2016 November 2

     Today is the anniversary of the last butterfly reported in 2015 – a Red Admiral on November 2, 2015.

     Annie Pang sends a picture of a rough stink bug, identified by Claudia Copley as Brochymena affinis.

Brochymena affinis (Hem.: Pentatomidae)  Annie Pang

   Thomas Barbin sends photographs of a wasp, a snail and three spiders.  Ichneumonid and braconid wasps are exceedingly numerous, and rarely identifiable with confidence.  They are often uncritically lumped as just “ichneumons” – although this term should strictly be used for the Family Ichneumonidae.  (Even better, call them ichneumonid wasps and braconid wasps, since the unqualified word “ichneumon” is also used for a species of mongoose.) However, we can see the venation of this example well enough to be reasonably certain that this insect is indeed an ichneumonid wasp and not a braconid.

Ichneumonid wasp (Hym.: Ichneumonidae)  Thomas Barbin

   Next is a rather familiar Garden Spider from Europe.

Araneus diadematus (Ara.: Araneidae)  Thomas Barbin

Araneus diadematus (Ara.: Araneidae)  Thomas Barbin

   The snail below was no taller than 5 mm and was working its way across a Salal leaf.  Because of its size, we believe it is probably Lauria cylindracea.

Probably Lauria cylindracea (Pul.: Lauriidae)  Thomas Barbin

The spider below is probably a youngster and it may be difficult to identify it reliably.

We’ll stick to Superfamily Araneoidea.

Spider (Ara.: Araneoidea)  Thomas Barbin

Spider (Ara.: Araneoidea)  Thomas Barbin

Spider (Ara.: Araneoidea)  Thomas Barbin

Spider (Ara.: Araneoidea)  Thomas Barbin

   But we can go down to Family level with this one.

Jumping spider (Ara.: Salticidae) Thomas Barbin