2017 August 25

 

   Annie Pang sends a picture of a male Neoalcis californiaria from her back porch, August 23.

 

Neoalcis californiaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Annie Pang

 

 

    Val George photographed an adult and some nymphal stink bugs in his Oak Bay garden on August 15.  We are grateful to Charlene Wood for making a careful study of these photographs, and for confirming their identification as Chlorochroa sp.  Charlene went to the trouble of examining museum specimens, and found that not all specimens matched their formal descriptions. This makes determination of Val’s bugs risky! While C. ligata is a possibility (apparently the species varies in colour from dark in the south to bright green in the north), we shall opt for caution on this site and label them just Chlorochroa sp.

 

Adult Chlorochroa sp. (Hem.: Pentatomidae) Val George

 

 

Chlorochroa sp. nymphs (Hem.: Pentatomidae)  Val George

 

   As August comes to a close, every last butterfly counts!   Mike McGrenere reports a couple of late sightings of Lorquin’s Admiral – one at his Cordova Bay home on August 22, and one along the south end of the Blenkinsop Lake boardwalk today.  Jeremy Tatum reports one Red Admiral and one Painted Lady on the Mount Tolmie reservoir at 6:00 pm this evening.  It would be worth looking in the evenings for hill-topping nymphalids on the tops of other local hills, such as Mount Douglas, Christmas Hill, and Highrock Cairn.

 

   Gordon Hart reports one of our most spectacular dragonflies.  He writes:  Today, August 25, I noticed a large dragonfly land and perch vertically on a lawn chair. I wish it had chosen a more natural backdrop, but I was able to get some photographs of a Pacific Spiketail Cordulegaster dorsalis. This is the second one I have seen since we moved to the Highlands 14 years ago, although I am sure they occur regularly in the area.

 

Pacific Spiketail Cordulegaster dorsalis (Odo.: Cordulegastridae)   Gordon Hart