2022 August 27

    Cheryl Hoyle seems to have discovered an effective moth attractant – ripe figs!  Here are some moths from View Royal, August 20.

Catocala aholibah  (Lep.: Erebidae – Erebinae)  Cheryl Hoyle

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  ‘Fraid we can’t be sure what the two noctuid moths are – but they do serve to show how huge the Catocala is.   Catocalas  can be difficult to determine to species, but I’m pretty sure this is aholibah.  Here’s another one:

 

Catocala aholibah  (Lep.: Erebidae – Erebinae)  Cheryl Hoyle

Xestia xanthographa (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

 

Libby Avis writes, of the next one:  It is a Homorthodes for sure – either communis or fractura. Hard to tell apart. I think more likely communis which is the more common, but maybe best to leave it at genus.

Homorthodes communis/fractura (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

Homorthodes communis/fractura (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

 

We received two ant photographs on consecutive days.  It is well to remember that not all ants by any means are Formica  – they are scattered through many genera.  Of the two below, one, a wood ant eyeing the ripe fig, is Formica;  the other, a carpenter ant, isn’t.

 

Wood ant Formica sp. (Hym.:  Formicidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

Western Black Carpenter Ant  Camponotus modoc (Hym.: Formicidae)  Ian Cooper

   Here are a few more of Ian Cooper’s photographs, taken locally after dark in the last 30 days.

Thanks to Dr Robb Bennett for identifying the cybaeid spider.

 

Cybaeus (possibly signifer) (Ara.: Cybaeidae)  Ian Cooper

Enoplognatha ovata (Ara.: Theridiidae)  Ian Cooper

 

Jumping bristletail Pedetontus (possibly saltator) (Microcoryphia:  Machilidae)

  Ian Cooper

Unidentified but probably an ichneumonid wasp (Hym.: Ichneumonidae)  Ian Cooper

Crane fly (Dip.: Tipulidae)  Ian Cooper

Crane fly (Dip.: Tipulidae) Ian Cooper