2021 June 20

    Summer starts at 8:32 pm PDT this evening.

Jeremy Tatum writes:  Just as we have (more or less) sorted out our recent computer problems, my car has developed problems.  This means that for the rest of this week there will probably be delays in posting Invert Alert contributions.  So, if your contribution does not immediately appear, that will be the reason; it will eventually appear.

Jochen Möhr sends a photograph of Stenoporpia excelsaria  from Metchosin yesterday morning.

Stenoporpia excelsaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Jeremy Tatum sends a photograph of a male White Satin Moth that was outside his Saanich apartment this morning.  A caterpillar of this species was shown in yesterday’s Invert Alert.

Male  White Satin Moth Leucoma salicis (Lep.: Erebidae – Lymantriinae)  Jeremy Tatum

Here are photographs of two comma butterflies, which emerged from their chrysalides in the last few days.  Commas habitually rest face downwards.   Both are females.  Unfortunately I didn’t manage to photograph the uppersides.  The colour renderings are, I think, accurate.

Female Satyr Comma Polygonia satyrus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)   Jeremy Tatum

Female Green Comma Polygonia faunus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)   Jeremy Tatum

Jeremy Tatum writes:  Yesterday, in the late afternoon, I visited Mount Tolmie and I saw Anise, Western Tiger and Pale Tiger Swallowtail, Painted Lady, Lorquin’s Admiral, Essex Skipper and Cabbage White.

   Val George sends photos of the two tiger swallowtails, suggesting that I show them side-by-side to show the features that I mentioned in the June 18 posting.  Alas, my computer skills are only up to showing them one above the other!   Viewers will notice that I prefer, on this site, to retain the name “tiger” for both species – some recent authors drop the “tiger” from eurymedon.

Western Tiger Swallowtail  Papilio rutulus (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Val George

Pale Tiger Swallowtail  Papilio eurymedon (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Val George

Cheryl  Hoyle sends a photograph of a katydid (also known as bush cricket) from her back yard in View Royal yesterday.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  I’m no expert on katydids (or on anything else for that matter), but I believe this one is probably Meconema thalassina.  We don’t see many katydids here, and I believe this species, the one most often seen, is not native to our area.

Meconema thalassina (Orth.:  Tettigoniidae)  Cheryl Hoyle