2022 July 5 morning

     Jeremy Tatum writes:  I thought it might be of interest to gather in one place the three white moths that have appeared in recent weeks on this site.  The excellent Spilosoma photograph is unattributed at the request of the photographer.

Spilosoma virginica

Hyphantria cunea   Jeremy Tatum

Leucoma salicis  Jeremy Tatum

 

And while on the subject of identification difficulties, it is often straightforward to distinguish between the Western and Pale Tiger Swallowtails, but I’m sure many butterfliers have occasionally not been quite sure of a particular specimen.  The photograph in today’s (July 5) Times-Colonist, page B8, shows a Tiger Swallowtail that I cannot be 100 percent certain about.  The butterfly is yellow enough for a Western, but the black stripes are fairly thick, and the crescent at the base of the tail is orange.  I wonder if the two occasionally hybridize.  The caterpillars are indistinguishable, and I have often wondered if they are genuiniely different species.   Comments from viewers would be welcome.

 

On the other hand the butterfly below,  photographed at Esquimalt Lagoon June 30 by Aziza Cooper, looks, to my eye and to Aziza’s, like a fairly clear Pale Tiger Swallowtail.

 

Pale Tiger Swallowtail Papilio eurymedon (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Aziza Cooper