2022 August 29

    Jeremy Tatum writes:  Shortly before ecdysis (skin-change from one instar to the next) the caterpillar of a butterfly or moth typically appears “two-headed”.  The head of the “new” caterpillar is withdrawn into the thoracic area of the “old” skin.  The first (foremost) head that you can see is the now-empty head capsule of the “old” caterpillar.  Behind this you can see the head of the “new” caterpillar inside the ”old” skin.  We see in the photograph the “double-head” of an eyed hawk moth caterpillar shortly going to change from fourth instar to fifth.

Smerinthus ophthalmica (Lep.: Sphingidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Cheryl Hoyle sends photographs of two leafhoppers and a presumed leafhopper nymph from View Royal, August 28.

Blue-green Sharpshooter Hordnia atropunctata (Hem.:  Cicadellidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

 

 

Rhododendron Leafhopper Graphocephala fennahi (Hem.: Cicadellidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

Presumed leafhopper nymph (Hem.: Cicadellidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

   Aziza Cooper sends photographs of a butterfly and a dragonfly from Swan Lake, August 28:

   Woodland Skipper Ochlodes sylvanoides (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Aziza Cooper

 

Blue-eyed Darner Rhionaeschna multicolor (Odo.: Aeshnidae)  Aziza Cooper

   Ian Cooper photographed these two spiders in the middle of the night (August 27/28) at Colquitz Creek Park.  We thank Dr Robb Bennett for confirming Ian’s accurate identifications.  Of the first, Dr Bennett writes:  This is a clubionid, a species of Clubiona. There are quite a few species in BC but I suspect this one is the introduced species Clubiona lutescens.

Clubiona (probably lutescens) (Ara.: Clubionidae)  Ian Cooper

 

Immature Callobius pictus (Ara.: Amaurobiidae)  Ian Cooper

Harvestman (identification uncertain) (Opiliones)  Ian Cooper

   We thank Claudia Copley for confirming Ian’s identification of the camel cricket below.

Camel cricket Pristoceuthophilus sp. (Orth.: Rhaphidophoridae)  Ian Cooper

   Just before presstime, we heard from Jeremy Gatten that he had seen a Swift Forktail yesterday by the Vancouver Island Trout Hatchery close to the Cowichan River in Duncan.  In case anyone is wondering, that’s a damselfly, Ischnura erratica.