2016 August 8

HOLIDAY!

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Just a reminder that I’m going on holiday – to England – tomorrow, and consequently I shall not be running Invertebrate Alert until I get back on August 27.   By all means continue to send in observations and photographs during this time (but they will not be processed or posted until I get back), but please try and restrict yourselves to truly noteworthy observations and your best photographs, and try not to overwhelm me with oodles of photographs of our most frequently-photographed insects!

It will still be of interest, of course, to try and record the dates of the latest Lorquin’s Admiral and Western Tiger Swallowtails.  That reminds me that I saw a Lorquin’s Admiral at UVic today, shortly before I came into the office to type this posting.  And Jeff Gaskin reports a Western Tiger Swallowtail today from Gorge Park across from Millgrove Avenue.

Gordon Hart reports on yesterday’s (August 7) VNHS Butterfly Walk as follows:

Despite a cloudy start to the day, by 1 p.m. the sun had appeared and we saw our first butterfly on Mount Tolmie- the Anise Swallowtail around the fennel at the summit. [Jeremy Tatum remarks: The Anise Swallowtail is at least partially bivoltine, so it is quite possible that it may be thinking of laying eggs on the Fennel there.  Might be worth searching for.]   Two more butterfliers (Val George and Aziza Cooper) joined me and we went out to Island View Beach, where we found at least 10 Ringlets (Large Heaths) in the meadows along the way, and a total of 15-20 by the end of the trip. We did not find any Purplish Coppers so perhaps their season is over. We arrived at the spit by the sewage plant parking lot and saw lots of Woodland Skippers. We started looking at each skipper carefully. Val found the first Western Branded Skipper, I found one sunning on the path and Aziza found a third one nearby. These were all along the fence line on the way out to the tip of the spit in the general area where Steve Ansell and Val had seen them recently. The only other butterflies we saw were four Cabbage Whites.  Later, Aziza saw a Red Admiral back at Mount Tolmie.

Western Branded Skipper Hesperia colorado (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Gordon Hart

Western Branded Skipper Hesperia colorado (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Aziza Cooper

   Aziza adds:  Sand Wasps with banded abdomens were common on Gumweed north of Island View Beach.

Sand Wasp Bembix americana (Hym.: Crabronidae – Bembicinae) Aziza Cooper

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I recently had a little discussion with Sean McCann about the spelling of Bembix.  Bembix, Bembex and Bembyx are all to be seen, and each of these spellings could be defended as the “correct” one.   Current usage, at least in North America, seems to favour Bembix.

Annie Pang sends a photograph of a colourful male sweat bee (Halictidae) from Gorge Park, August 7, identified by Annie as Agapostemon texanus.

Agapostemon texanus (Hym.: Halictidae)   Annie Pang

 Agapostemon texanus (Hym.: Halictidae)   Annie Pang

2016 August 5

   Val George writes:   Yesterday morning, August 4, I had a Grey Hairstreak in my garden in Oak Bay.

Jeremy Tatum writes:  Yesterday evening there were two Red Admirals flying around the top of Mount Tolmie, and today I saw a Western Tiger Swallowtail and a Common Green Darner in Uplands Park.

Is anyone seeing any Pine Whites?   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I may have briefly seen about two this year, but that is all.  Let us know if you are seeing any of this usually common July/August species.

Cheryl Hoyle sends a photograph of a grasshopper taken in Metchosin, today, August 5.  Claudia Copley writes:  This is hard – it would help to see the lower hind leg colour and the hind wing.  I am certain about the tribe (Trimerotropini) and am leaning toward Carolina Grasshopper Dissosteira carolina.

Probably Carolina Grasshopper  Dissosteira carolina (Orth.: Acrididae)

2016 August 4

Monthly Butterfly Walk

All Welcome!

Gordon Hart writes:

The monthly butterfly walk will be this Sunday, August 7.  We will meet at Mount Tolmie at 1 p.m. at the main parking lot below the summit on the north side and decide where to go from there.  The trip is weather-dependent, so if it is too cool and cloudy or rainy, we will probably have to look for birds instead!  I was thinking perhaps Island View Beach and Cordova Spit might be good.  There’s a chance of Purplish Copper, Anise Swallowtail, Large Heath (“Ringlet”) and the rare Western Branded Skipper.

Jeremy Tatum writes:  Not many moths recently, but, in several places I have seen the big silken nests of the Fall Webworm Hyphantria cunea (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae).  Also, if you see a smallish dark reddish-brown moth flying rapidly around in a corkscrew-like fashion, which you first think might be a skipper, though its flight doesn’t look quite right, you are probably seeing a male Vapourer Moth Orgyia antiqua (Lep.: Erebidae – Lymantriinae)

2016 August 3

   Jody Wells sends a photograph of Neoalcis californiaria from West Saanich Road near Keating Cross Road, July 31.  Jody writes:  I think it’s a beauty but some butterfliers weren’t impressed by this moth.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  Well, Jody, you and I both appreciate this fine moth, even if no one else does.  A true wonder of Nature.

Neoalcis californiaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jody Wells

   Julie Michaux sends a photograph of Hemithea aestivaria from Muir Creek, August 2.

Common Emerald Hemithea aestivaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Julie Michaux

  Annie Pang sends a photograph of an anthomyiid fly from Gorge Park, August 2.

Fly (Dip.: Anthomyiidae)  Annie Pang

   Jody Wells sends two pictures of a female Cardinal Meadowhawk from Martindale Flats.

Female Cardinal Meadowhawk  Sympetrum illotum (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Jody Wells

 Female Cardinal Meadowhawk  Sympetrum illotum (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Jody Wells

2016 August 2

   Annie Pang sends us two spiders and a moth. 

Cellar spider Pholcus phalangioides (Ara.:  Pholcidae)   Annie Pang

    Jeremy Tatum writes:  This is one of several unrelated creatures called, in different parts of the English-speaking world, “Daddy-long-legs”.  That’s a nice name, so it’s a pity it’s applied to different animals.  Perhaps it’s best to stick to the scientific name.

Male Scotophaeus blackwalli (Ara.: Gnaphosidae)   Annie Pang

The Mouse Amphipyra tragopoginis (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Annie Pang

    Jeremy Tatum writes:  The moth is known as The Mouse partly because of its colour and partly because of the mouse-like way by which it scuttles around on its legs.  The caterpillar feeds on many low-growing herbaceous plants, but is particularly fond of the pappus of Salsify, also known as Oyster Plant, also known as Goatsbeard, genus Tragopogon  (which means goat’s beard).  It is not known for certain whether the moth (which occurs in Europe) is native to North America or whether it was accidentally introduced.

   And now for the horror photograph from Saturna Island that we mentioned yesterday.  Thanks to Rob Cannings for the robber fly identification, and to Sean McCann for the wasp identification.

Robber fly Laphria sp. (Dip.: Asilidae)

Yellowjacket wasp Vespula alascensis (Hym.: Vespidae)

Nathan Fisk