2023 May 2

   Ian Cooper sends a photograph , from the Galloping Goose Trail at Harriet Road, of a crab
spider that not all viewers may immediately recognize as Misumena vatia.   But that indeed is what it is.  It is a male, and very different in appearance from the familiar female.  [See April 30 morning for a female.]

Male Misumena vatia  (Ara.: Thomisidae)  Ian Cooper

  The spider below is from the Family Philodromidae, known as “running crab spiders”.  Not to be confused with just “crab spiders” of the Family Thomisidae.

Tibellus oblongus (Ara.: Philodromidae)  Ian Cooper

   And now, also from the Galloping Goose Trail at View Royal, three ladybirds with different numbers of spots:

Two-spotted Lady Beetle Adalia bipunctata (Col.: Coccinellidae)

Ian Cooper

Seven-spotted Lady Beetle  Coccinella septempunctata

(Col.: Coccinellidae)

 Ian Cooper

Fourteen-spotted Lady Beetle Calvia quatuordecimguttata 

(Col.: Coccinellidae)

 Ian Cooper

   I failed Latin, writes Jeremy Tatum, but I seem to remember that the Latin for 14 is
quattuordecim.   The “correct” spelling of a scientific name is supposed to be the spelling that the author used, rightly or wrongly, in the original scientific description of an organism.  Well, apparently Linnaeus spelled it 14-punctata, which doesn’t help.  We are not supposed to use numbers in scientific names these days, so, somewhere along the line, someone presumably substituted “quatuordecim” for “14” – and the misspelling has stuck.  We are not
allowed to correct it!

   Today, May 2,  Aziza Cooper found two or more Western Brown Elfins on the blackberry bushes below the Mount Tolmie reservoir on the side opposite to the road.   And she and Jeremy Tatum saw four or five Mourning Cloaks along Lochside Drive north of Blenkinsop Lake, as well as a Western Spring Azure and a Satyr Comma.

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

2023 May 1

Cheryl Hoyle sends a photograph of a Western Conifer Seed Bug from View Royal, April 30.

Leptoglossus occidentalis  (Hem.:  Coreidae) Cheryl Hoyle

   Val George writes:  This moth was on the wall of my Oak Bay house this morning, May 1.

Triphosa haesitata  (Lep.: Geometridae)   Val George

   Mike McGrenere writes:  I hiked up Mount Douglas today with Daniel Dönnecke and we saw lots of butterflies as well as lots of birds. Here is a summary of the butterflies:

Sara Orangetip – 10

Propertius Duskywing – 6

Western Spring Azure – 3

Cabbage White – 1

Mourning Cloak – 1 (seen by Daniel)

Western Brown Elfin – 1

A possible Satyr Comma but too brief a look.

  Aziza Cooper writes:   Today, May 1, at Blenkinsop Lake, there were three Western Spring Azures, five Mourning Cloaks, two Satyr Commas, and one Cabbage White.    One of the Mourning Cloaks landed on my hat. I saw its shadow on top of my head, but when I took the hat off it left.   [See also Jeff Gaskin’s account of yesterday, April 30.    Note also, the butterfly in Aziza’s photograph may be ovipositing.]

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

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

   Aziza also shows a photograph of a fly in her house in Saanich.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  I do not know what the fly is – I have had a quick look without success in Clusiidae, Drosophilidae and Piophilidae. Suggestions from viewers would be welcome.

Unidentified fly (Diptera)   Aziza Cooper

2023 April 30 evening

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  Late yesterday afternoon, April 29,  I saw another Mourning Cloak.  This time it was in the Cecilia Ravine, and it even landed on me for a couple of seconds.   Jeremy Tatum responds:  Interesting!  I have had a Mourning Cloak land on me several times.    Anyone else?

   Aziza Cooper writes:  Yesterday, April 29, there were two Sara Orangetips and two Western Spring Azures on the Loop Trail at Horth Hill in North Saanich.

   Jeremy Tatum shows a moth from near Blenkinsop Lake, today.

Paraseptis adnixa  (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Ian Cooper shows two crab spiders from the Galloping Goose Trail, April 28.   Dr Robb Bennett writes:  They are  both in the genus Xysticus, and I think they are Xysticus cristatus with the lighter coloured one a female and the darker one probably a male.Introduced from a probable UK source; I think we first identified themin BC in the 1990s.

Xysticus cristatus   (Ara.:  Thomisidae)   Ian Cooper

Xysticus cristatus   (Ara.:  Thomisidae)   Ian Cooper

2023 April 30 morning

   Here is a selection of invertebrates photographed on April 28 by Ian Cooper along the
Galloping Goose Trail.

Seven-spotted Ladybird Beetle  Coccinella septempunctata  (Col.: Coccinellidae)

  Ian Cooper

Ant  Formica sp.  (Hym.: Formicidae)   Ian Cooper

Misumena vatia  (Ara.: Thomisidae)  Ian Cooper

Dirt-coloured seed bug   Rhyparochromus vulgaris (Hem.:  Rhyparochromidae)

Ian Cooper

2023 April 29

Last year Rosemary Jorna showed a series of photographs from the Kemp Lake area of the Ceanothus Giant Silk Moth Hyalophora euryalus from oviposition to construction of a cocoon  (2022 May 6, 8, 27,  June 21, 25, July 13).  Rosemary now deserves congratulations for seeing the insect through its complete cycle, for an adult moth emerged today:

Hyalophorus euryalus (Lep.: Saturniidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   Jeff Gaskin has been finding butterflies yesterday and today.  He writes: Yesterday, April 28, I saw some butterflies in Cuthbert Holmes Park.  I saw the following:   1 Mourning Cloak,  5 Sara Orangetips,  3 Western Spring Azures and 8 Cabbage Whites.  Today, April 29, I found a Western Brown Elfin on a plant in someone’s private residence on Saanich Road. near Swan Lake.  At Blenkinsop Lake I saw one Satyr Comma,  8 Western Spring Azures and an incredible 7 Mourning Cloaks.  There were 3 Mourning Cloaks south of the bridge, 1 at the bridge, and 3 north of the lake.  One of the latter was near Lohbrunner Road.

   Ian Cooper has been photographing more fascinating invertebrates, some of which will be shown in tomorrow’s Invertebrate Alert.  For tonight we limit ourselves to one exciting moth – a great find – along the Galloping Goose Trail, April 29. Identified for us by Libby Avis as Annaphila decia:

Annaphila decia   (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Ian Cooper