2016 May 17

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Don’t sit too close to the screen.  I have a bit of a cold, and I wouldn’t want you to catch it.  Although I’m posting this on Tuesday morning, there probably won’t be an evening posting today; the next posting will be tomorrow, and it will include some exciting goodies from Devon Parker. I’m going to curl up in bed for a while.

  Mike Yip sends two photographs of Autographa californica from Nanoose Bay. Mike writes (tongue in cheek!) that he didn’t realize that they have ears.  Well, in fact, noctuid moths do have ears, with which they detect bats – but they are not the ear-like things that Mike is looking at on the second photograph!

Autographa californica (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Mike Yip

Autographa californica (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Mike Yip

Jeremy Tatum shows photographs of two geometrid caterpillars.  The first is that of an American Tissue Moth Triphosa haesitata from the egg found on Livesay Road, Central Saanich, and shown on April 28.   The adult moths of Triphosa haesitata and Coryphista meadii can be difficult to distinguish, but the caterpillars are very different.  The caterpillar of Coryphista meadii shown on May 6, is a brightly coloured, handsome creature.  It feeds on Mahonia.  The caterpillar of Triphosa haesitata is, well, what shall we say?  More modest in its appearance, perhaps.  It feeds on Frangula.

Triphosa haesitata (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jeremy Tatum

The second geometrid caterpillar was found on Hardhack at Goldstream Park.  For the time being I am tentatively labelling it Synaxis jubararia.   We shan’t know for sure until we see the adult moth.

Probably Synaxis jubararia (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jeremy Tatum

2016 May 16

Annie Pang sends a photograph of the European Paper Wasp from Gorge Park, May 11.   For the interest of those who, like me, originally hailed from the UK and you are wondering if you remember this wasp from the “old country” – no, I am pretty sure you do not.  It occurs in Europe, but not, I think, in the British Isles.

European Paper Wasp Polistes dominula (Hym.: Vespidae)   Annie Pang

   Aziza Cooper sends a photograph of a bunch of young spiderlings, which I thought might be a challenge to our spider expert, Robb Bennett.  Not a bit of it!   Robb writes:  Hatchling araneids (probably Araneus diadematus) getting ready to disperse.  They would have overwintered as eggs.

Probably Araneus diadematus (Ara.: Araneidae)   Aziza Cooper

   Jeremy Tatum sends a photograph of a snout moth Hypena californica.  That’s “snout” with a small s, because all of the Hypena genus are “snouts”.  The caterpillar, which was found near Blenkinsop Lake on Stinging Nettle, was shown on April 29, when the exact species was not known.  I have now labelled it californica.

Snout moth Hypena californica (Lep.: Erebidae – Hypeninae)  Jeremy Tatum

Annie Pang sends a photograph of another nettle-feeder  –   Udea profundalis  –  from Gorge Park, May 15.

Udea profundalis (Lep.: Crambidae)

Annie Pang

Libby Avis sends some photographs.  First is a pretty micro, Eucosma amphorana, determined by Dave Holden.  This one was at Piper’s Lagoon, Nanaimo, April 1. Libby writes that there were a lot of them in small woody debris at the tideline.

Eucosma amphorana (Lep.: Tortricidae)  Libby Avis

Next, two close-ups of the caterpillar of Mesoleuca gratulata, from Thimbleberry at McLean Mill, Alberni Valley, May 14.

Mesoleuca gratulata (Lep.: Geometridae)   Libby Avis

Mesoleuca gratulata (Lep.: Geometridae)   Libby Avis

   Viewers will have noted how often I have appealed on this site for help in identifying bees.  Well, don’t be too hasty in identifying the following.  It is not a bee – it is a moth, and, we believe, quite a rare one on Vancouver Island. Photographed by Rick Avis in their Port Alberni garden.

Proserpinus flavofasciata (Lep.: Sphingidae)  Rick Avis

Proserpinus flavofasciata (Lep.: Sphingidae)  Rick Avis

   Marie O’Shaughnessy sends photographs of butterflies from the Mount Tolmie reservoir, May 13.  First is a California Tortoiseshell.

California Tortoiseshell Nymphalis californica (Lep.: Nymphalidae)

 Marie O’Shaughnessy

   Next is a West Coast Lady.

West Coast Lady Vanessa annabella (Lep.: Nymphalidae)

Marie O’Shaughnessy

   And last is, I think, the mystery butterfly that I (Jeremy Tatum) have been mentioning recently from Mount Tolmie.  Now that I can have a good look at it from Marie’s photograph, I believe it is not such a mystery after all, but it is in fact just a common or garden Painted Lady.  If anyone thinks maybe not, let us know.

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Marie O’Shaughnessy

Jeremy Tatum writes:  I still haven’t quite caught up.  There are still a few photographs and observations in the queue.  I’ll get them posted a.s.a.p!

2016 May 15

   Jeremy Gatten and Jeremy Tatum wish to express their great appreciation to Michael and Devon Parker for showing us the Johnson’s Hairstreak near Jordan River yesterday (May 14).  We all had excellent views of this rare butterfly.  We also saw the Hoary ( “Zephyr”) Comma, an unidentified comma but thought to be probably a Green Comma,  a few Western Pine Elfins and Two-banded Grizzled Skippers.   Jeremy Gatten found a caterpillar of the moth Campaea perlata, And Jeremy Tatum was excited by an as-yet-to be-identified noctuid caterpillar.  Here is Jeremy Tatum’s photograph of Jeremy Gatten’s Campaea perlata.

Campaea perlata (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jeremy Tatum

Jeremy Tatum also thanks Devon for letting him have one of the eggs of the Two-banded Grizzled Skipper, which he saw being laid on Rubus ursinus near Jordan Rover on May 10.  The egg hatched early on the morning of May 14, and the young caterpillar is being offered two species of Rubus  and two of Fragaria.  So far, it has been nibbling on Rubus ursinus.

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

   Jeremy Tatum apologizes, but he is a little behind with Invert Alert.  There are lots of fine photographs in the queue, and I’ll try and get them all up in the next couple of days.

2016 May 13

   Jeremy Tatum shows a photograph of a Rough Prominent, Mount Tolmie, May 13. The caterpillar feeds on oak.  The hump on the back of the moth reflects its scientific name “gibbosa”, which means “hump-backed”.

Rough Prominent Nadata gibbosa (Lep.: Notodontidae)   Jeremy Tatum

   Jeff Gaskin and Aziza Cooper both visited Mount Tolmie on May 11, around 6 pm and 7 pm respectively, and between them they recorded:

Western Tiger Swallowtail – 1

Pale Tiger Swallowtail – 1

West Coast Lady – 2

Red Admiral – 2

Propertius Duskywing – 1

California Tortoiseshell – 1

   Aziza sends a couple of photographs from there:

 West Coast Lady  Vanessa annabella (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Aziza Cooper

Propertius Duskywing Erynnis propertius (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Aziza Cooper

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  The West Coast Lady is a typical one.  I wonder if the second one that they saw was the strange one that I mention in the May 12 evening posting.  I am hoping that someone can get a photo of it.

   Annie Pang has managed to get her (and this site’s) first photograph of the year of a Western Tiger Swallowtail, at Gorge Park, May 12.

 Western Tiger Swallowtail Papilio rutulus (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Annie Pang

2106 May 12 evening

   Marie O’Shaugnessy sends a photograph of a Cardinal Meadowhawk.

Cardinal Meadowhawk Sympetrum illotum  (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I saw several Western Tiger Swallowtails at Cuthbert Holmes Park this afternoon, so I imagine they are starting to become general.  In the evening, at 6:30, I visited the Mount Tolmie reservoir, and there were two ladies (I mean the butterfly sort) there.  One was a perfectly normal West Coast Lady, and may well be the same butterfly that Marie and Val photographed recently.  The other didn’t look exactly like any of our three ladies – West Coast, Painted or American (the latter very rare here).  It really looked quite strange. My best guess is that it is an aberrational form of the West Coast Lady, but I really don’t know.  My guess is that there’s a good chance that it will be there for a few evenings yet, and it would be great if an enterprising photographer managed to get a photograph of it, and we could try to figure out what it is.