2016 December 1

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I went to Goldstream Park this morning specifically to try to photograph Operophtera bruceata, which I believe (not necessarily correctly) to be the default winter moth there.  I photographed the two (different) individuals shown below.  I think if I had seen them at my Saanich apartment I wouldn’t have hesitated in calling them brumata, but, being at Goldstream, they are probably bruceata. In other words, both of these individuals fall squarely into the category of “I’m not sure”.

Operophtera bruceata/brumata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

 Operophtera bruceata/brumata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Now more of Thomas Barbin’s fine pictures.  First a Red-cross Shield Bug.  (Viewers will notice that on this site we use the word “bug” only when we mean “bug” – not for any old insect!)  I have labelled the Family as Pentatomidae, though some authors place it in Acanthosomatidae.  Also, the spelling for the species is sometimes given as cruciata.

 Red-cross Shield Bug  Elasmostethus cruciatus (Hem.:Pentatomidae) Thomas Barbin

   Next, two photographs of globose springtails. These days they are no longer insects, but they are entognaths.  That is, they have internal jaws.  The first was identified by Frans Janssens.  The second, related species is not yet identified.  Both were photographed in the Highlands on November 26.

Globose springtail  Ptenothrix macula (Collembola: Dicyrtomidae)  Thomas Barbin

Globose springtail  (Collembola: Dicyrtomidae)  Thomas Barbin

Morgan Davies sends a photograph of a beetle grub from Sidney Island.  For the moment we can take it down to Superfamily level, but no further with certainty.  Nevertheless, there’s a fairly good chance that it is Polyphylla crinita.

Beetle grub,  maybe Polyphylla crinita  (Col.: Scarabaeoidea)  Morgan Davies