2022 October 19 morning

    Autumn officially started on September 22 – but, in case anyone is in doubt, here is an Autumnal Moth from Jochen Möhr in Metchosin:

Epirrita autumnata  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Mike Yip photographed this woolly bear in Nanoose Bay:

Lophocampa roseata (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae) Mike Yip

2022 October 18

    Jeremy Tatum writes:  Apologies – no Invert Alert yesterday, October 17 – my computer was down all day, but is better today.

Several viewers have noticed that my old web “book” on Butterflies and Moths of Southern Vancouver Island has been unavailable for a while.  It was originally hosted by Furman University (South Carolina) and managed there by Dr John Snyder.  Earlier this year its time with Furman expired, but Dr Snyder was able to rescue a copy and send it to me by mail on a flash drive, which I forwarded to Claudia Copley.  Since then Claudia successfully prevailed upon the expertise of Adam Taylor to restore it to the Internet, and it can now be reached as a VNHS document at

http://vicnhs.bc.ca/lepsvi/index.htm

  On my computer, I find that control + inner click works.

I have not updated or edited it in any way, and as far as I can see it is exactly as it used to be.  The taxonomy used in the site is as it was before the overhaul of the Noctuoidea a few years ago.  Since then, the new family Erebidae has been erected, which includes the former Lymantriidae and Arctiidae and a large section of the former Noctuidae as subfamilies. The new taxomomy is used in InvertebrateAlert.

The first page of the site still carries the words “This electronic book is housed at Furman University. Comments on layout and accessibility should be directed to the book’s webmaster, John Snyder.  All rights reserved!”   This is no longer the case , and so please don’t send comments  on layout or accessibility to Furman or to John.  We must thank them both (indeed I have done so) for looking after the site for so many years.

Val George (Oak Bay) and Jochen Möhr (Metchosin) send photographs of some moths:

Dysstroma citrata (Lep.: Geometridae) Val George

Tetracis jubararia (Lep.: Geometridae)  Val George

Tetracis jubararia (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Tetracis jubararia (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Thera juniperata (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr

Acleris rhombana (Lep.: Tortricidae)  Jochen Möhr

Cheryl Hoyle and Ian Cooper, both in View Royal, send photographs of a variety of invertebrate creatures:

Acleris rhombana (Lep.: Tortricidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

Female European Earwig Forficula auricularia (Derm.: Forficulidae) Cheryl Hoyle

Malacocoris chlorizans (Hem.: Miridae) Cheryl Hoyle

Ian Cooper comments that, at this time of year, when many of the larger “celebrity” invertebrates are done for the year as autumn settles in, “so many unsung heroes of the invertebrate realm toil away in darkness, mostly unnoticed and unappreciated, pursuing their respective quests in obscurity, undaunted denizens of the night.”  (We might add, writes Jeremy Tatum, that, to obtain these photographs, Ian  must also toil away in darkness, though we hope that his work in not unnoticed and unappreciated.)

Unidentified aphidid (Hem.: Aphididae)  Ian Cooper

Nebria brevicollis (Col.: Carabidae) Ian Cooper

Armadillidium vulgare (Isopoda: Oniscidae)

Philoscia muscorum (Isopoda: Philosciidae)  Ian Cooper

Metellina sp.: (Ara.: Tetragnathidae)  Ian Cooper

Metellina sp.: (Ara.: Tetragnathidae)  Ian Cooper

Crane Fly (Dip.: Tipulidae)  Ian Cooper

2022 October 16

    Jeremy Tatum shows a a photograph of Drepanulatrix secundaria from his Saanich apartment this morning.

         Drepanulatrix secundaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

2022 October 14

    Jeff Gaskin writes:  Today, October 14, I found two Orange Sulphurs in the Martindale valley.  One was along Island View Road. near Puckle Road,  and the other was by McIntyre Road reservoir.  Both appeared very bright orange/yellow so I would presume they were Orange Sulphurs.

    Also, in the Island View/ McHugh/McIntyre Road corridor I counted 35 Cabbage Whites.

2022 October 13

    Just a day after Jochen Möhr photographed  Thera juniperata in Metchosin (see yesterday’s Invert Alert), one turned up in Saanich.  That’s interesting, because all the books I have consulted (writes Jeremy Tatum) give Juniper as the only larval foodplant.  Juniper is not a very common wild plant here, so presumably the moth uses cultivated garden junipers.

Thera juniperata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

  Hallowe’en is approaching, so maybe it’s appropriate that Ian Cooper is photographing spiders along the Galloping Goose trail:

Zygiella sp. (Ara.: Araneidae)  Ian Cooper

Trogloneta sp. (Ara.: Mysmenidae)  Ian Cooper

Enoplognatha ovata  (Ara.: Theridiidae)  Ian Cooper

Enoplognatha ovata  (Ara.: Theridiidae)  Ian Cooper

Neriene digna (Ara.: Linyphiidae)  Ian Cooper

Philodromus dispar (Ara: Philodromidae)  Ian Cooper

Callobius pictus (Ara.: Amaurobiidae)  Ian Cooper

   A brief butterfly note from Ron Flower:  Today October 13 we went back to the McIntyre reservoir where we saw two,  maybe three sulphurs and many Cabbage Whites  – mostly on the east side of the pond.