2015 May 17

   Mike Yip writes (May 16):  I was hoping for a duskywing, but I was deceived several times by a dark brown day-flying moth today on the road to Rhodo Lake (Nanoose Bay).

   Jeremy Tatum remarks:  Well that is precisely what is supposed to happen!  According to Powell and Opler: “In flight the adults could be confused with adult duskywing skipper butterflies”.  

 Euclidia ardita (Lep.: Erebidae – Erebinae)  Mik Yip

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  Here is a Cerisy’s Eyed Hawk Moth from my Saanich apartment, May 16:

   Jeremy continues:  Although we have had a great variety of creatures on this site, so far we have had very few aquatic animals, so here’s a challenge for photographers (not to say for identifiers!)  I had my first (poor!) try at photographing aquatic insects yesterday.  They were incessantly active and just would not stay still.  I eventually got some poor shots of a couple of damselflies and a beetle from Beaver Lake Ponds. 

Damselfly nymph Lestes sp. (Odo.: Lestidae) Jeremy Tatum

Damselfly nymph probably  Ischnura sp. (Odo.: Coenagrionidae) Jeremy Tatum

:

    Rob Cannings writes:  Both larvae are quite young (wing sheaths hardly developed). I assume they are all local? The first larva is in the genus Lestes, but I can’t tell which species from the photo. Lateral views of the gills and ventral views of the labium help, but in general, most damselfly and dragonfly larvae are awfully hard to identify to species from photos. The second species is in the family Coenagrionidae, and I’m guessing it may be Ischnura cervula, but I can’t be certain.

    I set Scott Gilmore perhaps an even more difficult poser by photographing an aquatic beetle larva.  He writes:  Larvae are tough but this must be Dytiscidae. There is no way I could go past that!

Beetle larva (Col.: Dytiscidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  Sunday May 17, a Mourning Cloak flew down Wascana Street just before 3 p.m. Wascana Street is in the Gorge/Burnside community.

   Yesterday,  Saturday May 16, a check for Silvery Blues at Helmcken Road and the Island Highway. and also at the Colwood turnoff, was negative. I could not find a single one. I’m not sure if it was because it was around 4 p.m. or they just haven’t appeared yet. There’s an outside chance that they’re already finished for the season too. I’ll check again later in the week  –   I sure don’t want to miss these guys.

   And finally, to round off the day, a caterpillar and a fly.

Enargia decolor (Lep.: Noctuidae) Jeremy Tatum
 

Fly (Dip.: Tachinidae)  Jeremy Tatum