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.

2022 December 14

2022 December 14

 

Cheryl Hoyle sends, from View Royal, a photograph, taken on December 12 at View Royal,  of a fly, which (writes Jeremy Tatum) I believe to be probably Calliphora vicina.  Note the orange patch beneath the eye, which suggests this species.  By measuring the size of the petals after the fly had left, Cheryl found that the length of the fly was a little over 10 mm.

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Probably Calliphora vicina (Dip.: Calliphoridae)  Cheryl Hoyle

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Probably Calliphora vicina (Dip.: Calliphoridae)  Cheryl Hoyle

2022 December 10

2022 December 10

 

   Ian Cooper gives us another collection of miscellaneous invertebrate creatures from Colquitz River Park and the Galloping Goose Trail last night.  Ian and I (writes Jeremy Tatum) have worked hard on the identifications, and while we cannot guarantee them 100 percent, we think we are probably pretty accurate as far as we can go.

 

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Crane Fly or Winter Gnat (Dip.:  Tipulidae or Trichoceridae)

Ian Cooper

Same animal below

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Crane Fly or Winter Gnat (Dip.:  Tipulidae or Trichoceridae)

  Ian Cooper

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Dark-winged Fungus Gnat (Dip.: Sciaridae)  Ian Cooper

   Harvestmen usually have four pairs of legs.  The one below has presumably had an accident, since it has only three pairs.  The missing pair is probably the second pair,
which, in an uninjured animal, is longer than the other pairs.  Hence the short-legged appearance of this harvestman.

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Harvestman (Opiliones)  Ian Cooper

   The sharp-eyed will spot a tiny animal near the end of one of the legs of the spider below.  This is probably a springtail (Collembola).

 

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Male linyphiid spider  (Ara.: Linyphiidae)  Ian Cooper

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Male linyphiid spider  (Ara.: Linyphiidae)  Ian Cooper

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Running Crab Spider (Ara.: Philodromidae)  Ian Cooper

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Flat-backed Millepede Scytonotus sp.  (Polydesmida: Polydesmidae)

Ian Cooper

2022 December 7

2022 December 7

CHANGE OF ADDRESS:   Contributions (photographs or observations) to Invertebrate Alert should now be sent to
tatumjb352@gmail.com   and no longer to  jtatum@uvic.ca   

 

   Ian Cooper writes:  Here are some of this morning’s photos from Colquitz River Park in Saanich and the Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal. Not a great haul on this occasion. This was partly due to the scarcity of visible critter activity I saw, which was odd, given that it was relatively mild out. Perhaps the volume of fresh fallen leaves on the ground in Colquitz River Park was obscuring some, if not many, critters from view.  Elsewhere, recent ‘brush clearing’ apparent along the Galloping Goose trail in View Royal was another factor. Much of the previous lush green ground cover and smaller bushes along the sides of the trail had been razed to stubble near the 9 km marker, which is my normal go-to destination to scout for critters to photograph. It was distressing, frankly. I go to this site often and have an affinity for the creatures in that stretch of habitat but, for example, I couldn’t locate any of the Pimoa altioculata  spiders I’d seen and photographed in the leaf litter previously, such was the disturbance.

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  We hope it is understood that while we cannot absolutely agree on 100 percent accurate identifications of all creatures shown on this Invertebrate Alert Site, we believe that the great majority – including those on today’s posting – are correct with a high degree of probability.  We always welcome help from knowledgeable viewers – especially if you think we may have occasionally, like Homer, nodded.

 

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Grey Field Slug  Deroceras reticulatum (Pul.:
Agriolimacidae) Ian Cooper

 

 

  

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Brown field slug  Deroceras panormitanum (Pul.:
Agriolimacidae) Ian Cooper

 

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Long-jawed Orb Weaver Metellina sp. (Ara.: Tetragnathidae) Ian Cooper

 

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Unidentified linyphiid spider (Ara.: Linyphiidae)  Ian Cooper

 

 

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Globular springtail, probably Ptenothrix sp.

(Collembola – Symphypleona –Dicyrtomenidae)

Ian Cooper

 

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Probably root-maggot fly, female (Dip.: Anthomyiidae)  Ian Cooper

2022 December 6

2022 December 6

 

  CHANGE OF ADDRESS:   Contributions (photographs or observations) to Invertebrate Alert should now be sent to
tatumjb352@gmail.com   and no longer to  jtatum@uvic.ca   

 

   Aziza Cooper sends a photograph of Alucita montana from her Saanich apartment:

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 Alucita montana (Lep.: Alucitidae) Aziza Cooper

2022 December 5

2022 December 5

 

  CHANGE OF ADDRESS:   Contributions (photographs or observations) to
Invertebrate Alert should now be sent to
tatumjb352@gmail.com   and no longer to  jtatum@uvic.ca

 

Jeremy Tatum writes:   Apologies to contributors for
making this necessary change; if you have recently sent a contribution in the
last few days to the old address, it will probably be OK, and there is no need
to re-send it, but the old address will become invalid in the very near
future.  A number of details (way beyond my computer expertise) had to be attended to in order to make the change, and I would like to thank the staff at the UVic Help Desk and the VNHS Webmaster Adam Taylor for their help in making the change.

 

   Jochen Möhr sends a photograph of a Winter Moth from Metchosin.

 

image.pngWinter Moth Operophtera brumata (Lep.:Geometridae)
Jochen Möhr