2024 August 12 evening

Val George photographed this pretty little moth on the wall of his Oak Bay house, on August 10. Thanks to Libby Avis for identifying it as the Filbertworm Moth Cydia latiferreana.

Cydia latiferreana  (Lep.: Tortricidae)  Val George

    The caterpillar below was found on Gumweed at Island View Beach during the VNHS Butterfly Walk on August 4.

Heliothis phloxiphaga  (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

2024 August 12 morning

We start this morning with two difficult kinds of Hymenoptera which we can’t identify.  If any viewer can help with these, please do get in touch.

Gordon Hart writes:  Mary Morris sent me the enclosed picture of some of the thousands of dead insects scattered across the boats and the water in Brentwood Bay on August 9. Mary asked if they were tiny wasps, but I have always thought they were flying ants that hatch in August and September each year.

Jeremy Tatum writes:  Since there were thousands of them, I suppose they must be ants, though I don’t know which species.  If I had seen just one of them, I might have thought that it was a tiny wasp of the Family Pteromalidae – but I don’t think they swarm in thousands, so ants I think they must be.

Ants? (Hym.: Formicidae)  Mary Morris

Ants? (Hym.: Formicidae)  Mary Morris

The other difficult hymenopteran received today is the following insect photographed by Aziza Cooper at her home on Salsbury Way on August 11.  I am not sure, but it might be a horntail of the Family Siricidae.

Horntail?  (Hym.: Siricidae)  Aziza Cooper

Aziza Cooper writes: Today, August 11, there was one Woodland Skipper and one Cabbage White at McIntyre Reservoir. At the fields north of Martindale Road on the east side of the valley, there were about 20 Cabbage Whites.

Loxostege cereralis  (Lep.: Crambidae)  Aziza Cooper

Female Cabbage White Pieris rapae (Lep.: Pieridae)  Aziza Cooper

Woodland Skipper Ochlodes sylvanoides  (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Aziza Cooper

Marie O’Shaughnessy sends the following from McIntyre Reservoir, August 10:

Butterflies seen were…

5 Woodland Skippers
2 Cabbage Whites
1 Painted Lady

Dragonflies were…

5 Black Saddlebags
4 Blue-eyed Darners
2 Paddle-tailed Darners
4 Western Pondhawks
2 Eight-spotted Skimmers
16 Blue Dashers

Black Saddlebags  Tramea lacerata  (Odo.: Libellulidae) Marie O’Shaughnessy

Black Saddlebags  Tramea lacerata  (Odo.: Libellulidae) Marie O’Shaughnessy

Blue-eyed Darner  Rhionaeschna multicolor (Lep.: Aeshnidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Painted Lady  Vanessa cardui  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

2024 August 11

Yesterday (August 10) morning we showed a photograph of a Great Arctic obtained by Aziza Cooper on Mount Washington, but we also wrote that we haven’t yet had any reports of the Great Arctic this year from within the Southern Vancouver Island Birdwatching Area. However, Thomas Barbin tells us that he saw and photographed one near the peak of Lone Tree Hill, which is within the Area, on July 9.   You can see Thomas’s photograph at https://inaturalist.ca/observations/228515269

We are still lacking a Purplish Cooper in this area this year. And, so far, only one Grey Hairstreak.

Jeff Gaskin writes that there was a Lorquin’s Admiral behind Tillicum Centre in Cuthbert Holmes Park today, August 11.  Although a few Lorquin’s Admirals sometimes extend into September, there are few about now, so we welcome all reports of them.

Ian Cooper took some photographs on August 9 at the 9 km marker in View Royal.  Here are some of them.

Identification unsure  Ian Cooper

Folding-door spider – Antrodiaetus pacificus (Ara. – Myg.:  Antrodiaetidae)  Ian Cooper

Western Black Carpenter Ant  Camponotus modoc (Hym.: Formicidae)  Ian Cooper

Raspberry Weevil – Otiorhynchus singularis (Col.: Curculionidae)   Ian Cooper

Dyslobus decoratus (Col.: Curculionidae)   Ian Cooper

Val George found this moth on the wall of his Oak Bay house yesterday, August 10.

Xanthorhoe defensaria (Lep.: Geometridae)   Val George

2024 August 10 evening

Marie O’Shaughnessy has been photographing dragonflies and damselflies at Beaver Lake Ponds and McIntyre Reservoir on August 8. We thank Dr Rob Cannings for help with the identifications.

First, from Beaver Lake Ponds, where Marie saw:

Dragonflies
1 Black Saddlebag 
2 Blue Dashers
1 Striped Meadowhawk
2 Western Pondhawks

Damselflies
3 Spotted Spreadwings 
2 Pacific Forktail

Butterflies
3 Cabbage Whites
2 Woodland Skippers

Spotted Spreadwing Lestes congener (Odo.: Lestidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Pacific Forktail Ischnura cervula  (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Female Western Pondhawk Erythemis collocata  (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Woodland Skipper Ochlodes sylvanoides  (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Now from McIntyre Reservoir:

Butterflies
5 Cabbage Whites

Dragonflies
4 Black Saddlebags 
1 Blue-eyed Darner 
3 Western Pondhawks – 1 female, 1 male and 1 bi-coloured 
17 Blue Dashers
1 Eight-spotted Skimmer 
2 Paddletailed Darners

Male Western Pondhawk  Erythemis collocata  (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Western Pondhawk Erythemis collocata (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy
Dr Cannings writes that this is a male Western Pondhawk but not yet fully pruinose.

Jeremy Tatum writes: “Two Red Admirals emerged today from their chrysalides.  See July 29 for a caterpillar and August 1 for a chrysalis.  I was unable to take a photograph, but you may see the adults where I released them, one at Mount View Park and the other at Playfair Park.”

Ian Cooper sends a photograph of a ladybird beetle from the E&N Trail in Vic West, August 4.   Scott Gilmore kindly identified it for us as Hippodamia convergens.

Hippodamia convergens  (Col.: Coccinellidae)  Ian Cooper

2024 August 10 morning

Aziza Cooper writes:  On August 8, on Mount Washington I observed nine species of butterflies:

Anise Swallowtail – 3
Anna’s Blue – 8
Boisduval’s Blue – 1
Arctic Blue- 1
Mariposa Copper – 5
Purplish Copper – 5
Hydaspe Fritillary – 10 to 15
Great Arctic – 1
Common Branded Skipper – 2 

The Anise Swallowtails and Great Arctic were at the summit. Arctic Blue was a little down from the top of the chair-lift. The others were seen both near the summit and at the lodge elevation.

Here are some of Aziza’s photographs.  We showed two of her photographs of the Arctic Blue in the August 8 posting.

Anna’s Blues  Plebejus (Lycaeides) anna  (Lep.:  Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Anna’s Blue Plebejus  (Lycaeides) anna  (Lep.:  Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

 Note that the ATC treats Lycaeides as a subgenus within Plebejus.

Mariposa Copper  Tharsalia mariposa  (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Copper

Note the new genus.

Purplish Copper  Tharsalia helloides (Lep.: Lycaenidae)

Note the new genus.

We still haven’t had any reports this year of Purplish Coppers in the Southern Vancouver Island Birdwatching Area.

Lateral view of Hydaspe Fritillary  Argynnis (Speyeria) hydaspe   (Lep.: Nymphalidae)
Aziza Cooper

Dorsal view of Hydaspe Fritillary  Argynnis (Speyeria) hydaspe     (Lep.: Nymphalidae)
Aziza Cooper

Note that the ATC treats Speyeria as a subgenus within Argynnis.

Great Arctic  Oeneis nevadensis (Lep.: Nymphalidae- Satyrinae)  Aziza Cooper

We haven’t yet had any reports of the Great Arctic this year from within the Southern Vancouver Island Birdwatching Area, even though this is an even-numbered year.

Common Branded Skipper Hesperia comma  (Lep.: Hesperiidae) Aziza Cooper

   Hitherto in this site, we have included all records of Hesperia under the name Branded Skipper Hesperia comma.  From 2024 onwards, we are following the taxonomy of the ATC, which lists Hesperia comma  (which we may call Common Branded Skipper) and Hesperia colorado (which we may call Western Branded Skipper) as separate species.  The colony at Cordova (Saanichton) Spit is believed to be Hesperia colorado.  We haven’t had any reports from this colony, i.e. of this species, yet this year. The ones Aziza saw and photographed on Mount Washington are probably H comma.  In the United Kingdom, H. comma is called the Silver-spotted Skipper.  That name in North America is used for yet another species, in a different genus.

Some Words

Dorsal:      Of the back (i.e. from above).    Latin dorsum: back,    dorsalis:    of the back
Ventral:     Of the belly (i.e. from below).    Latin ventrum:   belly,    ventralis:  of the belly
Lateral:     From the side.                                Latin latus:     side,     lateralis:   of the side