2016 May 3

   Jeremy Tatum writes:   The longer I edit this site, the more amazed I am at the enormous diversity of invertebrates we have in our area, the huge variety of creatures that users manage to photograph, and the tremendous quality of the photographs.  Thanks and congratulations to all contributors are in order, and thanks to the several experts who have helped us with identifications.

   Annie Pang sends a photograph of a damselfly:

Damselfly Enallagma sp. (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)  Annie Pang

Val George sends a picture of a Green Comma from Gordon and Anne-Marie Hart’s Highlands house during the May 1 butterfly walk.  He writes that it shows the identifying features on both the dorsal and ventral sides.

  Green Comma Polygonia faunus (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Val George

He also sends the top of a lupine flower seen at the Colwood turnoff during the butterfly walk.  The sharp-eyed will see on it two eggs of the Silvery Blue butterfly.

Silvery Blue eggs Glaucopsyche lygdamus

(Lep.: Lycaenidae)

Val George

Aziza Cooper sends some photographs of commas from Mount Cokely and from Taylor Road.  Commas are difficult but I believe these are Green Commas.

Green Comma Polygonia faunus (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Aziza Cooper

Green Comma Polygonia faunus (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Aziza Cooper

Green Comma Polygonia faunus (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Aziza Cooper

   Rosemary Jorna agrees with several other observers that there have been very few Satyr Commas this year.  Jeremy Tatum has yet to see one.

Aziza sends a selection of other butterflies from a recent visit to Mount Cokely.

Western Brown Elfin Incisalia iroides (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

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

Western Pine Elfin Incisalia eryphon (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Western Tailed Blue Everes amyntula (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Jody Wells photographed a tiger beetle at Cordova Spit.  These beetles run around so rapidly that Jody did well to get a photograph. Thanks to Claudia Copley for identifying it as Cicindela tranquebarica.

Tiger beetle Cicindela tranquebarica (Col.: Carabidae – Cicindelinae)

  Jody Wells

   Rosemary Jorna writes: I went looking for micro snails on our big leaf maples today May 2 2016 and found a second population; previous searches had not revealed them. The white curved shape is my fingernail.

 Nearctula sp. (Pul.:  Vertiginidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Jeremy Tatum writes:   That’s all I have time for today!   There are more photos in the queue, so please have patience.  I’ll get them up in the next couple of days.

2016 May 2

    Message from Jeremy Tatum:   During May and June I expect to be very heavily occupied with priority work at UVic, and consequently I shall not always be able to deal with Invert Alerts as fast as we would all wish.  It is likely that I shall not be able to post Invert Alerts every day.  If your contributions do not appear immediately, don’t worry – they haven’t been overlooked.  It may sometimes take a few days before they appear. I’ll try to respond immediately to genuine “alerts”, such as a Colias alert or something like that.  I don’t think I’ll be able to do a posting today.  Sorry about that – I know several contributors have got some very nice pics in the queue.

2016 May 1

   The VNHS had its monthly Butterfly Walk today.  An excellent day, but we are all (especially me, Jeremy Tatum) so exhausted after it, that we’ll postpone a report on it until tomorrow!

Jeff Gaskin reports a Mourning Cloak at Swan Lake, on the main trail in front of Saanich Municipal Hall on April 28.  He also reports four or more Silvery Blues along the highway (Sooke Road) on the lupins at the Colwood exit.

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I found this dragonfly nymph exuvia at Swan Lake on April 28.   Thank you to Rob Cannings for identifying it as a California Darner.

California Darner Rhionaeschna californica (Odo.: Aeshnidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Scott Gilmore found a couple of interesting beetles at Upper Lantzville on April 30.

 Helops laetus (Col.: Tenebrionidae) Scott Gilmore

Annie Pang sends a picture of a female Western Spring Azure, and a small bee, which L.R. Best suggests is a small carpenter bee of the genus Ceratina, and a brown lacewing.

Female Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Annie Pang

Small carpenter bee  Ceratina sp.(Hym.: Apidae)  Annie Pang

Brown lacewing (Neu.: Hemerobiidae)  Annie Pang

   Here is another view of the little reddish-brown moth that Ron Flower and Gordon Hart saw at Munn Road on April 27 (see April 29 posting).

Leptostales rubromarginaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Ron Flower

Jeremy Tatum writes: Here is a caterpillar of Enargia infumata.  found between two cottonwood leaves along Lochside trail south of Blenkinsop Lake today.

Enargia infumata (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Here is a Spotted Tiger Moth from the campus of the University of Victoria today.

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

2016 April 30

    Here is Mike Yip’s geometrid from Cross Road, Nanoose Bay, April 29.  It is Xanthorhoe defensaria.

Xanthorhoe defensaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Mike Yip

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Bill Savale and I went to the Kinsol Trestle today, hoping to find Western Tailed Blues.  No luck – the Lathyrus that they depend on were not yet in flower. Besides Western Spring Azures and Cabbage Whites, we saw a Red Admiral and a Two-banded Grizzled Skipper.  Jeremy adds that at 6:00 p.m. this evening there were a Red Admiral and a California Tortoiseshell on the Mount Tolmie reservoir.

   Annie Pang sends a picture of a Two-spotted Ladybird.

Two-spotted Ladybird Adalia bipunctata  (Col.: Coccinellidae)  Annie Pang

   Rosemary Jorna writes: I’ll bet this Ladybird Beetle found on the spit at Witty’s Lagoon, April 30 2016, is Harmonia axyridis.  Jeremy Tatum responds: With that big black W on its thorax, so do I!

Harmonia axyridis (Col.: Coccinellidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   Rosemary continues:  This little bug that appeared on the lens of my camera at Witty’s Lagoon, April 30 2016, was tentatively identified as a spittle bug nymph by the naturalists at Metchosin’s Biodiversity Day.  [Yes – I’ll go along with that – Jeremy.]  She also sends a photograph of a bee from the same area.

 Spittlebug nymph, possibly Philaenus spumarius (Hem.: Aphrophoridae)

Rosemary Jorna

Honey Bee Apis mellifera (Hym.: Apidae)  Rosemary Jorna.

   Mike Yip writes from Nanoose Bay:  It really felt like butterfly weather this morning so I decided to check out the Sundew Main logging road. As usual, Western Spring Azures were abundant, and commas continued to be non-existent. [I still haven’t seen a Satyr Comma! – Jeremy]  Species available were a pair of first-of-year Mylitta Crescents, 5 Pale Tiger Swallowtails, 1 Sara Orangetip, 2 Western Brown Elfins, 4 Grey Hairstreaks, 5 Two-banded Grizzled Skippers, and 1 Cabbage White.  A late afternoon walk at the Cross Road trail was relatively quiet with only a few Western Spring Azures, 3 Western Brown Elfins, one Western Tailed Blue, and one Mourning Cloak. The Western Tailed Blue had better tails than the previous one I sent you.

Western Tailed Blue Everes amyntula (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Mike Yip

Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Mike Yip

 Grey Hairstreak Strymon melinus (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Mike Yip

Male Mylitta Crescent Phyciodes mylitta (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Mike Yip

Western Spring Azures Celastrina echo (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Mike Yip

2016 April 29

   Ken Vaughan sends a stunning picture of a snakefly from his patio table.  He told me that in North America, apart from Texas, they don’t occur east of the Rockies.  I had not realized that.

Female Stigmatic Snakefly Negha inflata (Rap.: Inocellidae)  Ken Vaughan

Jeremy Tatum sends a picture of a caterpillar of a snout moth from a nettle at Swan Lake yesterday.  We can tell that it is a snout moth (genus Hypena) because it has only three pairs of mid-abdominal prolegs.  This caterpillar is in its penultimate instar, and we can tell from the structure of its head capsule that it is very shortly going to undergo its final ecdysis (skin change).  The adult emerged on May 15 (see posting on that date) and enabled us to identify the moth as Hypena californica.

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

Rosemary Jorna sends a picture of a Satyr Comma from Witty’s Lagoon, April 28.  Jeremy Tatum remarks:  I still haven’t seen one of these yet this year!

Satyr Comma Polygonia satyrus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Annie Pang sends pictures of a crane fly, and also the tent made by young caterpillars of Malacosoma californicum.

Malacosoma californicum (Lep.: Lasiocampiae)  Annie Pang

   Gordon Hart photographed the tiny reddish-brown geometrid moth at Munn Road on April 27.  Viewers are asked to keep a look out for his little moth and watch to see if you can catch it ovipositing.  It is Leptostales rubromarginaria;  its caterpillar and larval foodplant are apparently unknown, so here’s your chance to make your mark on science!

Leptostales rubromarginaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Gordon Hart

Mike Yip writes from Nanoose Bay:  My routine Cross Road trail walk today (April 29) yielded 15 Western Brown Elfins, 2 Western Pine Elfins, 3 Grey Hairstreaks, 1 Mourning Cloak, several Western Tailed Blues, several Western Spring Azures including one engaged couple, 1 first-of-year Pale Tiger Swallowtail,  2 first-of-year Two-banded Grizzled Skippers, a moth and a bee fly.

[Jeremy Tatum writes:  Here are two of Mike’s butterfly photographs, and the bee fly.  The moth, a geometrid, will have to wait until tomorrow while we try to identify it!]

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

Bee fly Bombylius major (Dip.: Bombyliidae)  Mike Yip