2015 June 30

   Rob Gowan and I finally managed to get the better of our computers, which were initially doing their best to prevent me from posting his picture of Anarta nigrolunata.  This is a moth of the alpine meadows high in the mountains, and it was photographed by Rob right at the top of Mount Washington during the June 13 VNHS trip there.  It has a nice furry thorax, presumably to keep it warm during the chilly mountain-top nights.

Anarta nigrolunata (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Rob Gowan

   Back home in Victoria on June 27, Rob photographed an Autographa californica sitting on his garden tap – presumably a thirsty moth!

Autographa californica (Lep.: Noctuidae) Rob Gowan

   Cheryl Gowan photographed a Hesperumia latipennis in Metchosin on June 29.  This is a geometrid, whose caterpillar feeds on Ocean Spray.

Hesperumia latipennis (Lep.: Geometridae)  Cheryl Hoyle

   She also photographed a wasp-mimic beetle in View Royal, June 29, identified for us by Scott Gilmore.

Xestoleptura crassicornis (Col.: Cerambycidae) Cheryl Hoyle

   Annie Pang sends photographs of a green lacewing Chrysopa sp. and a brown lacewing.

Green lacewing Chrysopa sp. (Neu.: Chrysopidae)

Annie Pang

   Micromoth specialist Eric LaGasa has recently identified some of the micro moths

that have been photographed recently. Three of them turned out to be Archips rosana:

One of them was from the Metchosin Bioblitz, so I have forwarded the record to them just in case it’s an addition.  [Added later:  Apparently it was!]

Female Archips rosana (Lep.: Tortricidae) Jeremy Tatum

Female Archips rosana (Lep.: Tortricidae) Jeremy Tatum

Male Archips rosana (Lep.: Tortricidae) Jeremy Tatum

      The following three were photographed during the June 13 Mount Washington trip.

Possibly Dicrorampha vancouverana (Lep.: Tortricidae)  Aziza Cooper

Ancylis sp. (Lep.: Tortricidae) Bill Katz

   Libby Avis suggested the identification of the one below.  We saw lots of them on Mount Washington.

Eana sp.: (Lep.: Tortricidae)  Bill Katz

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Adult Milbert’s Tortoiseshells started to emerge today from pupae resulting from caterpillars that I found on the Metchosin Bioblitz.  ‘Fraid I didn’t manage to photograph an upperside, but here’s an underside.  I released this one in the Finnerty Gardens (UVic).

Milbert’s Tortoiseshell Aglais milberti (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Jeremy Tatum

   Scott Gilmore writes: Last night I found a "giant" click beetle  that is almost 2 cm long Athous scissus wrapped up in a spider web near a black light.

I also found a new to me beetle near a CFL light, Crytarcha ampla.

Athous scissus (Col.: Elateridae)  Scott Gilmore

Crytarcha ampla (Col.: Nitidulidae)  Scott Gilmore