July 6

 

   Gordon Hart writes:  I checked the patches of Spreading Dogbane at the Pike Lake Substation ponds on July 4, and I found one Grey Hairstreak, and many bee species. The Dogbane is in full bloom and not dried out yet, so may be worth checking again when it is sunny. I saw one Sheep Moth go speeding by, a Lorquin’s Admiral and a Western Tiger Swallowtail. There were a few dragonflies and I have attached a photo of a Four-spotted Skimmer Libellula quadrimaculata.

 

Honey Bee Apis mellifera (Hym.: Apidae)  Gordon Hart

Four-spotted Skimmer Libellula quadrimaculata (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Gordon Hart

 

   On July 2 we showed a photograph by Val George of the pretty little crambid moth Pyrausta californicalis from Val’s Oak Bay garden.  Val has since noticed several of these moths flying around the larval foodplant Mentha in his garden.  He also found and photographed a small caterpillar (shown below) on the mint. The caterpillar is semitranslucent like that of many crambid caterpillars and it seems all but certain that it must be a caterpillar of Pyrausta californicalis.  Jeremy Tatum will try to rear the caterpillar.

Pyrausta californicalis (Lep.: Crambidae)  Val George

 

 

   Jochen Möhr sends pictures of beetles from Metchosin.

Polyphylla crinita (Col.: Scarabaeidae)  Jochen Möhr

Yellow Douglas Fir Borer  Centrodera spurca (Col.:  Cerambycidae)  Jochen Möhr

 

 

   It is some days since a butterfly was reported from Mount Tolmie, in spite of several visits to the reservoir in the late afternoon or evening.  It has been either overcast or windy.   However, Jeremy Tatum reports a Red Admiral from the reservoir at 6:20 pm on June 6.