2017 April 3

   Charlene Wood, who joined yesterday’s Butterfly Walk, gives us more details and photographs of the ciid (sic!) beetle that she found yesterday, as well as identifying for us two of Ian Cruickshank’s recent invertebrates.  One of these was the beetle Necrophilus hydrophiloides (for details scroll to March 3), and the other was a most unusual creature known as a Bristly Millipede (for details scroll to March 18).

 Charlene writes, of the beetle she found yesterday,:  The beetle I collected yesterday from Turkey Tail fungus (Trametes versicolor) during our walk along Lochside trail/Blenkinsop Lake is a "Minute Tree Fungus Beetle" Cis sp. (Family Ciidae). If I find time to run further through keys I’ll update you with a species-level ID. Both adults and larvae obligately live in and feed on the persistent fruiting bodies of wood-rotting polypores or bracket fungi.

Cis sp. (Col.: Ciidae)  Charlene Wood

Cis sp. (Col.: Ciidae)  Charlene Wood

   Steven Roias sends a picture of a small moth from his back deck in Saanich.   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Pending a more expert opinion, I’m tentatively labelling this one Chionodes mediofuscella.

Probably Chionodes mediofuscella (Lep.: Gelechiidae)  Steven Roias

2017 April 2

   Gerry and Wendy Ansell write:  We got our first butterflies of the year yesterday (April 1).  There were two Moss’s Elfins on the Galloping Goose trail at Roche Cove Regional park in a sunny spot without wind.

Incisalia mossii (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Wendy Ansell

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I, too, saw my first butterfly of the year yesterday, albeit a modest Cabbage White, at South Valley Drive. (Guess what I was doing there.)  And Annie Pang photographed a Honey Bee at Gorge Park Community Gardens.  Although the season has had a very late start, all this augurs well for the first Butterfly Walk of the season this afternoon.  For details, see the March 30 posting, but, in brief, meet at the top of Mount Tolmie at 1:00 pm today. All welcome, and I expect we’ll see a few first-of-the-seasons.

Honey Bee Apis mellifera (Hym.: Apidae)  Annie Pang

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  At Munn Road yesterday I saw an Epirrhoe plebeculata (a day-flying geometrid moth), but, strangely, no Mesoleuca gratulata.  I very much want to know what is the larval foodplant of E. plebeculata.  It is usually listed as Galium, which is the foodplant of other Epirrhoe species, but I suspect plebeculata prefers something else.  So keep a look-out, all, to see if you can spot this moth ovipositing!

 Added later:

   Seven brave souls met to do the first of this year’s Butterfly Walks.   We walked along the Lochside Trail from Borden Road to almost Lohbrunners, but alas, the sunny start to the morning did not last.  The afternoon was largely cloudy, with the Sun hiding frustratingly close to the edge of a large cloud, and it was just a little bit too cool, cloudy and breezy;  no butterflies turned up.  It was nevertheless a very enjoyable afternoon, with three newcomers and four regulars, all great enthusiasts.  Although there were no butterflies, we found three young caterpillars of the noctuid moth Aseptis adnixa, on Oemleria cerasiformis, and a beetle expert with us showed us a ciid beetle.  Not all scientific names are long and unpronounceable, and my computer can do all the red-underlining it likes, but that’s what it was, a beetle of the Family Ciidae.  The beetle was just as small as its Family name.

2017 April 1

Jeremy Gatten writes: I had a bunch of moths last night – I love that there is something new every night at this time of year. [Jeremy Tatum interjects:  Alas, I am getting nothing here at my Saanich apartment!]  New moths for my place in Saanichton this year were: Orthosia pacifica (3!), Cerastis enigmatica, Melanolophia imitata, and Cladara limitaria.  The latter are really impressive when they’re fresh and have mint green accents.

Cladara limitaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Gatten

   Rosemary Jorna writes:   I found this perfect empty cocoon while working in our yard in the Kemp Lake area.  It is about 1.4 cm  long.  Jeremy Tatum responds:  This is the cocoon of one of our giant sawflies (Cimbicidae).  We have two common large species, Cimbex americana and Trichiosoma triangulatum.  My guess is that the cocoons of the two species are distinguishable, but I don’t know how.  One would have to rear the larvae – which are fairly commonly encountered.

Giant sawfly cocoon (Hym.: Cimbicidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Rosemary also found the moth below on one of the maple trees near Kemp Lake. It is a pterophorid, and probably a native species, and certainly not the usual European Emmelina monodactyla. Because of their unusually narrow wings, they are not easy to identify – but maybe not impossible. We are working on it!

 Unknown pterophorid (Lep.: Pterophoridae)  Rosemary Jorna

2017 March 31

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  In the December 29 posting, we mentioned the plans of the Ministry of Forests etc. to spray the Elk Lake area with Btk for Gypsy Moths.  Because of the late spring this year and the prolonged cool weather, this has been put off until mid-May.  In spite of the annual devastating infestations of the hordes of this abundant moth, I do not know of any naturalists who have ever found the moth or its conspicuous caterpillar on southern Vancouver Island, in spite of dedicated searches in the areas of the most concentrated infestations.  If anyone finds this moth or its caterpillar, I would be very interested.  According to the article on page A2 of the March 31 Saanich News, the pesticide in question – Foray 48Bm, which contains Btk – does not harm other insects. This is patent nonsense and the constant repetition of this misinformation appears to be deliberate deception.  Of course it is fatal to any leaf-feeding caterpillars.  Apparently there have also been recent public concerns about the effects of Btk on Monarch butterflies. It is sometimes difficult to comprehend the depth of ignorance that one hears in discussions of this topic. 

  We may not have Gypsy Moths here, but Jeremy Gatten is seeing lots of other interesting things. He writes from Saanichton:  I seem to be having an interesting run this spring – this is my third non-micromoth lifer this spring.  Last night I had over a dozen moths around my light, which included: Orthosia praeses, Orthosia hibisci, Egira crucialis, Lithophane innominata, Venusia obsoleta/pearsalli, Hydriomena manzanita, and a handful of pugs.  The star, however, was Egira cognata, which is not a species I have seen previously. [It’s also a new one for this site – Jeremy Tatum.] This is a western species that utilizes Garry Oak as its larval host plant.

Egira cognata (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Gatten

2017 March 30

   Gordon Hart writes:

 Hi, Butterfly watchers,

The first Butterfly Walk of 2017 will be this Sunday, April 2. The weather looks as though it may be nice, so perhaps we will even see some butterflies! The only species reported to date have been some individual Cabbage Whites [but see posting from Mike McGrenere below!], but the temperatures are warming up.   We meet at the top of Mount Tolmie in the parking lot north of the summit at 1 p.m. After a quick look around the summit, we will decide on a destination at that time. As always, the walk is weather-dependent, so if the weather forecast is wrong and it is cold or rainy, the walk will be cancelled.

    The April count will run from April 15 to the 23rd. I will send out a further reminder for that.

  Mike McGrenere writes:  I went up Mt Douglas from Blenkinsop Road this morning (about 8:35 am) and I saw a male Sara Orangetip on the lower slope of the first hill that you come to from Blenkinsop Road, about 150 metres along the trail. It was sunny at that time. It was cloudy on my way down so I did not see any butterflies on my way back.

   Annie Pang sends photographs of a fly nectaring on Arabis alpina in the Gorge Park Community Gardens, March 29.  I believe it is a male Phaonia atriceps – a new species for Invert Alert.

Phaonia atriceps (Dip.: Muscidae)  Annie Pang

Phaonia atriceps (Dip.: Muscidae)  Annie Pang

 Phaonia atriceps (Dip.: Muscidae)  Annie Pang