2024 April 15 morning

Ian Cooper writes:  Here are a few more pictures from my April 12 excursion/photoshoot at *Colquitz River Park and the #GG Trail in View Royal:

I’m curious to see what, if anything, will emerge from this suspected spider egg sac, first spotted on a broken bit of blow-down branch by the 9 km marker on the GG trail in View Royal on March 29. To improve the egg sac’s chance of survival, I relocated the broken branch to a spot a little way up the embankment, where I stuck it into the leaflitter.

#Unknown spider egg sac      Ian Cooper

Below is the egg sac normally seen guarded by its mother, a Pimoa altioculata, whose pictures have appeared on this site previously. She fled from view as I tried to get a close up shot of her and her egg sac on the Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal.

#Egg sac of Pimoa altioculata (Ara.: Pimoidae)  Ian Cooper

*Common Chrysalis Snail – Lauria cylindracea – (Pul.: Lauriidae)   Ian Cooper

*Harvestman (Opiliones)   Ian Cooper

*Unidentified theridiid (cobweb weaver) (Ara.: Theridiidae) Ian Cooper
(Could this be another Rugathodes sexpunctatus?)

# Linyphiine spider (Ara.:  Linyphiidae – Linyphiinae)   Ian Cooper

Ken Vaughan sends this photograph of a comma from Mount Tolmie, April 14.    It is often quite difficult to identify commas from the upperside alone, so what do you think this one is?  Ken suggests oreas, and Gordon Hart points out the great similarity between Ken’s butterfly and the photograph of oreas in Yip and Miskelly’s book.  We therefore ask observers to keep a good look out for, and even make a special search for, any comma on Mount Tolmie, and try to get a glimpse of the underside.

Comma.  Is this Polygonia oreas?  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Ken Vaughan

   And, while on the subject of keeping a special lookout for particular butterflies, we need some sightings of Moss’s Elfin!

Aziza Cooper writes:  On April 12 at Beacon Hill Park, I saw one Western Spring Azure and one Cabbage White.   At Mount Tolmie reservoir on April 13 there were two California Tortoiseshells and one Mourning Cloak. A wasp was next to the reservoir.  At Beacon Hill Park on April 14 there was one Cabbage White.   The tortoiseshell below seems to be the same one that was photographed by Marie O’Shaughnessy a couple of days ago!

California Tortoiseshell  Nymphalis californica (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Aziza Cooper

Vespula germanica/pensylvanica  (Hym.: Vespidae)  Aziza Cooper