April 30
2016 April 30
Here is Mike Yip’s geometrid from Cross Road, Nanoose Bay, April 29. It is Xanthorhoe defensaria.
![](file:///F:/DOCUME%7E1/tatum/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image002.jpg)
Jeremy Tatum writes: Bill Savale and I went to the Kinsol Trestle today, hoping to find Western Tailed Blues. No luck – the Lathyrus that they depend on were not yet in flower. Besides Western Spring Azures and Cabbage Whites, we saw a Red Admiral and a Two-banded Grizzled Skipper. Jeremy adds that at 6:00 p.m. this evening there were a Red Admiral and a California Tortoiseshell on the Mount Tolmie reservoir.
Annie Pang sends a picture of a Two-spotted Ladybird.
![](file:///F:/DOCUME%7E1/tatum/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image004.jpg)
Rosemary Jorna writes: I’ll bet this Ladybird Beetle found on the spit at Witty’s Lagoon, April 30 2016, is Harmonia axyridis. Jeremy Tatum responds: With that big black W on its thorax, so do I!
![](file:///F:/DOCUME%7E1/tatum/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image006.jpg)
Rosemary continues: This little bug that appeared on the lens of my camera at Witty’s Lagoon, April 30 2016, was tentatively identified as a spittle bug nymph by the naturalists at Metchosin’s Biodiversity Day. [Yes – I’ll go along with that – Jeremy.] She also sends a photograph of a bee from the same area.
Spittlebug nymph, possibly Philaenus spumarius (Hem.: Aphrophoridae)
Rosemary Jorna
![](file:///F:/DOCUME%7E1/tatum/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image010.jpg)
Mike Yip writes from Nanoose Bay: It really felt like butterfly weather this morning so I decided to check out the Sundew Main logging road. As usual, Western Spring Azures were abundant, and commas continued to be non-existent. [I still haven’t seen a Satyr Comma! – Jeremy] Species available were a pair of first-of-year Mylitta Crescents, 5 Pale Tiger Swallowtails, 1 Sara Orangetip, 2 Western Brown Elfins, 4 Grey Hairstreaks, 5 Two-banded Grizzled Skippers, and 1 Cabbage White. A late afternoon walk at the Cross Road trail was relatively quiet with only a few Western Spring Azures, 3 Western Brown Elfins, one Western Tailed Blue, and one Mourning Cloak. The Western Tailed Blue had better tails than the previous one I sent you.
![](file:///F:/DOCUME%7E1/tatum/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image012.jpg)
![](file:///F:/DOCUME%7E1/tatum/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image014.jpg)
Grey Hairstreak Strymon melinus (Lep.: Lycaenidae) Mike Yip
Male Mylitta Crescent Phyciodes mylitta (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Mike Yip
![](file:///F:/DOCUME%7E1/tatum/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image020.jpg)