December 8
2020 December 8
An earwig, and slugs galore from Colquitz River Park, by Ian Cooper:
Male Common Earwig Forficula auricularia (Derm.: Forficulidae) Ian Cooper
Limax maximus (Pul.: Limacidae) Ian Cooper
Deroceras reticulatum (Pul.: Agriolimacidae) Ian Cooper
Arion sp. (possibly circumstriptus) (Pul.: Arionidae) Ian Cooper
Robert Forsyth comments: The hole in the top of the mantle (not the pneumostome, which is on the side, but not clear here) would seem to be a wound (failed predation, or perhaps disease). There are slugs (Hemphillia spp.) with an area of the dorsal mantle ‘cut away’ to expose a flat shell, but this isn’t one of them. This Arion is somewhat reminiscent of Arion circumscriptus, but I wouldn’t say for certain.
Top: Deroceras reticulatum (Pul.: Agriolimacidae)
Bottom: Oxychilus draparnaudi (Pul.: Daubebariidae)
Ian Cooper
Possibly a young Limax maximus (Pul.: Limacidae) Ian Cooper
We are continuing to make efforts to distinguish between the Western and European Winter Moths, Operophtera occidentalis and O. brumata. Jochen Möhr writes from Metchosin:
This morning, 13 Operophtera, 9 I would call brumata, and 4 occidentalis. I attach the images of 7 of them, which I was able to reach with the tripod-mounted camera.
Jeremy Tatum writes: I agree that the first two may be occidentalis, though without any huge degree of certainty. I would call the remaining five brumata, but again without any pretence of certainty.
We’d encourage moth-ers to try to get some good photos of winter moths at the Goldstream Park Nature House. Some of them there look like very obvious occidentalis. Amazingly, I haven’t seen any of either species at my Saanich apartment building for some weeks.
Operophtera (probably occidentalis) (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr
Operophtera (probably occidentalis) (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr
Operophtera (brumata?) (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr
Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr
Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr
Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr
Operophtera (brumata?) (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr