2024 March 31

  Here are photographs of two Grey Field Slugs, one photographed by Ian Cooper at Colquitz River Park on March 29, and the other, of a slightly unusual colour, by Aziza Cooper on Mount Tolmie, March 27.

Deroceras reticulatum (Pul.: Agriolimacidae)  Ian Cooper

Deroceras reticulatum (Pul.: Agriolimacidae)  Aziza Cooper

Here are further recent photographs of invertebrates by Ian Cooper:

Lauria cylindracea  (Pul.: Lauriidae) Ian Cooper

Harvestman (Opiliones)   Ian Cooper

Harvestman (Opiliones)   Ian Cooper

Armadillidium vulgare  (Isopoda:  Armidillidiidae)   Ian Cooper

Camel cricket, possibly Pristoceuthophilus celatus (Orth.: Rhaphidophoridae)
Ian Cooper

Aziza Cooper writes:
Yesterday, March 30, a moth was in my house. Today, March 31, one Western Spring Azure was in front of the Swan Lake Nature House. Two Mourning Cloaks were seen on the trails at Swan Lake.

Today, March 31, Jeremy Tatum saw two Western Spring Azures at Swan Lake, and a Mourning Cloak and a California Tortoiseshell on the Mount Tolmie reservoir.  Jeff Gaskin reports a Mourning Cloak today at the corner of Wascana Street and Gorge Road West.

Nomenia obsoleta/Venusia pearsalli  (Lep. Geometridae)  Aziza Cooper

For a long time we (Invert Alert) have had difficulty in distinguishing between the similar Venusia obsoleta  and V. pearsalli, and we have been sort of hoping that the taxonomists might one day lump them as one species.  Alas, they went the other way, and they are now in separate genera, as you see from the label to the above photograph.  And we still can’t tell them apart!

Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper