2017 April 13

Message from Gordon Hart

April Butterfly Count

Hi Butterfly Counters.

This weekend marks the beginning of the 2017 Butterfly Count season. As always, the count period is from the third Saturday to the fourth Sunday – nine days, or April 15-23 this year. You can submit a count anytime over this period, and you can do more than one count, just use a separate form for each count. In the case of repeat counts, or more than one person counting an area, I will take the highest count for each species.

Please use the form at https://www.vicnhs.bc.ca/?p=33 on the Victoria Natural History Society website.

The count area is the same as the Christmas Bird Count circle (attached). For butterfly identification there are numerous internet sites, but most or all Victoria species are listed on E-Fauna. If you select by photographer, all the photos under James Miskelly’s name are of Victoria species. Here is the link: http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/efauna/photoGallery/Gallery.aspx?gr=showall&pid=175&photographer=miskelly,%20james&specrep=0

If you would like a suggestion for an area to count, please send me an email  (hartgordon19 at gmail dot com). This year, Mount Tolmie and the University of Victoria grounds, including the dog walking area, are available. If you can only do your backyard or your neighbourhood, that is good, too.

In addition to the counts, a monthly butterfly walk is held on the first Sunday of each month – May 6th,  is the next walk. We start at the summit of Mount Tolmie at 1pm, and decide where to go from there. The walk will be cancelled if the weather is cool or rainy.

Thank-you for submitting your sightings and happy counting!

Gordon Hart

Butterfly Count Coordinator

Victoria Natural History Society

Count circle map link:

http://christmasbirdcount.ca/bcvi/CBCMaps.html#VictoriaMap

   Jody Wells sends a photograph of a wolf spider among driftwood near the tip of Cordova Spit, April 12.

 Wolf spider Pardosa vancouveri (Ara.: Lycosidae)  Jody Wells

Libby Avis photographed the spectacular syrphid fly Eristalinus aeneus at Piper’s Lagoon, Nanaimo, April 12.

Eristalinus aeneus (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Libby Avis

Triphosa haesitata/Coryphista meadii.   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Viewers will have noticed that from time to time on this site we have had occasion to puzzle over the identification of these two very similar geometrid moths.  The caterpillars are very different, and they are quite different species – but we have been trying to find subtle ways of distinguishing the adults of this difficult pair.  On our April 9 posting, after humming and hawing for a while, I opted for Coryphista meadii as the probable identity of a moth photographed by Devon Parker in Esquimalt.  Now – scroll down to April 9 to find the amazing true identity of Devon’s moth, as revealed by Libby Avis!

Today, Devon writes:  Today Ian, Rick and I went out to East Sooke Park along the coast trail. We found six Moss’s Elfins and a lot of flies of one species.  Thanks to Drs Jeff Skevington and James O’Hara for identifying the fly as Epalpus signifer – a parasitoidal fly of certain noctuid moths.

Moss’s Elfin Incisalia mossii (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Devon Parker

Epalpus signifer (Dip.: Tachinidae)  Devon Parker

   And, talking of flies, we now have an identification for Thomas Barbin’s fly posted yesterday.  Scroll down to April 12.

2017 April 12

   We now have an identification of yesterday’s tick.  Scroll down to April 11 to see it.

In yesterday’s (April 11) brief spell of sunshine, enthusiasts took the opportunity of finding some butterflies – albeit very few of them.  Nathan Fisk saw a Cabbage White in the learning meadow at Fort Rodd Hill. He writes: Starting to get jealous of the elfins folks are seeing.  [So am I!  –  Jeremy].  And Gerry and Wendy Ansell found at least three Sara Orangetips on the lower western slope of Mount Douglas.

Morgan Davies sends a photograph of a bumblebee on Sea Blush on the Gulf Islands, April 10.  Sean McCann suggests Bombus melanopygus – with the caution that its very dark thorax seems odd for the species.

Black-tailed Bumblebee Bombus melanopygus (Hym.: Apidae)  Morgan Davies

   Don’t sit too close to the screen, unless this jumping spider, photographed in the Highlands District by Thomas Barbin on April 11, suddenly jumps out at you. Thanks to Robb Bennett for confirming the identification.

Salticus scenicus (Ara.: Salticidae)  Thomas Barbin

If you survived that one, don’t relax.  The photograph of two ants (Formica sp., known as thatching ants), dragging an earwig into their nest, was taken by Thomas Barbin yesterday.  Dr Robert Higgins of Thompson Rivers University cautions that there is no way to be sure of the species without microscopic examination, but the Formicas that he sees most often in SW BC are Formica oreas.  The extensive dusky colour on one of the ants suggest this as a possibility, but it could well be another species.

 Formica sp. (Hym.: Formicidae)  Thomas Barbin

Thomas also photographed the fly below.  Thank you to Andrew Young for identifying it as Melanostoma apicale.

Melanostoma apicale (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Thomas Barbin

2017 April 11

   Fly identified.  Dr Bill Murphy, Ottawa fly expert, has identified Ken Vaughan’s fly.  Scroll down to April 10 to learn the identification!

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I went out to Munn Road today, hoping to see some butterflies – perhaps an orangetip or an azure, or I’d even have settled for a Cabbage White.  But I didn’t see any butterflies there at all.  I did see two (only) Mesoleuca gratulata and two (only)  Epirrhoe plebeculata.   Others did better than I did:

  Devon Parker writes:  I found three Moss’s Elfins along the sidewalk on Bear Mountain today. They seemed to be basking in the sun. They were all on the sidewalk starting at Bishops Gate, up Bear Mountain Parkway and before Nicklaus Drive. 

  And Ron Flower, too, found a Moss’s Elfin today, on the power line off Prospect lake Road. 

Moss’s Elfin Incisalia mossii (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Devon Parker

Moss’s Elfin Incisalia mossii (Lep.: Lycaenidae)   Ron Flower

   Thomas Barbin writes:  Yesterday (April 10) I found a spider crawling on my tripod so I brought it to a more photogenic spot to photograph. I sent the photos to Robb Bennett and he says that it is Sergiolus columbianus. 

   Yesterday (April 9) I was photographing salamanders at Goldstream Park when I noticed a snail that I don’t believe I’ve seen before. 

   I also have a photo of a tick that was found crawling on my neck on April 6 that I placed on a cedar branch for some photos. I think that it is a Western Black-legged Tick, but I’m not positive.

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  Thomas is right – including the “not positive” part.  There is a similar eastern species which can’t be ruled out – though it would need to have been brought here from Eastern Canada.  Here is the analysis of Janet Sperling from the University of Alberta. (Thank you, Janet).

This is a brilliant photo!   It is most likely Ixodes pacificus.

Of course I’d have to see the underside and spiracle to really feel confident that I’ve got the correct species but I’m reasonably certain that it’s Ixodes pacificus if it’s from Victoria. It could be Ixodes scapularis if it’s a sample that came in on a dog or person who had been traveling elsewhere but I’d expect it be better fed if that were the case.

Here’s the couplet to distinguish I. pacificus and I. scapularis from the excellent Handbook to the Ticks of Canada (page 98)

16. Dorsal posterior margin of basis capituli with small but definite cornua (Fig. 36A); auriculae formed as small, diagonal bulges laterally (Fig. 36D); scutum nearly circular, widest at mid-level, with puncta larger marginally and posteriorly (Fig. 36A); on large and small mammals, lizards, birds; eastern North America west to Manitoba ………………………………………………………………………………………………. Ixodes scapularis  

Dorsal posterior margin of basis capituli with blunt corners instead of cornua (Fig. 34A); auriculae formed as short, diagonal ridges laterally (Fig. 34C); scutum oval, widest slightly anterior to mid-level, with uniformly distributed small puncta (Fig. 34A); on large and small mammals, lizards, birds; western North America ………………………………………………………………………………………………….Ixodes pacificus 

Janet

   So, writes Jeremy, photographers please note – for mites and ticks, both ventral and dorsal views are needed for certain ID.  But please don’t let that deter you from sending dorsal-only photos to Invert Alert! 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:   As we said on April 9, we need someone who can identify snails for us!  Do please let us know if you can.  jtatum at uvic dot ca

Sergiolus columbianus (Ara.:  Gnaphosidae)  Thomas Barbin

Western Black-legged Tick Ixodes pacificus (Acari: Ixodidae)    Thomas Barbin

Snail awaiting identification  Thomas Barbin

2017 April 10

   Richard Rycraft reports a sighting of a Cabbage White in Oak Bay,  April 8.

   Ken Vaughan sends some photographs from Beaver Lake on April 9.  Thanks to Robb Bennett, Sean McCann and Bill Murphy respectively for the identifications of the spider, the bee and the fly.

Pardosa vancouveri (Ara.: Lycosidae)  Ken Vaughan

 Male Andrena sp. (Hym.:  Andrenidae)  Ken Vaughan

Marsh fly Sepeda americana (Dip.: Sciomyzidae)  Ken Vaughan

2017 April 9

   Wanted!   Someone who can identify snails for us.  Rosemary Jorna photographed the three snails below at Ayum Creek yesterday.  The first is Monadenia fidelis, but we need help with the other two.  Let us know:  jtatum at uvic dot ca

Pacific Sideband Snail Monadenia fidelis (Pul.: Bradybaenidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Snail1 to identify.     Rosemary Jorna

Snail 2 to identify.     Rosemary Jorna

Jeremy Tatum writes:  There are still very few butterflies around, although Mike McGrenere reported a Cabbage White from the corner of Martindale and Lochside today, and Bill Savale mentioned that he had also seen a Cabbage White on Mount Tolmie six days ago.

And just as I am typing this, a message comes in from Devon Parker, saying:  I have my first butterfly of the year today. A Western Brown Elfin was flying around a group of small pine trees at my home in Esquimalt. It was landing at the ends of the branches for some reason.  [I think this is the first report of the species to reach Invert Alert this year  –  Jeremy]

Devon continues:  I also have a moth I found yesterday near my porch in Esquimalt.

Jeremy writes:  A puzzler!   My immediate assumption was that it was either Triphosa haesitata or Coryphista meadii, and I started to check all the supposed differences between these two similar geometrids.  The relative sizes of the wiggles on the outer margin  of the hindwing, the white tornal spot, the exact shape of the many crosslines, etc.  In an earlier version of this posting, I opted for meadii.  Then Libby Avis came to the rescue with the amazing true identity of this moth. (Also correctly identified by Jeremy Gatten.)  I shouldn’t have been looking at the wings at all.  Just look at that stout, robust body!  It’s not even a geometrid!  It’s an erebid (in an earlier clssification a noctuid) – Zale lunata.  The similarity of the wing shape and pattern of all three moths is presumably an example of convergent evolution.  Quite remarkable!

Zale lunata (Lep.: Erebidae – Erebinae)  Devon Parker