2020 May 29 afternoon

   Jochen Möhr’s moths from Metchosin this morning:

3   Eupithecias 

1   Hydriomena

1   Nadata gibbosa

3   Panthea virginarius

12 Tyria jacobaeae

 1  Udea profundalis

1  Xanthorhoe defensaria

   The highflyers (Hydriomena) and pugs (Eupithecia) are awfully difficult groups to identify from photographs with certainty, so Libby insists that her suggestions for the two below are “possibly”!

Possibly Hydriomena marinata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Possibly Eupithecia tripunctaria (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr

   Rosemary Jorna photographed the bee below at Muir Creek on May 28.  Thanks to Lincoln Best for the identification to subgenus.

Andrena (Trachandrena) sp. (Lep.: Andrenidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   For those not so familiar with the minutiae of scientific nomenclature, Andrena is the genus, and the Trachandrea following in parentheses is not some sort of an afterthought, or an uncertainty, or an alternative name.  It is the subgenus within the genus Andrena.

2020 May 29 morning

   Jochen Möhr writes:  On May 27, Chris and I did a tour through Metchosin.  On the way in, I spotted one Anise Swallowtail and one Cabbage White along the road.   Then we went to some farms, on one, which has several acres of various Brassica, there were at least a dozen Cabbage Whites fluttering about, but nothing else.

Before that time, observing from my deck for about an hour, I had about 10 sightings of blues but did not get close enough to document them.  There were also two sightings of a Cabbage White and a sighting of an Anise Swallowtail and one of the other tiger swallowtails.

Yesterday morning, the results of observations from the deck were similar: 5 Blues, one Cabbage White, one each of Anise and tiger swallowtail.   Finally, we are now inundated with Adela septentrionella.

Adela septentrionella (Lep.: Adelidae)  Jochen Möhr

Adela septentrionella (Lep.: Adelidae)  Jochen Möhr

   And now a snakefly and a click beetle from Jochen.  Thanks to Scott Gilmore for identifying the snakefly to genus.

Snakefly Agulla sp. (Rha: Rhaphidiidae)  Jochen Möhr

Selatosomus suckleyi (Col.: Elateridae)  Jochen Möhr

2020 May 28 evening

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  This afternoon I went to the railway line north of Cowichan Station.  It was very, very hot.  Too hot, I think, even for butterflies, and certainly too hot for me.  There were very few butterflies.  This is what I saw:  3 Margined Whites, 1 Mylitta Crescent, 4 Western Spring Azures, 1 Red Admiral.   I still haven’t seen a swallowtail this year!

  I didn’t see any Western Tailed Blues.  About a mile along the track, there is a big patch of Lathyrus sylvatica, which is potentially larval foodplant for the Western Tailed Blue.  The flowers were nowhere near yet coming out.  Perhaps two, or three, or four weeks and the flowers will be out, and there may then be Western Tailed Blues laying eggs on the calyces of the flowers

  On the way back I stopped at the lupin patch at Koksilah Road and Trans-Canada Highway.   I saw about 5 Silvery Blues there.  While I was standing by the lupin patch and obviously looking at it carefully, I was approached by a lady who asked if she could help, which, as everyone knows, is code for:  You are trespassing on my property, get off!.   Actually I was just on the public side of the fence, so I didn’t need help.  She told me that the lupins were spreading and they were encroaching on to her property, and she was having them all cut down and destroyed.    I told her about the butterflies, and I even showed her two of them, but not, I think, to any avail.  So we are about to lose that colony.  That brings up again the question that Jochen asked:  What can we do to stop the destruction of our butterflies?

   Jochen’s moths from Metchosin this morning:

1 Adela septentrionella (in bathroom)

2 Eupithecia sp.

1 Nadata gibbosa (same as yesterday)

3 Panthea virginarius

3 Tyria jacobaeae

3 Venusia obsoleta/pearsalli

1 Peridroma saucia

Panthea virginarius (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

   Libby Avis says of the next one:  Markings not too clear, but looks like Peridroma saucia, which can be quite variable (although usually drab) but has that distinctive pearly underwing. [And the moth is indeed known in Britain as the Pearly Underwing.  Jeremy Tatum]

Pearly Underwing Peridroma saucia (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  Kirsten Mills called me and says she found at least one Field Crescent on Stelly’s Cross Road – on some daisies and near blackberry bushes.  The site is also near West Saanich Road. And she believes there’s even more of the small butterflies further in.  This site is close to Eddy’s Storage.

More tomorrow – haven’t been able to post all of of today’s messages!   JT.

2020 May 28 morning

   Colias alert!  Val  George writes:  Yesterday afternoon, May 27 in the parking lot at Goldstream Park, I was very surprised to see a species of butterfly I wouldn’t have expected in that habitat, and in any case it’s a rare species for this area. I was sitting in my car eating lunch when a sulphur (Colias sp.) butterfly flew past me.  Though it was only a few metres from me I was not able to identify it to the species level.

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  May we perhaps speculate?   The usual sulphur that we see (rarely) is the Orange Sulphur C. eurytheme.   Last time that we had an irruption of these, we were fairly sure that among them were also a few Clouded Sulphurs C. philodice.  But both of these are migratory species that we see occasionally at the very end of summer.   I can’t offhand remember any sightings for May.  So perhaps Val’s butterfly might be the resident (up-Island) Western Sulphur C. occidentalis.  In any case let’s all keep an eye out for whatever it is!

   Gordon Hart writes:  There were a few butterflies and moths around home yesterday, Wednesday, May 27. A Pale Tiger Swallowtail, and a Western Tiger Swallowtail, two Cedar Hairstreaks, four or more Western Spring Azures, and a Propertius Duskywing.  There were several small plain moths, and one Helicopter Moth ( I think that is their common name),  Emmelina monodactyla. At Panama Flats yesterday, we saw several Cabbage Whites and a faded Painted Lady, as well as a damselfly, Tule Bluet Enallagma carunculatum.

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  I hadn’t heard the name “Helicopter Moth”, but that sounds good.  I have been calling them privately the Rumpel Taube (Dove) after a very early German monoplane.  The caterpillars feed on the flowers of Calystegia.

Emmelina monodactyla (Lep.: Pterophoridae)  Gordon Hart

Propertius Duskywing Erynnis propertius (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Gordon Hart

Tule Bluet Enallagma carunculatum (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)  Gordon Hart

2020 May 27 evening

   Jeff Gaskin writes: Kirsten Mills and I had a pretty good day butterflying by the Kinsol Trestle and in the South Shawnigan lake area today, May 27.  At the Kinsol trestle we found 2 Cedar Hairstreaks, 2 Mylitta Crescents,  6 Pale Tiger Swallowtails,  2 Western Tiger Swallowtails, a probable Satyr Comma as there was plenty of stinging nettle about, several Western Spring Azures, and of course Cabbage Whites.

The Stebbings Road, Goldstream Heights was less exciting but still we saw a Propertius Duskywing, a few more Pale Tiger Swallowtails, a Western Tiger Swallowtail, some Western Spring Azures, Cabbage Whites,  and Kirsten also saw a Painted Lady.

Today, Ron Flower visited the railway line north of Cowichan Station, where he and Nora saw a Mylitta Crescent and a Painted Lady.

Female Mylitta Crescent Phyciodes mylitta (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Ron Flower

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Ron Flower.

   They also saw two identification problems!  The first, shown below, is probably, by default, a Satyr Comma, but we would welcome comments!  Unfortunately, they were unable to see or photograph the underside. [Since writing this, I heard from Mark Wynja, who says 8 out of 10 for Satyr Comma.  I think that’s good enough to label it such.  Nettles are abundant there, but not, I think, gooseberries.]

Satyr Comma Polygonia satyrus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Rob Flower

   What about the next one?   It is obviously a Parnassian, and we usually assume, by default, that any Parnassian seen not too far from Victoria is a Clodius Parnassian Parnassius clodius.

Note that there are no red spots on the forewing upperside, which is consistent with Parnassius clodius.  The Rocky Mountain Parnassian P. smintheus often has red spots on the forewing – but need not necessarily have any.  Thus the absence of red spots does not tell us which of the two species it is.  The antennae of clodius are supposed to be black, while those of smintheus are chequered black-and-white.  What do you think, from the close-up of the antennae?  We would welcome comments from viewers who are familiar with these two species.  In the meantime, I’ll be cautious and label them Parnassius sp.  The foodplants of both species are common there.

Butterflies of the genus Parnassus are best called “parnassians” rather than “apollos”.  The name “apollo” should be restricted to the particular parnassian species Parnassus apollo of Europe, and known there as the Apollo butterfly.

Ron  and Nora also noted several small blue butterflies there, but were unable to get close enough to identify them.  There is a high probability that they are Western Tailed Blues.  Further visits to this location might be interesting.   They did not see any Margined Whites.

On the way back, Ron and Nora also saw two Silvery Blues on the lupin patch at the corner of Koksilah Road and the Trans-Canada Highway.

Parnassian Parnassius sp. (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Ron Flower

Parnassian Parnassius sp. (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Ron Flower

   Jeremy  Tatum walked along Lochside Drive today, from Lohbrunner’s to Roy, and saw just four Western Spring Azures.  He noted quite a few caterpillars of Satyr Comma on the nettles (but no Red Admirals).  This looks good as long as Saanich doesn’t cut or spray the verges as they are wont to do.    At 6:00 pm this evening, he saw four nymphalids frolicking over the Mount Tolmie reservoir.  They were all probably Painted Ladies  – two of them certainly were.

Robb Bennett reports that the swallowtail chrysalis shown on May 17 produced an adult butterfly today, and proved to be a Western Tiger Swallowtail.  You can see the empty chrysalis case below the butterfly.

Western Tiger Swallowtail Papilio rutulus (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Robb Bennett.