2024 June 29 morning

   Aziza Cooper sends a photograph of a Golden Jewel Beetle from her home in Saanich yesterday June 28.

Golden Jewel Beetle Buprestis aurulenta  (Col.: Buprestidae)   Aziza Copper

Marie O’Shaughnessy sends photographs of a Red Admiral from Mount Tolmie yesterday June 28 – the same one that Jeremy Tatum reported from there in yesterday’s posting.

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  I am happy that Marie refers in correspondence to the underside of the wings shown in the photograph, not, as we sometimes see, the “ventral” side.  This not a ventral view of the butterfly – it is a lateral view.  The words “dorsal” (from above – dorsum meaning “back”), “ventral” (from below, venter meaning belly) and “lateral” (from the side – latus meaning side) should be used to describe the view of the body of the insect.  For the wings, the words “upperside”and “underside” are appropriate.

A butterfly or moth has two pairs of wings  –  forewings and hindwings.  The hindwings are sometimes called the “underwings” – but this can be, and often is, misunderstood to mean “underside”, so it is best avoided.  We see in the above photograph of the lateral view of the butterfly, the underside of a hindwing, and part of the underside of a forewing.

Marie photographed this ladybird larva in the Martindale area, June 28:

Seven-spotted Ladybird Coccinella septempunctata  (Col.: Coccinellidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Also on June 28, she photographed these dragon- and damselflies at the McIntyre reservoir.

Eight-spotted Skimmer Libellula forensis  (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Cardinal Meadowhawk Sympetrum illotum (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Variegated Meadowhawk Sympetrum corruptum  (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Tule Bluets  Enallagma carunculatum (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy