2015 July 5

   Aziza Cooper writes:  On July 4 I went to look for the Boisduval’s Blue which Dave Robichaud reported weeks ago. It was very hot and dry with very few flowers still in bloom. I was able to find one about 10 metres from the trailhead at the end of Boas Road. It was in the bracken fern on a withering fireweed. Also there was one worn Grey Hairstreak, a flyby hairstreak and two Lorquin’s Admirals along the road.

Boisduval’s Blue Icaricia icarioides (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Grey Hairstreak Strymon melinus (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

    Jeremy Tatum writes:  Cheryl Hoyle sends us a photograph of a moth from View Royal today, July 5.  It is a species of Drepanulatrix.  This genus always gives us trouble in identification.  Usually we have to try to choose from D. foeminaria, D. secundaria and D. monicaria.  Often the photographs that we are sent resemble monicaria more than the other two – as does this one.  The snag is that monicaria does not seem to be on the official list of British Columbia moths.  However as far as I can tell the moth in Cheryl’s photograph does seem to be Drepanulatrix monicaria – and that is how I am going to label it.

Drepanulatrix monicaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Cheryl Hoyle

2015 July 3

   Bill Katz sent a photo of a large beetle – and we assure viewers that the picture of the shoe was taken just for size comparison, and that the beetle was in no danger from it!  Beetle enthusiast Scott Gilmore comments:  My son and I were just drooling over the picture. Wow! What a stunning beetle! Not one I have ever seen but it sure looks like Prionus and the only member of that genus in BC is Prionus californicus. The California Root Borer. From the length of the antennae it must be a female. 

Prionus californicus (Col.: Cerambycidae)  Bill Katz

   I don’t know whether it made Scott drool further, although I am sure it must have pleased him when he writes:  A few nights ago I had a small beetle land on my arm as I was looking for insects at my CFL light. Vassili Belov was able to identify it as a Pleasing Fungus Beetle Cryptophilus integer, a species not previously recorded from BC. This beetle is often associated with stored products so it is not a surprising find.

Cryptophilus integer (Col.: Erotylidae) Scott Gilmore

   Jeff Gaskin writes: Yesterday, July 2, on Mt Tolmie just around 6 p.m. there were 4 Painted Ladies and with the Western Tiger Swallowtails I saw 2 Pale Swallowtails.

  Jeremy Tatum writes: Today, July 3, I visited Gordon and Anne-Marie Hart at their home in the Highlands.  We saw Red Admirals, Lorquin’s Admirals, Western Tiger Swallowtails, Pine Whites, Essex Skippers and a Sheep Moth in their garden.

  Barb McGrenere writes:  Today, Mike and I went to Km 14 along Nanaimo River Road to look for Dun Skipper and other butterflies.  After some searching, we found a small patch of Spreading Dogbane (almost finished flowering) where there were several Grey Hairstreaks, one or two Dun Skippers, a few European (Essex) Skippers and one Mylitta Crescent.  Also along the road were several Western Tiger Swallowtails, and a possible Clodius Parnassian (didn’t get a close look, it just flew by).

Grey Hairstreak Strymon melinus (Lep.: Lycaenidae) Barb McGrenere

Dun Skipper Euphyes vestris (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Barb McGrenere

Mylitta Crescent Phyciodes mylitta (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Barb McGrenere

   Jeremy Tatum writes: Cheryl Hoyle sends a picture of a small moth from View Royal.  Thanks to Scott Gilmore for identifying it after I made one of the most embarrassing misidentifications imaginable!  It’s a good thing that I can hide behind this computer terminal with no one to see me.

Oecogonia quadripuncta (Lep.: Symmocidae) Cheryl Hoyle

2015 July 2

   Scott Gilmore writes:  With the heavy wind in Lantzville I was surprised to see a couple of moths at my light this morning – one I have not seen before. I think it is Leucania farcta but I am not sure I can rule out Mythimna oxygala. Either way it was nice to see.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  I can’t tell, either.  To add to the complications, some splitters split farcta into Leucania farcta and Leucania oregona.  I’m going to take the easy way out and label this one “wainscot moth”, which is a general name for this group of moths, most of whose caterpillars are grass-feeders.  It’s almost certainly one of the above three species.

Wainscot moth (Lep.:  Noctuidae)  Scott Gilmore

   Gordon Hart writes:  We saw our first Pine White of the year today on a Buddleia flower.  Jeremy comments:  I have just looked through the Invert Alert Index, and I see that the earliest date that a Pine White has been photographed on this site since it started in 2010 was on July 21, 2013.  That’s doubtless not the earliest date that one has ever been seen in our area, but there’s no doubt that July 2 is a very early date. I don’t know if anyone has ever seen one in June.  Let us know if you have.

Pine White Neophasia menapia (Lep.: Pieridae)  Gordon Hart

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  I visited Mount Tolmie this afternoon.  The temperature must have been close to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.  There were no nymphalids basking on the reservoir – they don’t usually come until at least 6:00 pm or later. But there were lots and lots of Western Tiger Swallowtails flying around and over the reservoir.  It was quite an exciting sight.

2015 July 1

   Gordon Hart writes: The other day I saw a large orange fly-by while doing a butterfly count, but I think the mystery was solved today when I saw a Robin carrying a large orange and black moth. It is a Sheep Moth, Hemileuca eglanterina. 

Turdus migratorius (Pas.: Turdidae) and Hemileuca eglanterina (Lep.: Saturniidae)

Gordon Hart

   Gordon also writes that he had a Grey Hairstreak in his Highlands garden today, and a Painted Lady there yesterday.

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Today, while looking for the Red-eyed Vireo at Blenkinsop Lake, I found a most remarkable geometrid moth, Nematocampa resistaria.  It kept very still, because it knew that I didn’t have a camera with me. (If I had, it would have moved, as all photographers know.) It had remarkable funny-shaped constrasty patches of dark and light on it, being a nice example of disruptive coloration.  These contrasty patches disguise its shape so that Red-eyed Vireos wouldn’t recognize it as being a moth.  If the adult Nematocampa resistaria is remarkable in its appearance, its caterpillar is even more so.  One was shown on this site on June 25, 2011.

   Also today I saw a fresh Red Admiral in Uplands Park.  All the same I am not sure that my prediction of a good crop of Red Admirals this summer is going to happen – many of the nettle patches in the area have been cut down by municipal crews in the last few days.