2018 March 19

 

   Butterflies are starting to appear.  Unidentified nymphalid butterflies were reported to this site on March 10 and 12 (see entries for March 11 and 13).  The first identified butterfly reported is a Mourning Cloak, by Libby Avis in Port Alberni on March 18.  The Mourning Cloak and the unidentified nymphalids overwinter in the adult stage. The first adult butterfly that overwinters in the pupal stage was a Cabbage White, reported on March 18 from Metchosin by Moralea Milne.

 

   Libby Avis reports the geometrid moths Epirrhoe  plebeculata and Enchoria lacteata from Port Alberni, March 18.  Gordon Hart, too, has found Enchoria lacteata, in the Highlands.

 

Enchoria lacteata (Lep.: Geometridae)   Gordon Hart

 

   More individuals of the unidentified moth shown on the March 18 posting have been found on Peden Bluff by Moralea Milne and Jeremy Gatten.