2016 April 21

   Jeremy Gatten writes from Saanichton:   I had my first Coryphista meadii last night (April 20) – two or three actually. 

   This species can be difficult to distinguish from Triphosa haesitata, so Jeremy Gatten has sent us a straight photograph of Coryphista meadii plus a copy of the photograph in which he has circled two features that he finds to be indicative of Coryphista meadii, namely the black discal spots and the short tooth on the hindwing margin (gives an uneven pattern, whereas Tissue Moth seems regularly toothed).

Coryphista meadii (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jeremy Gatten

Coryphista meadii (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jeremy Gatten

   Jeremy Tatum writes that he, too, had his first Coryphista meadii of the year on April 21 – as in the photograph below.  Probably not much help for identification!

Coryphista meadii (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jeremy Tatum

   They were on the underside of a Mahonia leaf near Munn Road.

   Jeremy Gatten also found a micro moth, which he describes as "quite a nice sight last night – it is Retinia picicolana."  He writes:  I don’t know anything about its life history, but it appears to have a distribution from southern BC through California (not sure if it extends beyond to the south).  The fuzzy little orange head gives it a rather endearing quality.

Retinia picicolana (Lep.: Tortricidae)   Jeremy Gatten

   [Jeremy Tatum remarks:  I have had one or two tiny micro moths in my apartment recently, also with fuzzy little orange heads.  But in that case (Tineola besselliella, the Common Clothes Moth) neither the fuzzy little orange head nor anything else gives it, in my view, any endearing quality!]

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  Today, I did a Butterfly Count along the Pathfinder Trail (along one of the hydro lines off Munn Road).  Besides Sara Orangetips and Western Spring Azures, I encountered several (not quite all) of the local Small Brown Jobs – Western Brown Elfin, Moss’s Elfin, Cedar Hairstreak, Two-banded Grizzled Skipper, Propertius Duskywing.  I also saw several day-flying geometrids:  Mesoleuca gratulata, Rheumaptera hastata, Leptostales rubromarginaria, Epirrhoe plebeculata.

   Jody Wells spotted a California Tortoiseshell on Mount Douglas on April 20, as he writes: “begging to be photographed”. 

California Tortoiseshell Nymphalis californica (Lep.: Nymphalidae)

Jody Wells

California Tortoiseshell Nymphalis californica (Lep.: Nymphalidae)

Jody Wells