2016 April 29

   Ken Vaughan sends a stunning picture of a snakefly from his patio table.  He told me that in North America, apart from Texas, they don’t occur east of the Rockies.  I had not realized that.

Female Stigmatic Snakefly Negha inflata (Rap.: Inocellidae)  Ken Vaughan

Jeremy Tatum sends a picture of a caterpillar of a snout moth from a nettle at Swan Lake yesterday.  We can tell that it is a snout moth (genus Hypena) because it has only three pairs of mid-abdominal prolegs.  This caterpillar is in its penultimate instar, and we can tell from the structure of its head capsule that it is very shortly going to undergo its final ecdysis (skin change).  The adult emerged on May 15 (see posting on that date) and enabled us to identify the moth as Hypena californica.

 Snout moth Hypena californica (Lep.: Erebidae – Hypeninae)   Jeremy Tatum

Rosemary Jorna sends a picture of a Satyr Comma from Witty’s Lagoon, April 28.  Jeremy Tatum remarks:  I still haven’t seen one of these yet this year!

Satyr Comma Polygonia satyrus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Annie Pang sends pictures of a crane fly, and also the tent made by young caterpillars of Malacosoma californicum.

Malacosoma californicum (Lep.: Lasiocampiae)  Annie Pang

   Gordon Hart photographed the tiny reddish-brown geometrid moth at Munn Road on April 27.  Viewers are asked to keep a look out for his little moth and watch to see if you can catch it ovipositing.  It is Leptostales rubromarginaria;  its caterpillar and larval foodplant are apparently unknown, so here’s your chance to make your mark on science!

Leptostales rubromarginaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Gordon Hart

Mike Yip writes from Nanoose Bay:  My routine Cross Road trail walk today (April 29) yielded 15 Western Brown Elfins, 2 Western Pine Elfins, 3 Grey Hairstreaks, 1 Mourning Cloak, several Western Tailed Blues, several Western Spring Azures including one engaged couple, 1 first-of-year Pale Tiger Swallowtail,  2 first-of-year Two-banded Grizzled Skippers, a moth and a bee fly.

[Jeremy Tatum writes:  Here are two of Mike’s butterfly photographs, and the bee fly.  The moth, a geometrid, will have to wait until tomorrow while we try to identify it!]

 Two-banded Grizzled Skipper Pyrgus ruralis (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Mike Yip

Bee fly Bombylius major (Dip.: Bombyliidae)  Mike Yip