2024 December 7

No Invertebrate Alerts have been issued since December 1.

Aziza Cooper reports several Winter Moths from her house in Saanich.  We show one of them here. These moths are abundant and ubiquitous at present and are nearly all European Winter Moths Operophtera brumata.  We encourge photographers to visit the Nature House at Goldstream Park and photograph Winter Moths there.  There is a very good chance there that you will photograph the native Western Winter Moth Operophtera occidentalis.  I went there yesterday, and saw only one moth, which I believe to have been O. brumata.  Photographers should go there soon, for it will soon be too late in the season.

European Winter Moth Operophtera brumata  (Lep.: Geometridae)   Aziza Cooper

Ian Cooper writes:   Here are eight recent photos taken at *Colquitz River Park in Saanich and the #Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal between Dec 1 – 5, 2024.

* A very small (2.5 mm) female linyphiid spider (Ara.: Linyphiidae- Erigoniinae)  Ian Cooper

* A very small (2.5 mm) male linyphiid spider (Ara.: Linyphiidae- Erigoniinae)  Ian Cooper

# Dusky Arion  Arion subfuscus  (Pul.: Arionidae)  Ian Cooper

* A young, vividly marked Limax maximus (Pul.: Limacidae)  Ian Cooper

Yellow-Bordered Taildroppers Prophysaon foliolatum (Pul.: Arionidae)  Ian Cooper

# Elongate-bodied springtail Tomocerus sp. (Coll.: Tomoceridae)  Ian Cooper

# Globular Springtail  Dicyrtomina minuta f. saundersi  (Coll.: Dicyrtominidae)  Ian Cooper

# Fungus Gnat, possibly Dynatosoma sp. (Dip.: Mycetophilidae)  Ian Cooper