INVERTEBRATE ALERT
This blog provides an informal forum for terrestrial invertebrate watchers to post recent sightings of interesting observations in the southern Vancouver Island region. Please send your sightings by email to Jeremy Tatum (tatumjb352@gmail.com). Be sure to include your name, phone number, the species name (common or scientific) of the invertebrate you saw, location, date, and number of individuals. If you have a photograph you are willing to share, please send it along. Click on the title above for an index of past sightings.The index is updated most days.

November 6

2019 November 6

 

   Jeff Gaskin  saw a nymphalid butterfly today at Esquimalt Lagoon by Lagoon Road and Ocean Boulevard.  He had only a fleeting glimpse – not enough to identify it – but he thought maybe Red Admiral.

 

  Jochen Möhr’s  moths from Metchosin this morning:

 

3 Epirrita autumnata

1 Erannis vancouverensis

2 Orthosia mys

4 Sunira decipiens

 


Sunira decipiens (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

 


Sunira decipiens (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

 

   Cheryl Hoyle writes:  I was driving on Goldstream Avenue last night and this beetle landed on my windshield.  I was wondering if it is a Predacious diving beetle Dytiscus sp.   Charlene Wood says yes it is!

    Jeremy Tatum remarks:   We have had very few aquatic insects on this site so far.  Photographers, let’s think about that next Spring!

Predacious diving beetle Dytiscus sp. (Col.: Dytiscidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

 

Predacious diving beetle Dytiscus sp. (Col.: Dytiscidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

November 5

2019 November 5

 

   Jochen  Möhr’s moths from Metchosin last night and this  morning:

 

1 Drepanulatrix sp.

3 Epirrita autumnata

1 Erannis vancouverensis

5 Sunira decipiens

1 Thera juniperata

2 Ortosia mys

 


Thera juniperata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

 


Epirrita autumnata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

 


Epirrita autumnata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

 


Epirrita autumnata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr


Drepanulatrix sp.  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr



Drepanulatrix sp.  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

 


Erannis vancouverensis  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr  

 


Orthosia mys and two Sunira decipiens (Lep,: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

 

November 4

2019 November 4

 

   Mr E sends a photograph of a Stonefly on a coffee cup at Goldstream Park, November 3.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  Stoneflies are regretfully under-represented in Invertebrate Alert, there having been only two (in 2014 and 2016) shown before since the site started in 2010.  They are common in Goldstream Park, and deserve more attention from photographers.  I wonder ifany viewer can identify this individual, even if only to Family level.

 

Stonefly (Plecoptera)  Mr E

 

Stonefly (Plecoptera)  Mr E

 

  Jochen Möhr’s moths from Metchosin this morning:

 

3 Epirrita autumnata

7 Sunira decipiens

1 Erannis vancouverensis

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I shall dutifully label the photograph below Erannis vancouverensis, although I don’t know the difference between it and E. defoliaria.


Erannis vancouverensis (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

November 3

2019 November 3

 

   Jochen Möhr writes from Metchosin this morning:  This morning, there are 1 Epirrita autumnata and 3 Sunira decipiens.   I am intrigued by the subtle variations in the pattern of E. autumnata.  Hence I attach the picture.  

 

 

Epirrita autumnata  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

 

November 2

2019 November 2

 

   Yes!  November is possible!   Jeff Gaskin reports that Kirsten Mills saw a Cabbage White on November 1 at the Colwood turn-off from the TCH, near the Silvery Blue colony.  Some butterflies (nymphalids) spend the winter in the adult state, so one could in principle (!) find a butterfly in any month of the year. The Cabbage White is not one of the adult-overwinterers  – it overwinters as a pupa, so it is good to hear of an adult hanging on into November.