2022 September 3 morning

September Butterfly Walk

Message from Gordon Hart

Hello Butterfly Watchers,

The last butterfly walk of the year is scheduled for Sunday, September 4. 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, we will decide on a destination from there.

You can review Vancouver Island butterflies at Val George’s new website : https://vancouverislandbutterflies.com/

Currently, the forecast does not look promising, but if it brightens up by midday, the walk will likely go ahead.

Gordon Hart,

Butterfly Count Coordinator

Victoria Natural History Society

   Marie O’Shaughnessy photographed these two butterflies in Uplands Park in the last week of August.

Cabbage White Pieris rapae (Lep.: Pieridae)   Marie O’Shaughnessy

Woodland Skipper Ochlodes sylvanoides  (Lep.: Hesperiidae)

Marie O’Shaughnessy

Jeff Gaskin writes:  I was at McIntyre reservoir looking again for the Orange Sulphur yesterday, September 2nd.  I didn’t find it, but I did see a Common Green Darner and two Variegated Meadowhawks.  The Darner was close to shore on the reservoir while the two Meadowhawks were seen close together in the scrub that grows along the west side. The only other dragonflies I saw were a few Blue-eyed Darners.

[Jeremy Tatum inserts:  I was nearby on Martindale Road, where I saw a Black Saddlebags.]

Jeff continues:  I also counted the Cabbage Whites in the cabbage patch along Island View Road and came up with 120.  There were also 3 or 4 Woodland Skippers at McIntyre reservoir.

Jeff continues:  Late on September 2, a Lorquin’s Admiral flew through my mother’s back yard while I was mowing the lawn. She lives in the Burnside/Gorge neighbourhood.  Also, Kirsten Mills just told me that she saw a Grey Hairstreak amongst the bedding plants outside Hillside Centre also September 2.

2022 September 2 evening

     Some spiders and a bee recently photographed by Ian Cooper.  Thanks to Dr Robb Bennett for confirming Ian’s identification of the spiders, and to Steven Roias for identifying the bee.

Cybaeus signifer (Ara.: Cybaeidae)  Ian Cooper

Araneus diadematus (Ara.: Araneidae)  Ian Cooper

Probably Neriene sp. (Ara.: Linyphiidae)  Ian Cooper

Megachile (probably perihirta)  (Hym.: Megachilidae)  Ian Cooper

The Eyed Hawk Moth caterpillar, which has been shown a few times since it was quite small, is now much bigger.  It will soon be as large as my middle finger.

Smerinthus ophthalmica (Lep.: Sphingidae)  Jeremy Tatum

More tomorrow morning…

2022 September 2 morning

    Jochen Möhr sends a photograph, obtained in Metchosin of a flutter fly yesterday:

Flutter fly Toxonevra muliebris (Dip.:  Pallopteridae)  Jochen Möhr

The genus is sometimes spelled Toxoneura, and the fly has also been listed in the genus Palloptera, but the currently preferred scientific name and spelling are as given in the caption under the photograph.   This is a European species only recently recognized in British Columbia.  The history and list of records in British Columbia are given in Cannings and Gibson JESBC 116, 64-68 (2009).  The first British Columbia record was in 2016. To the list in Cannings and Gibson, we can add one more (in addition to the record here), namely one was photographed in Metchosin, also by Jochen, 2019 July 26, shown on this Invertebrate Alert Website for that date.

Cheryl Hoyle sends photographs of two flies from View Royal, August 30.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  I cannot be 100 percent sure of their identifications, but I believe there is a fairly high probability that I have labelled them correctly.

Phaonia (possibly pallida) (Dip.: Anthomyiidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

(Placed by some authors in Muscidae)

Anthrax sp. (Dip.: Bombyliidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

Cheryl  shows that ripe figs can be a good attractant for moths and other insects.  We identify only the largest moth in each photograph.

Noctua pronuba (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

Catocala (probably aholibah) (Lep.: Erebidae – Erebinae)    Cheryl Hoyle

  Here are more photographs by Ian Cooper – taken in the middle of the night.   The first is a nematoceran fly – possibly but not certainly a chironomid.  If any viewer can help, please let us know.

Unknown (Dip. –  Nematocera)  Ian Cooper

Next, two unidentified moth caterpillars.

Unknown (Lep.: Geometridae)  Ian Cooper

Unknown (Lep.)  Ian Cooper

2022 September 1

    There are few butterflies around now – mostly Cabbage Whites and Woodland Skippers. Here’s a Woodland Skipper photographed by Aziza Cooper at Fort Rodd Hill today, September 1.

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

   Val George writes: Every morning for the past week there have been one or two – probably the same individuals – of these Drepanulatrix moths on the wall of my Oak Bay house.

   Drepanulatrix is a difficult genus including several species for which the variation within a species sometimes seems to be greater than the variation between species.  Libby Avis and Jeremy Tatum think that Val’s moth most closely resembles D. secundaria.

Drepanulatrix (probably secundaria) (Lep.: Geometridae)  Val George

2022 August 31 evening

    Jeff Gaskin writes:  Today, August 31, Kirsten Mills just found a late Western Tiger Swallowtail in Browning Park.  This is a small park near Hillside Centre.  Jeff adds:  I’m pretty sure I saw a Black Saddlebags dragonfly on the Galloping Goose trail in Colwood on August 26.  It was seen on the trail between Aldeane Avenue or the entrance to Royal Roads University and Ocean Boulevard.  Also, at the pond at the end of Fisher’s Trail today, August 31, there were a number of Blue-eyed Darners and one or two Paddle-tailed Darners.

Ian Cooper writes: Here are a few more classic pollinators, all photographed within the last couple of weeks along the Galloping Goose trail.

Honey Bee  Apis mellifera (Hym.: Apidae) on wild spearmint.  Ian Cooper

 European Paper Wasp Polistes dominula (Hym.: Vespidae) on Queen Anne’s Lace.

Ian Cooper

Bald-faced hornet  Dolichovespula maculata (Hym.: Vespidae) on Snowberry.

   Ian Cooper

Woodland Skipper – Ochlodes sylvanoides (Lep.: Hesperiidae) on wild spearmint.

Ian Cooper

Megachile (possibly perihirta)  (Hym.:Megachilidae) on Lathyrus.  Ian Cooper