2019 November 18

   Kirsten Mills sends a photograph showing the underside of a Winter Moth from Hillside Mall, November 17.

Winter Moth Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae) Kirsten Mills

   Jochen Möhr’s moths from Metchosin this morning:

3 Drepanulatrix sp.  

1 Epirrita autumnata

5 Operophtera sp.

1 Sunira decipiens, the same individual as the last four days, and to my surprise it is alive as it turned a bit and moved a few cm.

2019 November 17

   Butterfly!   The butterfly season is not yet over!   It’s a dark, soggy, rainy November day – not the sort of day to look for butterflies.  Yet Anne-Marie Hart and Tina Akhavan have just seen a California Tortoiseshell sunning (!) on a Manzanita bush at the Highlands Community Hall on Finlayson Arm Road.

California Tortoiseshell Nymphalis californica (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Tina Akhavan

   Jeremy Tatum shows two Winter Moths from his Saanich apartment.

Winter Moth Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jeremy Tatum

Winter Moth Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jeremy Tatum

   Jochen Möhr’s moths from Metchosin this morning.  No photographs taken.

3 Drepanulatrix sp.  

1 Epirrita autumnata

7 Operophtera sp.

1 Sunira decipiens (same individual at same spot for three days now)

2019 November 16

   Jochen Möhr’s moths from Metchosin this morning:

2 Drepanulatrix sp.

2 Epirrita autumnata

4 Operophtera brumata 

1 Sunira decipiens

Epirrita autumnata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Epirrita autumnata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Drepanulatrix sp.  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Drepanulatrix sp.  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

2019 November 15

   Jochen Möhr’s moths from Metchosin this morning:

3 Epirrita autumnata

1 Operophtera brumata

1 Drepanulatrix sp

1 Sunira decipiens

Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Epirrita autumnata (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr

Drepanulatrix sp. (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr

Sunira decipiens (Lep.: Noctuidae) Jochen Möhr

2019 November 14

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Today is a day for small, obscure and unfamiliar invertebrates, mostly from Mr E, but we’ll start with one from my Saanich apartment this morning:

Female Winter Moth Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae) Jeremy Tatum

   Next, a bark louse, Family Psocoptera.  Libby Avis usually identifies most of our moths for us, but this time she excelled by identifying this obscure insect as well!

Bark louse Graphopsocus cruciatus (Pso.: Stenopsocidae)   Mr E

Bark louse Graphopsocus cruciatus (Pso.: Stenopsocidae)   Mr E

   Next, some extraordinary photographs of a syrphid larva  (Syrphidae = Hover Flies, also known as Flower Flies) apparently feeding on the slime of a Banana Slug.  Mr E even managed a superb movie of this larva in action.

Syrphid larva on mantle of Banana Slug Ariolimax columbianus   Mr E

Syrphid larva on mantle of Banana Slug Ariolimax columbianus   Mr E

Syrphid larva on mantle of Banana Slug Ariolimax columbianus   Mr E

Syrphid larva on mantle of Banana Slug Ariolimax columbianus   Mr E

   Last, some photographs of globose springtails.  Springtails (not insects these days, but hexapods) were formerly classified in a single Order Collembola.  Collembola is currently a Subclass of the Class Entognatha, divided into several Orders, the globose springtails being in the Order Symphypleona.   Something like that, anyway.   We believe Mr E’s springtails are in the Family Dicyrtomidae, genus Ptenothrix.  I shan’t tempt fate further by guessing at the exact species.

Globose springtail Ptenothrix sp. (Symphypleona:  Dicyrtomidae)  Mr E

Globose springtail Ptenothrix sp. (Symphypleona:  Dicyrtomidae)  Mr E

Globose springtail Ptenothrix sp. (Symphypleona:  Dicyrtomidae)  Mr E

Globose springtail Ptenothrix sp. (Symphypleona:  Dicyrtomidae)  Mr E

Globose springtails Ptenothrix sp. (Symphypleona:  Dicyrtomidae)  Mr E