2024 June 28

Jeremy Tatum writes:  A couple of days ago I posted the image below, taken by Ian Cooper, as an “unknown beetle larva”.  I subsequently sent the image to beetle expert Charlene Woods wondering if perhaps she might be able to identify it.   Embarrassment – it wasn’t a beetle at all, but something quite different! This, however, was no obstacle to Charlene, who identified it as the larva of a Brown Lacewing (Hemerobiidae), and probably genus Hemerobius.   I hastily asked Ian if he would go out and photograph an adult brown lacewing for us, so we could see what the larva was a larva of.   Because brown lacewing larvae feed on aphids, you can apparently buy the larvae by the bucket-load if you know where, although Ian’s were genuinely wild ones!   Here are Ian’s two photographs:

Larva of a Brown Lacewing, probably Hemerobius sp.  (Neu.: Hemerobiidae)  Ian Cooper

Adult Brown Lacewing  (Neu.: Hemerobiidae)  Ian Cooper

Here’s a photograph of a running crab spider photographed by Ian Cooper along the Galloping Goose trail in View Royal on June 24.

Philodromus rufus  (Ara.: Philodromidae)  Ian Cooper

Anne Ashley sent this photograph of a Golden Jewel Beetle photographed by her neighbour Colleen Irwin in the Fairfield Gonzales area of Victoria.

Golden Jewel Beetle   Buprestis aurulenta  (Col.: Buprestidae)  Colleen Irwin

Here are the results of a predawn and early morning shoot by Ian Cooper this morning, June 28.  All were taken at either *Colquitz River Park in Saanich or the #Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal.

#Larva of Asian Ladybeetle  Harmonia axyridis (Col.: Coccinellidae)  Ian Cooper

#Larva of Seven-spotted Ladybird  Coccinella septempunctata  (Col.: Coccinellidae)
Ian Cooper

#Larva of Seven-spotted Ladybird  Coccinella septempunctata  (Col.: Coccinellidae)
Ian Cooper

Seven-spotted Ladybird  Coccinella septempunctata  (Col.: Coccinellidae)
Ian Cooper

*Ambigolimax valentianus (Pul.: Limacidae)   Ian Cooper

*Spittle Bug – Philaenus spumarius (Hem.: Cercopidae)   Ian Cooper

#Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba  (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Ian Cooper

# Callobius pictus (Ara.: Amaurobiidae)   Ian Cooper

Jeremy Tatum writes:  I went to Mount Tolmie today at 5:30 pm, and the one and only butterfly I saw there was a single Red Admiral just outside the entrance to the reservoir.  That reminds me that, earlier this week, while I was doing a cryptic crossword, I discovered that Red Admiral and the Spanish football team Real Madrid are anagrams of each other.

Kirsten Mills writes:   Today, June 28, Jeff Gaskin and I travelled to Nanaimo.  Along Nanaimo River Road, particularly at Elk Trails Way,  we saw two  Clodius Parnassians.  A little further down the road or towards the highway was a Dun Skipper.

Clodius Parnassian  Parnassius clodius  (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Kirsten Mills

Clodius Parnassian  Parnassius clodius  (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Kirsten Mills

Clodius Parnassian  Parnassius clodius  (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Kirsten Mills

Butterfliers who see any parnassian butterflies are reminded to examine them closely in case any of them might be P. smintheus.  These photographs above are clearly P. clodius, but if you see any red spot on the forewing, or if the antennae are chequered, you may have smintheus.