers in the grass.

2016 June 8

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I rarely see any moths at my apartment porch lights these days, other than maybe the occasional pug or micro.  Here is a pug that appeared on June 5.  I can’t be sure which species, but my best attempt is maybe Eupithecia satyrata.

Eupithecia sp. (maybe satyrata?) (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jeremy Tatum

  The next one was reared from an egg. The adult emerged today, June 8.  Is it Coryphista meadii, or is it Triphosa haesitata?   I haesitate to say.  There are two ways of telling which it is.  One is to refer to the Gatten criteria (see April 21), which work well.  The other is to peek at the legend beneath the photograph.  Foodplant Frangula purshiana.

Triphosa haesitata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

    The next moth was reared from a caterpillar found on alder near Jordan River.

Eurois astricta (Lep.: Noctuidae)

Jeremy Tatum

2016 June 7

  Guidelines for Submissions.  (Jeremy Tatum) Running this website is great fun and very enjoyable, and I am impressed by the huge variety of insects and other invertebrates reported, and the quality of the photographs.  But it does take a bit of time!  Generally on average it takes about ten minutes to process each photograph – provided there are no problems – and there usually are!  Thus if one day a posting includes, say, 12 photographs, you may assume that it took about two hours to put it together.  Contributors can be an enormous help of they will conform to the following guidelines.

Please send photographs as attachments, not embedded in the main message.

For each photograph submitted, please give:

Name of photographer

Where it was taken (not “in my backyard”  – I do not know where your backyard is)

The date on which it was taken (not “yesterday”, but the date.)

If you know for certain what the species is, please state what the species is – please do not assume that I immediately must know what it is.  If you do not know, I, or one of a handful of experts that I consult, may be able to identify it, and will enjoy doing so, but please don’t put us through the effort of identification if you already know what it is!

If contributors can comply with these, it will be a huge help and greatly cut down on the time that it takes to process your observations.

Gordon Hart writes:  On June 6 while on my way to search for the Chestnut-sided Warbler, I saw several Essex Skippers along the path parallel to Saanich Road. I counted six, but I am sure there were many more in the meadows there. I did see the warbler, too.

Essex Skipper Thymelicus lineola (Lep.: Hesperiidae)   Gordon Hart

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  Today, June 07, the Tuesday Birding Group went to Swan Lake and while I was there I counted the number of butterflies I was seeing.  I had 6-8 Cabbage Whites, 1 Pale Tiger Swallowtail, 14 Western Tiger Swallowtails, 26 Lorquin’s Admirals, and 1 Essex Skipper.  (But apparently Jeff missed the Chestnut-sided Warbler!)

   Mik Yip writes:  Checked out the dogbane along Nanaimo River Road on May 6.  Maybe a week too early for the Dun Skippers and Sylvan Hairstreaks, but certainly worthwhile for other butterflies. Best sightings were a slow flyby Great Arctic, several cruising Western Meadow Fritillaries, and a couple of possible Boisduval’s Blues (rare low elevation sighting?) . Others included 6 well-faded Cedar Hairstreaks, 9 fresh Clodius Parnassians, 2 Grey Hairstreaks, 7 Pale Tiger Swallowtails, 3 Western Tiger Swallowtails, and many Lorquin’s Admirals.

Clodius Parnassian Parnassius clodius (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Mike Yip

Clodius Parnassians Parnassius clodius (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Mike Yip

Western Meadow Fritillary Boloria epithore (Lep.:  Nymphalidae)  Mike Yip

Boisduval’s Blue Icaricia icarioides (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Mike Yip

Cedar Hairstreak Mitoura rosneri (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Mike Yip

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Mike Yip

Gordon Hart writes:  Today, Tuesday June 7, on the way back from birding the Chemainus Estuary, Rick Schortinghuis and I went to Currie Creek Road off the Lake Cowichan Highway and found the usual selection of butterflies, plus one tattered Mylitta Crescent, the first I have seen in a while. The complete list was:
Pale Tiger Swallowtail 6; Western Spring Azure 9; Lorquin’s Admiral 8, Western Tiger Swallowtail 3, and the one Mylitta Crescent. I have attached a record shot of the Crescent, and a daisy with a collection of tiny insects and one yellow beetle of unknown species.  [Jeremy Tatum writes:  I’ll see if we can get an ID on the beetle, and post it if we can!]

Mylitta Crescent Phyciodes mylitta (Lep.: Nymphalidae)   Gordon Hart