2023 May 7

   Ian Cooper shows a photograph of the spider Pimoa altioculata with her egg sac:

Pimoa altioculata  (Ara.: Pimoidae)  Ian Cooper

     Aziza Cooper writes:   Today, May 7, seven people came to the monthly VNHS Butterfly Walk. The weather was sunny and a bit cool, with some wind. We saw a total of six species, plus one not definitely identified.

Mt Tolmie: Brown Elfin – 1, Cabbage White – 1, Spring Azure – 1

Mt Douglas summit: Sara Orangetip – 2 (one male, one female), possible Painted Lady or California Tortoiseshell – 1 flyby

Rithet’s mBog: Mourning Cloak – 4, Milbert’s Tortoiseshell – 1, Spring Azure – 1, Cabbage White – 4

The Milbert’s Tortoiseshell was an unexpected treat. It was the first one seen for years for some and the first ever for others.

Aziza Cooper and Val George send photographs of some of the butterflies seen.

In addition, young caterpillars of both Malacosoma species (“tent caterpillars”) are beginning to appear in huge numbers. Aziza sends a photograph of part of a mass of M. californicum caterpillars.

Western Brown Elfin Incisalia iroides  (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Val George

Western Brown Elfin Incisalia iroides  (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Milbert’s Tortoiseshell  Aglais milberti  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Val George

Milbert’s Tortoiseshell  Aglais milberti  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)   Aziza Cooper

Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Aziza Cooper

Malacosoma californicum  (Lep.: Lasiocampidae)  Aziza Cooper

2023 May 5 morning

May Butterfly Walk: Message from Gordon Hart

Hello Butterfly Watchers,

   Although accidentally not included in the VNHS online calendar or The Naturalist, there is a walk scheduled for this Sunday, May 7. We meet at the top of Mount Tolmie by the reservoir, at 1.00 p.m.  You can park in the parking lot there, or in the large lot north of the summit. After a look around the summit, and depending on the weather, we will decide on a destination from there.

  You can see the most recent butterfly sightings on the VNHS Invertebrate alert: https://www.vicnhs.bc.ca/?cat=8
and you can review Vancouver Island butterflies at Val George’s website :
https://vancouverislandbutterflies.com/

Gordon Hart,

Butterfly Count Coordinator

Victoria Natural History Society

    Aziza Cooper photographed the fly below at Beechey Head, May 3.  This fly is parasitoidal on caterpillars.

Epalpus signifer  (Dip.: Tachinidae)   Aziza Cooper

   Ian Cooper photographed this Greenbottle fly along the Galloping Goose Trail on May 3.  This fly is attracted to, and lays its eggs in, decaying animal flesh, excrement, and other similar places.

Lucilia (probably sericata) (Dip.: Calliphoridae)  Ian Cooper

   Also photographed along the Galloping Goose Trail, May 3, a weevil and a butterfly:

Cabbage White  Pieris rapae (Lep.: Pieridae)  Ian Cooper

2023 May 4 evening

Two more ladybird beetles from Ian Cooper – one with no spots, and one with lots of
spots.

Cycloneda polita (Col.: Coccinellidae)   Ian Cooper

Harmonia axyridis  (Col.: Coccinellidae)   Ian Cooper

   Ian also photographed a pair of crab spiders (identified by Dr Robb Bennett as Xysticus,
probably cristatus), with the female apparently eating the male after a mating attempt by the male.  As Dr Bennett puts it:  I think this is the aftermath of a love affair gone bad.

Xysticus (probably cristatus)  (Ara.: Thomisidae)   Ian Cooper

   Aziza Cooper (no relation!) photographed an early dragonfly on Observatory Hill today.

California Darner Rhionaeschna californica  (Odo.: Aeshnidae)  Aziza Cooper

2023 May 4^th be with you

   Cheryl Hoyle photographed the moth below in View Royal, May 3.  Thanks to Libby Avis for identifying it.

Digrammia muscariata  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Cheryl Hoyle

2023 May 3

   Three spiders photographed by Ian Cooper.  The first two are jumping spiders (Salticidae), about which Thomas Barbin writes:    The first photo could be Pelegrina aeneola or Metaphidippus manni.   I don’t think you can tell the two apart from that angle.  The second photo is a male Evarcha.  E. proszynskii is the likely species here.

Jumping spider, species uncertain (Ara.: Salticidae)  Ian Cooper

Evarcha (probably proszynskii) (Ara.: Salticidae)  Ian Cooper

Tibellus oblongus (Ara.:  Philodromidae)  Ian Cooper

   Aziza Cooper writes:  Today, May 3, at Beechey Head, there were three Western Pine Elfins and one Western Brown Elfin. At Aylard Farm there were three Western Spring Azures.  The Pine Elfins were on Lodgepole (“Shore”) Pine and on Kinnikinnik (Bearberry) a short distance away.  I’m sending a photo of a Pine Elfin on each plant. The Brown Elfin was only on Kinnikinnick.

  Jeremy Tatum remarks that Lodgepole Pine is the (only?) larval foodplant of the Western Pine Elfin, and that the obviously gravid female in the second picture below was probably ovipositing.  Likewise, Kinniknnick is a larval foodplant of the Western Brown Elfin.

Western Pine Elfin  Incisalia eryphon (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Western Pine Elfin Incisalia eryphon (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Western Brown Elfin  Incisalia iroides  (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

   Jeremy Tatum reports a California Tortoiseshell on the Mount Tolmie reservoir at 5:30 pm today.