2015 July 2

   Scott Gilmore writes:  With the heavy wind in Lantzville I was surprised to see a couple of moths at my light this morning – one I have not seen before. I think it is Leucania farcta but I am not sure I can rule out Mythimna oxygala. Either way it was nice to see.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  I can’t tell, either.  To add to the complications, some splitters split farcta into Leucania farcta and Leucania oregona.  I’m going to take the easy way out and label this one “wainscot moth”, which is a general name for this group of moths, most of whose caterpillars are grass-feeders.  It’s almost certainly one of the above three species.

Wainscot moth (Lep.:  Noctuidae)  Scott Gilmore

   Gordon Hart writes:  We saw our first Pine White of the year today on a Buddleia flower.  Jeremy comments:  I have just looked through the Invert Alert Index, and I see that the earliest date that a Pine White has been photographed on this site since it started in 2010 was on July 21, 2013.  That’s doubtless not the earliest date that one has ever been seen in our area, but there’s no doubt that July 2 is a very early date. I don’t know if anyone has ever seen one in June.  Let us know if you have.

Pine White Neophasia menapia (Lep.: Pieridae)  Gordon Hart

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  I visited Mount Tolmie this afternoon.  The temperature must have been close to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.  There were no nymphalids basking on the reservoir – they don’t usually come until at least 6:00 pm or later. But there were lots and lots of Western Tiger Swallowtails flying around and over the reservoir.  It was quite an exciting sight.