INVERTEBRATE ALERT
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.

2023 April 28

2023 April 28

 

   Mike McGrenere  reports a Sara Orangetip and a Western Spring Azure  from Royal Oak Golf Course, April 26.   Jeremy Tatum reports today, April 28: a Mourning Cloak from Carey Road near Huxley Street, and a Sara Orangetip, a Propertius Duskywing and a Western Spring Azure from Christmas Hill, and another Western Spring Azure from Swan Lake.   Ron Flower reports today a Sara Orangetip and a Propertius Duskywing from the parking lot at Weir’s Beach. Cheryl Hoyle photographed a Western Spring Azure in Uplands Park.

 

 

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Western Spring Azure  Celastrina echo (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

  Cabbage Whites are now being reported from several places.

 

  Ian Cooper photographed this globose springtail from the Galloping Goose Trail at
View Royal, April 27.   We are grateful to Dr Frans Janssens for its identification.

 

 

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Ptenothrix beta (Coll.: Dicyrtomenidae)  Ian Cooper

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Ptenothrix beta  (Coll.: Dicyrtomenidae)  Ian Cooper

2023 April 27

2023 April 27

 

   Ron Flower reports two Western Spring Azures from the Goldstream River this morning.   These are the first of this species reported to Invert Alert this year.   Jeremy Tatum reports a California Tortoiseshell from the Mount Tolmie reservoir at 5:45 this evening.

 

 

   Ian Cooper photographed these two snails along the Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal.

 

 

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Grey Field Slug – Deroceras reticulatum (Pul.: Agriolimacidae)

Arion  sp. (Pul.: Arionidae)

Ian Cooper

2023 April 26 evening

 2023 April 26 evening

 

  Jochen Möhr sends a photograph of a moth from his Metchosin home, April 25.  This proved difficult to identify until Libby Avis pointed out how very, very different are the two sexes of Hypena decorata, and that this one is a female.

 

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Female Hypena decorata  (Lep.: Erebidae – Hypeninae)  Jochen Möhr

   Aziza Cooper photographed a Satyr Comma at Royal Roads University today:

 

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Satyr Comma  Polygonia satyrus   (Lep.: Nymphalidae)   Aziza Cooper

2023 April 26 morning

2023 April 26 morning

 

We have a spot of colour in this morning’s posting.  Aziza Cooper writes that on April 25, there were two Mourning Cloaks and one Cabbage White at Panama Flats, and one California Tortoiseshell at Mount Tolmie on the concrete reservoir at about 5 pm.  And Gordon Hart saw three Green Commas at his Highlands property.

 

 

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

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

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California Tortoiseshell  Nymphalis californica  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)
Aziza Cooper

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Green Comma Polygonia faunus  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Gordon Hart

2023 April 25

2023 April 25

 

Jeff Gaskin writes: One Mourning Cloak flew by the Blenkinsop Lake
bridge around noon today, April 25.

 

Cheryl Hoyle sends a picture of a slug from Matheson Lake:

 

 

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Arion rufus  (Pul.: Arionidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

   Cheryl follows thism up by writing:  I was at the Stoneridge Wetlands this afternoon and came across more Arion rufus and thought I would share all three photos showing the colour variations.

 

 

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Arion rufus  (Pul.: Arionidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

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Arion rufus  (Pul.: Arionidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

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Arion rufus  (Pul.: Arionidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

 Jeremy Tatum sends a picture of a moth from near Blenkinsop Lake:

 

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Paraseptis adnixa (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum