2023 June 23

    Marie O’Shaughnessy spent an hour in Uplands Park on June 22.  Among other things there she counted 33 Essex Skippers and 45 Sheep Moths.  Here are two Sheep Moths.

  Sheep Moth Hemileuca eglanterina (Lep.:  Saturniidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Sheep Moth Hemileuca eglanterina (Lep.:  Saturniidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Jochen Möhr writes this morning from Metchosin that things are getting livelier and more diverse.  Here is a selection of what turned up at his house last night.

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)
Jochen Möhr

Virginia Tiger Moth Spilosoma virginica
(Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)
Jochen Möhr

Virginia Tiger Moth Spilosoma virginica
(Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)
Jochen Möhr

Virginia Tiger Moth Spilosoma virginica
(Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)
Jochen Möhr

Spotted Tiger Moth Lophocampa maculata
(Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)
Jochen Möhr

Cinnabar Moth Tyria jacobaeae  (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)  Jochen Möhr

Xanthorhoe defensaria  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Spargania magnoliata  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr
We are grateful to Libby Avis for the identification of this moth

2023 June 23 morning

   There was a lot of butterfly activity on Mount Tolmie around 6:30 pm yesterday.  Here’s what Aziza Cooper scored:

Painted Lady – 5

West Coast Lady – 2

Red Admiral – 1

Lorquin’s Admiral – 2

Pale Tiger Swallowtail – 1

Western Tiger Swallowtail – 2

Cabbage White – 1

There are still Mourning Cloaks to be seen.  Gordon Hart saw two imagines at the Pike Lake Substation ponds in June 21.

[In case you are trying to sort out the grammar of the above sentence, Gordon saw two adult Mourning Cloaks.  The adult stage of a butterfly is technically called an imago (plural imagines – four syllables).]

The Mourning Cloak caterpillar shown on June 21 has pupated and formed this chrysalis:

Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)
Jeremy Tatum

And here’s a nice miscellany by Ian Cooper from the junction of the E&N and Galloping Goose Trails, May 28.

Psyllobora vigintimaculata (Col.: Coccinellidae)  Ian Cooper

Probably Aritranis sp. (Hym. Ichneumonidae)  Ian Cooper

Female Eris militaris (Ara.: Saltcidae)  Ian Cooper
We are grateful to Thomas Barbin for the identification of this spider.

Young female Enallagma carunculatum (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)  Ian Cooper

Young female Enallagma carunculatum (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)  Ian Cooper
We are grateful to Dr Rob Cannings for the identification of this damselfly.

Volucella facialis (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Ian Cooper

2023 June 22

   Two insects, a bug and a moth, not at all related but both bearing the species name dimidiata, arrived today.   The bug is sometimes spelled dimiata.  For the “correct” spelling, one is supposed to use the spelling given in the original scientific publication of the organism – usually in some very ancient and obscure journal.  I have not seen the original description by Thomas Say, though I believe it was dimiata.  Nevertheless, dimidiata seems to be used today at least as often as dimiata.

Banasa dimidiata (or dimiata) (Hem.: Pentatomidae)   Val George

Idaea dimidiata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

Here is an ovum of a Polyphemus Moth found on the underside of a willow leaf at Munn Road today.

Polyphemus Moth Antheraea polyphemus  (Lep.: Saturniidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Jeremy Tatum writes:  Here are a female Malacosoma californicum and a female Malacosoma disstria.  In M. californicum, the two transverse lines are bicolorous.  The PM line is edged with pale distad, and the AM line is edged with pale basad.  The transverse lines of M. disstria are unicolorous.  Note also in M. disstria the strongly marked veins, particularly between the transverse lines.  The veins are not nearly as obvious in M. californicum.   If I can, I’ll try and get two males and show them later.

Female Malacosoma californicum  (Lep.: Lasiocampidae)
Jeremy Tatum

Female Malacosoma disstria  (Lep.: Lasiocampidae)
Jeremy Tatum

2023 June 21
Summer began at 7:58 am PDT this morning.

    After a hiatus, moths returned to Jochen Möhr’s house in Metchosin last night.  Here are a few of them:

Leucoma salicis  (Lep.: Erebidae – Lymantriinae)  Jochen Möhr

Lophocampa maculata  (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)  Jochen Möhr

Noctua pronuba  (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Next: A caterpillar and adult Macaria lorquinaria.  The caterpillar was found on willow at UVic last month; the adult emerged today, and was released at UVic.

Macaria lorquinaria  (Lep.: Geometridae) Jeremy Tatum

Macaria lorquinaria  (Lep.: Geometridae) Jeremy Tatum

A full-grown caterpillar of a Mourning Cloak, found today along Carey Road, Victoria, is shown below.

Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)
Jeremy Tatum

2023 June 20

   There was no Invert Alert on June 19.

Jeremy Tatum writes:  A big thank you to the several people who located Gooseberry bushes for me.  The hunt is now over and the caterpillar is munching contentedly. On the subject of gooseberries, when I lived in the UK, gooseberries were one of the regular fruits that we ate in summer.  Delicious.  Many people grew them in the garden, and they were regularly sold at the greengrocer’s.  Gooseberries seems not to be eaten here, and it seems a very long time since I have tasted one, and a very long time since I have used the word greengrocer.

Val George sends a photograph of a Udea profundalis from the wall of his Oak Bay house, June 1.

Udea profundalis (Lep.: Crambidae)  Val George

   Why did needles evolve to grow stinging hairs on their leaves and stalks?  Presumably to protect them from being eaten.  Why is it, then, that there are so many species of caterpillar that feed on nettles?  Udea profundalis is one of them.

   Marie O’Shaughnessy writes:  A sortie into Uplands Park for 30 minutes, June 20.  Amazing what one can find when taking the time to look !  I had eight Sheep Moths flying around and three busy procreating.  I also had 1 Lorquin’s Admiral and 6 Essex Skippers.

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Essex Skipper  Thymelicus lineola (Lep.: Hesperiidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Sheep Moth Hemileuca eglanterina (Lep.: Saturniidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Sheep Moths Hemileuca eglanterina (Lep.: Saturniidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy
Female left, male right

Sheep Moths Hemileuca eglanterina (Lep.: Saturniidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy
Female fore, male behind