2017 June 20

Welcome to Summer

[Actually the solstice was at 9:24 pm PDT last night – but today is the first full day of summer.]

Cheryl Hoyle sends a photograph of a grasshopper.  Grasshoppers are usually most evident later on in the year; this one is a young nymph (see its underdeveloped wings) and is not readily identifiable.  With that proviso in mind, Claudia Copley’s best guess is maybe a species of Melanoplus

Young grasshopper (Orth.: Acrididae)  Cheryl Hoyle

Aziza Cooper writes: Today, June 20, there were 10 Field Crescents at Eddy’s Self Storage and the field north of the restaurant at the corner of West Saanich and Stelly’s Cross Road. I took pictures of seven, and was interested to see some with the wide orange band on the submarginal band of the hind-wing.

Jeremy Tatum writes:  I believe these are all females, with the possible exception of the one on the left in the third photograph, which may be a male suitor, though we can’t see the wing pattern well enough to be sure.

Field Crescent Phyciodes pratensis (Lep.:Nymphalidae)  Aziza Cooper

Field Crescent Phyciodes pratensis (Lep.:Nymphalidae)  Aziza Cooper

Field Crescents Phyciodes pratensis (Lep.:Nymphalidae)  Aziza Cooper

Aziza also photographed the long-horned beetle Cosmosalia chrysocoma  (“golden hair”) at the same location.

Cosmosalia chrysocoma (Col.: Cerambycidae)  Aziza Cooper