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.

June 8

2016 June 8

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I rarely see any moths at my apartment porch lights these days, other than maybe the occasional pug or micro.  Here is a pug that appeared on June 5.  I can’t be sure which species, but my best attempt is maybe Eupithecia satyrata.

 

Eupithecia sp. (maybe satyrata?) (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jeremy Tatum

 

  The next one was reared from an egg. The adult emerged today, June 8.  Is it Coryphista meadii, or is it Triphosa haesitata?   I haesitate to say.  There are two ways of telling which it is.  One is to refer to the Gatten criteria (see April 21), which work well.  The other is to peek at the legend beneath the photograph.  Foodplant Frangula purshiana.

 


Triphosa haesitata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

 

 

    The next moth was reared from a caterpillar found on alder near Jordan River.

 

Eurois astricta (Lep.: Noctuidae)

Jeremy Tatum

June 7

2016 June 7

 

  Guidelines for Submissions.  (Jeremy Tatum) Running this website is great fun and very enjoyable, and I am impressed by the huge variety of insects and other invertebrates reported, and the quality of the photographs.  But it does take a bit of time!  Generally on average it takes about ten minutes to process each photograph – provided there are no problems – and there usually are!  Thus if one day a posting includes, say, 12 photographs, you may assume that it took about two hours to put it together.  Contributors can be an enormous help of they will conform to the following guidelines.

 

 

Please send photographs as attachments, not embedded in the main message.

For each photograph submitted, please give:

Name of photographer

Where it was taken (not “in my backyard”  – I do not know where your backyard is)

The date on which it was taken (not “yesterday”, but the date.)

If you know for certain what the species is, please state what the species is – please do not assume that I immediately must know what it is.  If you do not know, I, or one of a handful of experts that I consult, may be able to identify it, and will enjoy doing so, but please don’t put us through the effort of identification if you already know what it is!

 

If contributors can comply with these, it will be a huge help and greatly cut down on the time that it takes to process your observations.

 

Gordon Hart writes:  On June 6 while on my way to search for the Chestnut-sided Warbler, I saw several Essex Skippers along the path parallel to Saanich Road. I counted six, but I am sure there were many more in the meadows there. I did see the warbler, too.

 

 

Essex Skipper Thymelicus lineola (Lep.: Hesperiidae)   Gordon Hart

 

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  Today, June 07, the Tuesday Birding Group went to Swan Lake and while I was there I counted the number of butterflies I was seeing.  I had 6-8 Cabbage Whites, 1 Pale Tiger Swallowtail, 14 Western Tiger Swallowtails, 26 Lorquin’s Admirals, and 1 Essex Skipper.  (But apparently Jeff missed the Chestnut-sided Warbler!)

 

   Mik Yip writes:  Checked out the dogbane along Nanaimo River Road on May 6.  Maybe a week too early for the Dun Skippers and Sylvan Hairstreaks, but certainly worthwhile for other butterflies. Best sightings were a slow flyby Great Arctic, several cruising Western Meadow Fritillaries, and a couple of possible Boisduval’s Blues (rare low elevation sighting?) . Others included 6 well-faded Cedar Hairstreaks, 9 fresh Clodius Parnassians, 2 Grey Hairstreaks, 7 Pale Tiger Swallowtails, 3 Western Tiger Swallowtails, and many Lorquin’s Admirals.

 

Clodius Parnassian Parnassius clodius (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Mike Yip

Clodius Parnassians Parnassius clodius (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Mike Yip

Western Meadow Fritillary Boloria epithore (Lep.:  Nymphalidae)  Mike Yip

 

Boisduval’s Blue Icaricia icarioides (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Mike Yip

Cedar Hairstreak Mitoura rosneri (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Mike Yip

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Mike Yip

 

Gordon Hart writes:  Today, Tuesday June 7, on the way back from birding the Chemainus Estuary, Rick Schortinghuis and I went to Currie Creek Road off the Lake Cowichan Highway and found the usual selection of butterflies, plus one tattered Mylitta Crescent, the first I have seen in a while. The complete list was:
Pale Tiger Swallowtail 6; Western Spring Azure 9; Lorquin’s Admiral 8, Western Tiger Swallowtail 3, and the one Mylitta Crescent. I have attached a record shot of the Crescent, and a daisy with a collection of tiny insects and one yellow beetle of unknown species.  [Jeremy Tatum writes:  I’ll see if we can get an ID on the beetle, and post it if we can!]

 

Mylitta Crescent Phyciodes mylitta (Lep.: Nymphalidae)   Gordon Hart

 

June 6

2016 June 6

   Jody Wells sends some photographs of dragonflies and damselflies from Maber Flats.

 

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

 

Male Eight-spotted Skimmer Libellula forensis (Odo.: Libellulidae)   Jody Wells

 

Female Eight-spotted Skimmer Libellula forensis (Odo.: Libellulidae)   Jody Wells

Four-spotted Skimmer Libellula quadrimaculata (Odo.: Libellulidae)   Jody Wells

 

 

Tule Bluets Enallagma carunculatum (Odo.:  Coenagrionidae)  Jody Wells

 

 

    Lorquin’s Admirals are numerous now, and are a favorite with photographers.  Here are four recent photographs.

 

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Jody Wells

 

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Jody Wells

 

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Annie Pang

 

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Annie Pang

 

 

   Here are two photographs of the Two-spotted Ladybird from Annie Pang.

 

Two-spotted Ladybird Adalia bipunctata (Col.: Coccinellidae)  Annie Pang

 

Two-spotted Ladybird Adalia bipunctata (Col.: Coccinellidae)  Annie Pang

 

 

   Aziza Cooper sends photographs of a Boisduval’s Blue and a crab spider from the VNHS monthly Butterfly Walk, at Boas Road (near Spectacle Lake), June 5.   Boisduval’s Blue was our target species for the day.  The butterfly photographed is resting on its larval foodplant, lupine.

 

Boisduval’s Blue Icaricia icarioides (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

 

   Jeremy Tatum remarks:  Like so many of our butterflies, this one has had several names, both English and scientific, over the years.  It may be found under the name “Common Blue”, or under Plebejus icarioides.

Crab spider Misumena vatia (Ara.: Thomisidae)  Aziza Cooper

 

 

   Jeremy Tatum reports that he saw a Field Crescent at Eddy’s Storage, Stelly’s Cross Road, Central Saanich, today, June 6.

 

 

 

June 5 morning

2016 June 5 morning

 

Monthly Butterfly Walk.  Quick last-minute reminder.  All welcome.  Meet at the top of Mount Tolmie at 1:00 p.m. today, Sunday June 5.  Destination to be decided then.

 

 

 

   Elizabeth Garrett sends a photograph of a Sheep Moth caterpillar.  Beware, if you see any of these – they can give you a rash if you handle them!

 

Sheep Moth Hemileuca eglanterina (Lep.: Saturniidae)  Wylie Thomas

 

Here’s the upperside of the moth photographed by Devon Parker on May 31 (June 1 posting) near Jordan River.  This enables us to identify it with certainty as Drasteria divergens.

 

Drasteria divergens (Lep.: Erebidae – Erebinae)  Devon Parker

Here is a beetle from Devon’s May 31 Jordan River trip. Thanks to Charlene Wood for identifying it as Ditylus quadricollis.

 

False blister beetle Ditylus quadricollis (Col.: Oedemeridae)   Devon Parker

 

Annie Pang sends a photograph of a long-horned bee identified by Linc R. Best as Melissodes sp.

 

 

Melissodes sp.: (Hym.: Apidae)  Annie Pang

 

Aziza Cooper writes:  A visit with Moralea Milne to the Jordan Rover area on June 4 resulted in:

 

Clodius Parnassian – 1

Pale Tiger Swallowtail – 1

comma – 8 or more – possibly Green Comma

Western Brown Elfin – 6

Western Pine Elfin – 2

Two-banded Grizzled Skipper – 1

blues: 4 or more of at least two species.

Johnson’s Hairstreak – 1

Mylitta Crescent – 1

 

Johnson’s Hairstreak Loranthomitoura johnsoni (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Maybe Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo

(Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

  In an earlier version of this posting, I asked viewers to suggest what the butterfly in the above photograph is.  Opinion seems to be gravitating towards Western Spring Azure.  I’ll go along with that – Jeremy Tatum

June 4

2016 June 4

 

   Jeremy Gatten writes:  I took some photos on the weekend before I left and I only have one of the shots with me – if you don’t mind a late entry to the Invertebrate Alert, you could post it.  It’s Eristalinus aeneus, which is a syrphid.  It is apparently a European species that is adventive in North America.  I photographed it on May 23rd.  The eyes are great!

 

Eristalinus aeneus (Dip.: Syrphidae)   Jeremy Gatten

 

 

   Devon Parker saw a Western Tiger Swallowtail and a Lorquin’s Admiral at the Prospect Lake boat launch on June 3.   On June 4, he went a bit further afield, to Mount Brenton, near Chemainus, and scored as follows:

 

7 Western Tiger Swallowtail

5 Pale Tiger Swallowtail

15 Cedar Hairstreak

3 Western Brown Elfin

7 Clodius Parnassian

2 Speyeria sp. (large fritillaries – flybys) 

4 Silvery Blue

1 Mourning Cloak

2 Western Pine Elfin

1 Boisduval’s Blue

1 Western Sulphur

3 Western Meadow Fritillary

1 Roadside Skipper

 

Jeremy Tatum comments:  That’s a spectacular haul by any standards!  Not sure which of them is the most exciting, but Western Sulphur must come near the top!

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I went to the Kinsol Trestle today.  Almost too hot to stagger along, but I saw Western Tiger Swallowtail, Lorquin’s Admiral, Red Admiral, Clodius Parnassian, several Cedar Hairstreaks, and one rather late-in-the season, but closely seen and identified, Moss’s Elfin.

 

   Devon sends some photographs from the trip that he and his Dad made to Jordan River on May 31.

 

Comma Polygonia sp. (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Devon Parker

 

[Jeremy Tatum comments:  That’s a tough one.  Is the “comma” mark ear-shaped or V-shaped?  Something in between, I think!  I think I’ll just label it “sp.”

 

Johnson’s Hairstreak Loranthomitoura johnsoni (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Devon Parker