2021 March 9

 

   Rosemary Jorna  writes: This fly explored my back pack yesterday. We were on the summit of Mount MacDonald in the Sooke Hills.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  I think it is in the group of fly families known as calypterates.  Beyond that, I really don’t know, though at a wild guess I might suggest genus Pollenia. If any viewer can help, please do let us know.  [Added later:   Dr Rob Cannings helped!  Rob agrees – Pollenia.  Apparently the flies formerly lumped under Pollenia rudis are now split into half-a-dozen species, identifiable mostly by variation in thoracic and leg setae, so we’ll settle for Pollenia sp. for this one.]

 

 Pollenia sp. (Dip.:  Calliphoridae)  Rosemary Jorna

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I found a moth with 12 syllables on the wall of my apartment building in Saanich this morning –  Hydriomena nubilofasciata, the Oak Winter Highflyer.  The caterpillar feeds on oaks in late spring / early summer.  The moth is to be seen in late winter / early spring.  I don’t know that it flies particularly high.  The large genus Hydriomena are known as highflyers – I suppose the person who first used this name happened to be looking at a moth that happened to be flying high.  Followers of this site will have noticed that the highflyers are not always easy to identify to species – we have often had to leave them unidentified.  H. nubilofasciata is, fortunately, relatively easy to identify – not least because it is seen in March/April, when there’s not much choice.

 

Hydriomena nubilofasciata (Lep.: Geometridae) Jeremy Tatum