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