2020 July 5 morning

   Mr E sends a miscellany of photographs, which are a challenge to identify.  If any viewer can help with any of these, please let us know:  jtatum at uvic dot  ca

One hesitates even to think of identifying aphidids, but, writes Jeremy Tatum, I think these ones on a young Broom pod may be Acyrthosiphon pisum:

Probably Acyrthosiphon pisum (Hem.: Aphididae)  Mr E

Spittle Bug Philaenus spumarius (Hem.: Cercopidae)  Mr E

Spittle Bug Philaenus spumarius (Hem.: Cercopidae)  Mr E

   Dr Robb Bennett confirms Mr E’s identification of the spider below as Tibellus and almost certainly T. oblongus.

Tibellus (almost certainly oblongus) (Ara.: Philodromidae)  Mr E

   I despair of identifying this fly.  Perhaps some viewer can help?

Unidentified fly (Diptera)  Mr E

   Ichneumons are even more difficult.  Parasitoidal hymenopterans known loosely  (and not always correctly) as “ichmeumon wasps” belong to several Families, but I believe this one is probably a genuine ichneumon wasp of the Family Ichneumonidae.

Hym.: probably Ichneumonidae    Mr E

More, awaiting identification, to come…

2020 July 4 evening

   For a notice about tomorrow’s Butterfly Walk, see this morning’s posting.

   Rosemary Jorna sends a mixed bag from the first 3 kilometres of the Grass Lake Trail in the Sooke Hills:

Monadenia fidelis (Pul.: Bradybaenidae) Rosemary Jorna

Clodius Parnassian Parnassus clodius (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   Mr E photographed a colourful wasp/bee a few days ago.  We haven’t had an expert opinion yet, but Mr E suggests a cuckoo wasp Holopyga sp.

Probably Cuckoo wasp Holopyga sp. (Hym.: Chrysididae)   Mr E 

   Richard Rycraft saw an Essex Skipper in his garden on Lavender today.  Lavender seems to be a favoured nectar source for the Essex and Woodland Skippers.  Jeremy Tatum also saw an Essex Skipper today at Island View Beach.

2020 July 04 morning

   Message from Gordon Hart:

Hello Butterfly Watchers,
We will be having a Butterfly Walk on Sunday, July 5. We will be following the Covid-19 policies approved by the VNHS Board of Directors. They can be found on page 5 of the July August issue of The Naturalist and I have copied them below. 

 We meet at the top of Mount Tolmie by the reservoir, at 1.00 p.m. You can park in the parking lot there, or in the large lot north of the summit. After a look around the summit, and depending on the weather, we will decide on a destination from there. 
See you on Sunday,
Gordon 

Gordon Hart,

Butterfly count coordinator

Victoria Natural History Society

In this “new abnormal environment”, when many events and activities are being cancelled, Dr. Bonnie Henry encourages us to get outside. For VNHS members, the preferred activity is a field trip. Yes, trips are still possible, if they can be done safely according to public health directives and using common sense. 

Following are what we hope will be temporary guidelines for leaders and participants. 

1. For now, trips are to be limited to 10 participants, including the leader. However, if there are more than 10, the leader has the option of splitting the group. 
2. Please respect physical distancing, two metres apart, while on trails and in groups. 
3. Please bring a face mask to be used if physical distancing is not possible. 
4. Please ensure that your field trip waiver (attached to the membership application and renewal form) is current and signed. As stated on the form, you are attending field trips at your own risk. 
5. Please do not carpool unless all occupants are from the same household. 
6. Please bring your own binoculars and/or spotting scopes and avoid sharing them. 
7. Please stay at home if you are feeling ill, especially if you have any possible COVID-19 symptoms, or even feel unsure about being with a group of people. 
8. Please respect the trip leader’s right, and obligation, to limit the number of participants in any field trip. The leader also has the right to alter or even cancel a field trip. Please remember that our field trip leaders are volunteers, giving their time and knowledge freely and generously. 
9. Finally, please check the VNHS website ahead of time to ensure that the trip is still scheduled to take place. 

  Jeremy Tatum shows a moth that emerged today, reared from a caterpillar found last year on Gumweed at Island View Beach, where it was released today:

Cucullia montanae (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   He also shows a chrysalis formed today from a caterpillar found on Stinging Nettle at Lochside Drive:

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Jochen Möhr shows two moths from his Metchosin home this morning:

Pyrausta perrubralis (Lep.: Crambidae)  Jochen Möhr

Stenoporpia excelsaria (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jochen Möhr

2020 July 3

   There was no Invert Alert Yesterday.  I was beginning to fear there were no invertebrates, either, but a pretty little micro moth turned up at Jochen Möhr’s house in Metchosin:

Pyrausta perrubralis (Lep.: Crambidae)  Jochen Möhr

   Jochen’s moths from Metchosin this morning:

2 Callizzia amorata,

1 Evergestis funalis 

3 Hesperumia latipennis

2 Iridopsis emasculatum

1 Xanthorhoe defensaria

1 Idea dimidiata

Idaea dimidiata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Hesperumia latipennis (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Evergestis funalis (Lep.: Crambidae)  Jochen Möhr

Iridopsis emasculatum (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

2020 July 1

   This may be Canada Day, but it also seems to be Crab Spider Day, for two separate observers have sent a bunch of photos of Misumena vatia.  This spider lurks in flowers and often takes on the colour of the flower within which it lurks, as in this photograph of one on an Ox-eye Daisy:

Misumena vatia  (Ara.: Thomisidae)  Mr E

   The next one, on Lavender, doesn’t seem to have had much success with any attempt at cryptic coloration.

Misumena vatia  (Ara.: Thomisidae) Richard Rycraft

   The next one is also white on a purple flower – except that it does closely resemble the white central part of the Harvest Brodiaea flower, enough to deceive a very substantial prey.

Misumena vatia  (Ara.: Thomisidae)  Mr E

   I recognized the next spider as a crab spider, but I didn’t think it was M. vatia (writes Jeremy Tatum) until Dr Robb Bennett told me that it is indeed M. vatia – but a male rather than the more familiar female.   Its first pair of legs are remarkably long (part of the left front leg is hidden by a petal).  The spider is missing its second leg on the right hand side.

Male Misumena vatia (Ara.: Thomisidae)  Mr E

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  On June 29 I saw a Pale Tiger Swallowtail nectaring on the Philadelphus bush at the entrance to the Mount Tolmie reservoir – noteworthy only because it was the first one I had seen this year.  On June 30 I saw a Satyr Comma along the Lochside Trail between Lohbrunner’s and Blenkinsop Lake;  I also found another Red Admiral caterpillar on the nettles there.  Today I noticed that the Painted Lady pupa, which was shown on June 24 morning, was showing a lot of colour – next photograph:

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

  After a few hours I noted that the butterfly within was becoming separated from the pupal shell as described by Jochen Möhr in the movie he made last year of the emergence of a Painted Lady butterfly from its chrysalis. This appearance shows that eclosion (emergence) is imminent.  [Biologists please note:  The noun is eclosion;  the verb is eclode.]  Jochen’s movie can be seen in the entry for 2020 January 1 (currently on page 35).  I waited patiently with my camera at the ready.  Then I went to unload my laundry from the washer and put it in the dryer, a process that took three minutes max. When I came back:

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

   I didn’t manage to photograph the upperside.  I put the butterfly on the thistles just down the road from the Jeffery Pine on Mount Tolmie, so if you see a pristine fresh Painted Lady there, that’ll be it.

Here’s a young caterpillar of a Pale Tiger Swallowtail:

Pale Tiger Swallowtail Papilio eurymedon (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Here’s a long-horned beetle photographed by Mr E, and kindly identified by Scott Gilmore as Lepturopsis dolorosa:

Lepturopsis dolorosa (Col.:  Cerambycidae)  Mr E

   Mark Wynja writes:  On the afternoon of Sunday June 28th Mike Yip and I found a Roadside Skipper and a Dun Skipper.  Area accessed by NW Bay Logging Road in Nanoose. Follow the signs to Rhododendron Lake;  they were 300 m past the 5 km sign on that road.  These logging roads are open until further notice on weekends from 8am to 6pm.

Roadside Skipper Amblyscirtes vialis (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Mark Wynja

Here’s a caterpillar found on Ninebark at Swan Lake today:

Egira crucialis (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Jeremy Tatum