2105 February 9

      This site is devoted to terrestrial invertebrates.  There is one animal that surely comes into this category and which has not been shown before.   It is certainly terrestrial and certainly doesn’t have a backbone – the Common Earthworm.   Jeremy Tatum sends a picture of one from his Saanich apartment this morning. 

Common Earthworm Lumbricus terrestris (Hap.: Lumbricidae)

 Jeremy Tatum

    Also a Winter Oak Highflyer moth.

Jeremy Tatum

   Meanwhile Bill Katz is keeping me on my toes with more pugs – this time from Goldstream Park, February 8.  I find pugs hard to identify.  Bill suggests that the first one below is Eupithecia annulata and I think I agree, but I cannot be 100 percent certain.  The other, for the time being, will have to remain as Eupithecia sp.  I can see that I’m going to have to work on this large genus.

Probably Eupithecia annulata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Bill Katz

Pug Eupithecia sp. (Lep.: Geometridae)  Bill Katz

   Jeremy continues:  I got a surprise when I opened my fridge door this morning.  There, looking somewhat forlorn and waiting patiently just inside the door, was this large bug:

Leptoglossus occidentalis (Hem.: Coreidae) Jeremy Tatum

    Jeremy Gatten writes:  The unseasonably warm conditions have got the moths moving.  Yesterday (February 8) I had six species on the Saanich Peninsula.  Here are the species I have seen: Phigalia plumogeraria (3), Eupithecia annulata (1), Emmelina monodactyla (4), Agonopterix alstroemeriana (1), Hydriomena nubilofasciata (1), and Egira hiemalis (3).  He sends a shot of the latter.

Egira hiemalis (Lep.: Noctuidae) Jeremy Gatten