2023 June 8

    Jeremy Tatum writes: Yesterday, two small moths, which had been reared from caterpillars, emerged from their pupae.  Although we were able to obtain photographs of pristine-fresh adult moths, this unfortunately did not enable us to identify them. The first is a pug – of the geometrid genus Eupithecia.  This is a large genus – a 1990 study found more than 60 species in Canada, and doubtless others have been added since.  The caterpillars of many of them feed on the flowers of their foodplants.  While a few adults have distinctive markings and are readily identifiable, many of them are frustratingly similar and are difficult to identify from a photograph.  The caterpillar of the moth shown below was found on Rosa nutkana.   The moth bears some resemblance to Eupithecia maestosa, but we have not been able to identify it with any certainty.

 Unidentified pug Eupithecia sp.  (Lep.: Geometridae)
Jeremy Tatum

   The second moth, shown as a caterpillar and as an adult, is a tortricid.  The larval foodplant was Populus.  The moth bears some resemblance to the variable species Epinotia solandriana, but that is by no means an identification, and we prefer at present to accept that the moth is for the moment unidentified.

Unidentified caterpillar (Lep.: Tortricidae) Jeremy Tatum

Unidentified moth (Lep.: Tortricidae) Jeremy Tatum

Val George writes:  On June7, I checked out the site where Ron Flower found the Field Crescents on June 5. There were at least six there.  Also at the site was a Mourning Cloak and my first Essex Skipper of the year.

Field Crescent Phyciodes pratensis (Lep.:  Nymphalidae)
Val George

Mike Yip photographed this magnificent animal is his backyard in Nanoose, June 7:

Female Elm Sawfly Cimbex americana (Hym.: Cimbicidae)
Mike Yip