This blog provides an informal forum for terrestrial invertebrate watchers to post recent sightings of interesting observations in the southern Vancouver Island region. Please send your sightings by email to Jeremy Tatum (tatumjb352@gmail.com). Be sure to include your name, phone number, the species name (common or scientific) of the invertebrate you saw, location, date, and number of individuals. If you have a photograph you are willing to share, please send it along. Click on the title above for an index of past sightings.The index is updated most days.

2024 July 19 evening

2024 July 19 evening

   Sher Falls sends pictures of a Dark Currant Fly from her garden in Nanaimo:

Rhagoletis berberis  (Dip.: Tephritidae)  Sher Falls

 

Here are more photographs by Ian Cooper, July 14,   ^ = E&N Trail   # = GG Trail.

Eratigena duellica (Ara: Agelenidae)   Ian Cooper

Araneus diadematus (Cross Orb-weaver)  (Ara.: Araneidae)   Ian Cooper

# Raspberry Weevil – Otiorhynchus singularis (Col.: Curculionidae)   Ian Cooper

# Western Black Carpenter Ant, Camponotus modoc (Hym.: Formicidae)   Ian Cooper

This ant was observed struggling to haul the remains of a Common Rough Woodlouse [Porcellio scaber (Isopoda: Porcellionidae)] back to its nest through the chaotic jumble of forest floor detritus. A classic example of the important role ants play in the ecosystem’s natural recycling process in action.

 

# Western Black Carpenter Ant, Camponotus modoc (Hym.: Formicidae)   Ian Cooper

Possibly Choristoneura rosaceana  (Lep.: Tortricidae)   Ian Cooper