2016 June 4

   Jeremy Gatten writes:  I took some photos on the weekend before I left and I only have one of the shots with me – if you don’t mind a late entry to the Invertebrate Alert, you could post it.  It’s Eristalinus aeneus, which is a syrphid.  It is apparently a European species that is adventive in North America.  I photographed it on May 23rd.  The eyes are great!

Eristalinus aeneus (Dip.: Syrphidae)   Jeremy Gatten

   Devon Parker saw a Western Tiger Swallowtail and a Lorquin’s Admiral at the Prospect Lake boat launch on June 3.   On June 4, he went a bit further afield, to Mount Brenton, near Chemainus, and scored as follows:

7 Western Tiger Swallowtail

5 Pale Tiger Swallowtail

15 Cedar Hairstreak

3 Western Brown Elfin

7 Clodius Parnassian

2 Speyeria sp. (large fritillaries – flybys) 

4 Silvery Blue

1 Mourning Cloak

2 Western Pine Elfin

1 Boisduval’s Blue

1 Western Sulphur

3 Western Meadow Fritillary

1 Roadside Skipper

Jeremy Tatum comments:  That’s a spectacular haul by any standards!  Not sure which of them is the most exciting, but Western Sulphur must come near the top!

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I went to the Kinsol Trestle today.  Almost too hot to stagger along, but I saw Western Tiger Swallowtail, Lorquin’s Admiral, Red Admiral, Clodius Parnassian, several Cedar Hairstreaks, and one rather late-in-the season, but closely seen and identified, Moss’s Elfin.

   Devon sends some photographs from the trip that he and his Dad made to Jordan River on May 31.

Comma Polygonia sp. (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Devon Parker

[Jeremy Tatum comments:  That’s a tough one.  Is the “comma” mark ear-shaped or V-shaped?  Something in between, I think!  I think I’ll just label it “sp.”

Johnson’s Hairstreak Loranthomitoura johnsoni (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Devon Parker