INVERTEBRATE ALERT
This blog provides an informal forum for terrestrial invertebrate watchers to post recent sightings of interesting observations in the southern Vancouver Island region. Please send your sightings by email to Jeremy Tatum (tatumjb352@gmail.com). Be sure to include your name, phone number, the species name (common or scientific) of the invertebrate you saw, location, date, and number of individuals. If you have a photograph you are willing to share, please send it along. Click on the title above for an index of past sightings.The index is updated most days.

April 29

2015 April 29

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Talking of chalcidoids – which we were on April 27 – I came across some myself today.  On March 8 I showed a batch of eggs of the Vapourer Moth Orgyia antiqua.  Well, a whole bunch of parasitoidal chalcidoid wasps came out of them today.  From front of head to tip of abdomen, they were a little less than 1 mm in length.  The wings extended a little bit more behind, and the antennae projected forward, but including wingtips and antennae the total length was still less than 2 mm.  They were very active and, though I tried, I just couldn’t get a photo of them.

 

   I did get photos of a couple of insects.  The first is a bright green maggot of a hoverfly from Rithet’s Bog.  I might at one time have called it Catabomba, but I’m not sure whether that name is still valid.  The other is a micro moth from Snowberry on Mount Tolmie.  Thanks to Eric LaGasa for identifying it.  He writes:  Your image is an example of the plain-Jane version of the Orange Tortrix, Argyrotaenia franciscana (was A. citrana a while back).  It’s rather ubiquitous around here (Washington) on a huge range of hosts, and occurs in an interesting mix of wing patterns (http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=3612 ).

Hoverfly maggot (Dip.: Syrphidae)   Jeremy Tatum

Argyrotaenia franciscana (Lep.: Tortricidae)   Jeremy Tatum

 

 

   Ken Vaughan writes:  Here’s a couple from Swan Lake on 22 Apr 15: a teneral male Pacific Forktail and a male California Darner. Very little variety for Odonata as of now, but that will change.

 

Pacific Forktail Ischnura cervula

(Odo.: Coenagrionidae)

Ken Vaughan

 

California Darner Rhionaeschna californica (Odo.:Aeshnidae)  Ken Vaughan

 

 

   Scott Gilmore writes from Upper Lantzville: Yesterday (April 28) I came across a couple of interesting critters (see pictures below). A Root Maggot Fly and a green stink bug.  It was also a six-species-of-butterfly day with Cabbage White, Pacific Azure (= Western Spring Azure), Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Mourning Cloak and Western Brown Elfin.  [Jeremy Tatum comments – We’ve had several zero-species-of-butterfly days recently down here in Victoria.]

Root Maggot Fly  Anthomyia procellaris (Dip.: Anthomyiidae)  Scott Gillmore

 

Root Maggot Fly  Anthomyia procellaris (Dip.: Anthomyiidae)  Scott Gillmore

 

Stink bug Zicrona sp. (probably caerulea)  (Hem.: Pentatomidae) Scott Gillmore

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I notice that we have had several flies (Diptera) on this site recently, so, to continue in this vein:  When a butterfly or moth caterpillar is ready to pupate, its outermost skin peels off, revealing the pupa underneath.  But when a brachyceran fly maggot is ready to pupate, it doesn’t slough its outmost skin.  Instead the skin hardens to form the pupa, which is called a puparium.  The photograph below shows two fly puparia, which I photographed today.  To protect sensitivities, I shall not go into further details of the life-history here (Rated PG). 

Fly puparia  (Dip.: Tachinidae)   Jeremy Tatum

 

 

 

April 28

2015 April 28

 

   Annie Pang sends a photo of a Flesh fly Sarcophaga sp. from Gorge Park on April 14.

The maggots eat decaying animal flesh.

 

 Flesh fly  Sarcophaga sp. (Dip.: Sarcophagidae)   Annie Pang

 

April 27

2015 April 27

 

   Scott Gilmore writes:   I have attached an interesting Chalcid Wasp I found in my Upper Lantzville backyard on Saturday April 25th. It was found flying around a Douglas Fir and sure enough has been confirmed as a Douglas Fir Seed Chalcid by Ross Hill  (Hymenoptera: Torymidae, Megastigmus spermotrophus)

 

The BC Forestry Genetics Council has a nice little leaflet on the life cycle of http://www.fgcouncil.bc.ca/PM-Factsheet07-Megastigmus-spp.pdf

 

 

   [Jeremy Tatum comments:  The English name “chalcid” might seem to imply that it comes from a family “Chalcidae”.  There was a family with such a name at one time, but since then the taxonomy of these and related insects has been greatly revised – although the English name “chalcid” has stuck for many of them.  At present there is a superfamily called Chalcidoidea, which includes many related families, one of which is Chalcididae (with an extra syllable stuck in there!)  They are all very tiny insects, and Scott obviously has some hidden expertise in photographing them.  Some of them are butterfly and moth parasitoids.  The adult wasp of these lays many eggs inside a single moth egg.  The grubs that hatch then spend their entire larval and pupal life inside the moth egg.  I have seen about twenty adult chalcidoid wasps of the family Pteromalidae emerge from a single egg of the Polyphemus Moth.   The insects that Scott has photographed are not moth parasitoids, however, but from another chalcidoid family – Torymidae –  and they spend their immature stages in fir cone seeds.  The link to the leaflet that Scott gives is most interesting and worth looking at.]

 

Megastigmus spermotrophus (Hym.: Torymidae)  Scott Gilmore

 Megastigmus spermotrophus (Hym.: Torymidae)  Scott Gilmore

 

 

 

April 26

2015 April 26

 

   Gordon Hart writes:  I have attached a photo of a nice geometrid moth that has been inside our greenhouse for about a week. I thought the brown colouring was a bit unusual.

 

    Jeremy Tatum replies:  Yes, this is a nice colour variety (which I haven’t seen) of the Barberry Geometer.  The foodplant of the caterpillar is usually listed as Barberry, although here in Victoria I have found it on Mahonia, which is in the same botanical family.

Barberry Geometer Coryphista meadii (Lep.: Geometridae)  Gordon Hart

 

April 25

2015 April 25

 

    Please see below an exciting memo from Aziza Cooper concerning a field trip in June led by Mike Zip to Mount Cokely to see lots of butterflies that we don’t get here.  Note that the departure time is 9:00 am, (not 9:30 as wrongly given in an earlier version which you may have seen).  Note also Aziza’s last sentence – she would like a reply from those who plan to go!

 

    Hi Butterfly watchers,

 

Mike Yip has offered to guide us on a trip to Mount Cokely to search for butterflies. He would like to go on Saturday, June 13. In case of cloudy weather, we would try for the following week, June 20. Weekends are best due to logging truck traffic during the week.

 

We would leave from Helmcken Park and Ride at 9:00 am, and meet Mike at the PetroCan station at Nanoose Bay at 10:45am. Access to Mount Cokely is from the Alberni Summit. Roads are dirt but in good shape – no need for four-wheel drive or high clearance.

 

We will drive to the bottom of the old ski hill. On the way we should find at least a dozen species. Mike writes: Besides the more common species we have a good chance of seeing Boisduval’s, Silvery, and Western Tailed Blues; Arctic Skipper, Persius Duskywing, Clodius Apollo, Western Sulphur, Western Meadow Fritillary, and Great Arctic. 

 

From the ski hill it’s a stiff climb to the summit for those who want to check for the Rocky Mountain Apollo and Arctic Blue. Elevation gain is 600m. Here is a link to a description of the climb:

http://www.surfingvancouverisland.com/hike/rosseauridgetrail.htm

 

The trip will be postponed in case of cloudy weather, till June 20 or possibly July 25 or August 1. Forest closures might be a problem for the later dates if the summer is a scorcher.

 

This is an all-day trip. Bring water and a lunch; dress for the weather – hopefully sunny! Bring butterfly field guides, camera, close-focus binocs and hiking boots.

 

We will be sharing driving and expenses, about $15 each. Please reply to this email (tanageraz at yahoo.com) to let me know if you’re interested and say if you’re willing to drive and how many riders you could take.

 

Cheers,