2106 September 25

Ken Vaughan sends a picture of  Alucita montana.  The larval foodplant of this tiny moth is the flowers of Snowberry.

Alucita montana (Lep.: Alucitidae)  Ken Vaughan

Annie Pang sends a photograph of Araneus diadematus from Gorge Park, September 24.

Araneus diadematus (Ara.: Araneidae)   Annie Pang

Annie also sends a picture of a Twenty-spotted Ladybird, a ladybird with the unusual habit of feeding upon powdery mildews.

Twenty-spotted Ladybird Psyllobora vigintimaculata (Col.: Coccinellidae)  Annie Pang

Thomas Barbin sends photographs of slugs from Sombrio Beach, September 21.

Pacific Banana Slug Ariolimax columbianus (Pul.: Arionidae)  Thomas Barbin

Pacific Banana Slug Ariolimax columbianus (Pul.: Arionidae)  Thomas Barbin

Yellow-bordered Taildropper Prophysaon foliolatum (Pul.:  Anadenidae)  Thomas Barbin

   Liam Singh sends a picture of a sexton beetle with a large load of mites.  Sexton beetles often (usually) carry large numbers of mites, and apparently both the beetle and the mites gain an advantage from this symbiotic relationship.  You can read (and possibly believe!) an explanation at

https://www.nps.gov/band/learn/nature/symbiotic.htm

 Sexton beetle Nicrophorus sp. (Col.: Silphidae),  with

mites Poecilochirus (Mesostigmata: Parasitidae)

Liam Singh

Jeremy Tatum sends photographs of two caterpillars from Iron Mine Bay, September 25.   The first was on Salmonberry.  The second was on Western Hemlock.

Habrosyne scripta (Lep.: Drepanidae – Thyatirinae)  Jeremy Tatum

Panthea virginarius (Lep.:  Noctuidae)   Jeremy Tatum