2020 June 24 morning

 

   Because of a computer glitch, only just discovered, the June 23 entry was not posted yesterday.   I have just posted it now, so you’ll find it beneath this June 24 morning posting.  Not to be missed!

 

   Rosemary Jorna photographed this fly in the Kemp Lake area, June.   Dr Rob Cannings writes:  It is an asilid,…. a common western species (even in city gardens) called Eudioctria sackeni. Males and females are coloured somewhat differently and, in addition, it comes in a couple of colour morphs, so its appearance can be confusing.

 

Robber fly Eudioctria sackeni (Dip.: Asilidae)  Rosemary Jorna

 

   Mr E sends photographs of two beetles, kindly identified for us by Scott Gilmore:

 

Long-horned beetle Phymatodes sp. (Col.: Cerambycidae)  Mr E

 

 

Darkling beetle Eleodes sp. (Col.: Tenebrionidae)  Mr E

 

   Mr E also photographed – something!  So far, we are fairly sure that it is Kingdom Animalia, but beyond that we are a little less certain.  However, we think it is probably a beetle grub, Order Coleoptera.  Any advance on that, anyone?

 

Beetle grub?   Mr E

 

   Richard Rycraft sends a picture of a moth from Oak Bay.  Libby Avis and Jeremy Tatum agree that it is an unusually dark specimen of Noctua pronuba – clinched when Richard recalled that he saw a flash of orange when the moth flew.  This is almost as dark a specimen as Val George’s of June 18, also from Oak Bay. Two specimens from Victoria, May 25 and May 31, were unusually pale.  In this a difference between municipalities?!

 

Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba (Lep.: Noctuidae) Richard Rycraft

 

   Jeremy Tatum shows a chrysalis (Greek Chrysos = gold) of a Painted Lady:

 

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Jeremy Tatum

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  This morning I found a California Tortoiseshell having a sleep behind my living-room curtain – which is where traditionally one is supposed to find hibernating nymphalids during the winer months.  I managed to persuade it to walk sleepily on to a stick, where I photographed its underside.  It looked so peacefully asleep that I didn’t disturb it to attempt an upperside. I took it out to Playfair Park, Cumberland Road, Saanich, where we hope it will wake up when the Sun comes out and it should find some nectar sources there.

 

California Tortoiseshell Nymphalis californica (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Jeremy Tatum