2021 August 5 morning

    Colias alert!   From Ron Flower:   On Wednesday August  4 we went to McIntyre reservoir (McIntyre Road, Central Saanich) around 1:00 pm. and saw a Sulphur butterfly, probably an Orange. Unfortunately we could not catch up with it, so no photo. Nothing like chasing through the Teasel with shorts on!

Aziza Cooper sends photographs of two moths from the Swan Lake Nature House, August 3.   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Hey!  I think that first one is the same individual that I photographed and posted yesterday!

Leucania sp.(probably farcta or oregona) (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Aziza Cooper

Next, a nice plusiine – a new one for this site.

Plusia nichollae (Lep.: Noctuidae – Plusiinae)  Aziza Cooper

Jeremy Tatum writes that the Satyr Comma caterpillar shown on July 29 has now pupated:

Satyr Comma Polygonia satyrus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Bryan Gates sends a photograph of a male Eight-spotted Skimmer from Highland Pacific Golf Course, August 4.  For a female, see tomorrow’s posting.

Male Eight-spotted Skimmer Libellula forensis (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Bryan Gates

2021 August 4 morning

    Jochen Möhr writes from Metchosin:  This morning one lonely moth,  [Shown below]  Libby Avis writes:  Mesapamea secalis. Introduced species from a few years ago, now becoming increasingly common. Extremely variable in markings.

Mesapamea sicalis (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

   Jeremy Tatum writes:   This morning I visited the Nature Houses at Goldstream Park and at Swan Lake.  At Goldstream, I found this moth:

Sabulodes aegrotata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

   At Swan Lake I found these two.  The first is the colour form of Coryphista meadii  that is not difficult to distinguish from Triphosa haesitata!

Coryphists meadii (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

Leucania sp.(probably farcta or oregona) (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

2021 August 3 afternoon

    On August 1, Aziza Cooper found and photographed two different Catocala species both at the Swan Lake Nature House.   Catocalas are exciting at the best of times, but to find two of them at the same time and place is particularly thrilling.  Unfortunately, although these are large and exciting moths, it is a large genus, and the several species are hard to identify, even if you manage to see the colourful hind wings that Catocalas have.  Thanks to Libby Avis for her efforts in identifying them.  Libby writes:

 Brown one looks like C. aholibah to me. Associated with oaks.

 Grey one – several options. Does she have a shot showing even a part of the underwing? Looks as if it might be C. relicta which is the only one which has a black and white underwing. Other options would all have red & black underwings  – could be unijuga or semirelicta or even something else.

Catocala aholibah (Lep.: Erebidae – Erebinae) Aziza Cooper

Catocala (probably relicta) (Lep.: Erebidae – Erebinae)  Aziza Cooper

   Most of us, when we visit Cowichan Station, walk along the track north away from Victoria, but today Ron and Nora Flower walked towards Victoria and was rewarded with around six to eight Mylitta Crescents. Starting at the little Cowichan Station House we walked left towards Victoria and found one right away.  Most of them were found about 50 metres past the W train sign. 

Mylitta Crescent Phyciodes mylitta (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Ron Flower

Mylitta Crescent Phyciodes mylitta (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Ron Flower

2021 August 3 morning

    Val George sends a photograph of an Essex Skipper, which clearly shows the shape of the tips of the antennae, which can be compared with yesterday’s photographs of the Woodland Skipper.

Essex Skipper Thymelicus lineola (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Val  George

   Here are some photographs by Aziza Cooper from the VHNS Butterfly Walk at Royal Roads University on August 1.

Western Tiger Swallowtail Papilio rutulus (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Aziza Cooper

Western Tiger Swallowtail Papilio rutulus (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Aziza Cooper

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

Sand Wasp Bembix sp.  (Hym.:  Crabronidae)  Aziza Cooper

2021 August 2

   In spite of a great paucity of butterflies this year and especially the last week or so, and in spite of the oppressive heat and smoky atmosphere, six enthusiastic butterfly-watchers took part in the VNHS August Butterfly Walk yesterday.  We chose to go to the Royal Roads University campus, with the target species being the Pine White.  Even with few butterflies, it was really interesting to walk around the magnificent gardens there.   There were dozens of Woodland Skippers, especially on Lavendar blossom.  There were, of course, Cabbage Whites, and there was a magnificent Western Tiger Swallowtail, which got several cameras a-clicking.   And near the end of the walk, just when we were despairing of seeing the target species, we found a male Pine White nectaring at ground level to give us all a good look.

Apart from butterflies, one of the more exciting things was a nest of the White-faced Hornet.  Strictly speaking, I suppose, since it is Dolichovespula and not Vespa, I suppose we should call it a wasp rather than a hornet.  Their sting is reputed to be very painful, but, as long as you leave them and their nest alone, they are not a particularly aggressive insect.

White-faced Hornet Dolichovespula maculata (Hym.: Vespidae)  Gordon Hart

There was a young man from Tralee

Who was stung on the nose by a wasp.

When asked : “Does it hurt?”

He replied: “No it doesn’t –

It’s a good thing it wasn’t a hornet.”

W.S.Gilbert

Here are three more photographs from Gordon Hart taken during the walk.  Gordon writes:  This is a Leafcutter Bee, Megachile sp., but I can’t go further than that. There are 130 -140 North American species plus some imports from Europe, and they are difficult to key out to species without having more structural details. I think it is a female if I counted the antenna segments correctly, but I don’t know what the back end is supposed to look like. Apparently, they often assume that posture with the abdomen raised. The large head is to accommodate the large mandibles. A lot of them specialize on flowers of the aster family or legumes. This was on a large daisy which is in the aster family.

Leafcutter bee Megachile sp. (Hym.: Megachilidae)  Gordon Hart

Western Tiger Swallowtail Papilio rutulus (Lep.: Papilionidae)
Honey Bee Apis mellifera (Hym.: Apidae)

Gordon Hart

Woodland Skipper Ochlodes sylvanoides (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Gordon Hart

Jochen Möhr also sent a photograph of a Woodland Skipper from Metchosin.  Both photographs show the hook at the end of the tip of the antenna.  It is probably too late in the season to get a good close-up photograph of the tip of the antenna of an Essex Skipper, but it would doubtless be found that it lacks the hook seen in the Woodland Skipper.

Woodland Skipper Ochlodes sylvanoides (Lep.: Hesperiidae) Jochen Möhr

Also from Jochen, three moths:

Eupithecia unicolor (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Silver-spotted Tiger Moth Lophocampa argentata (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)

Jochen Möhr

Soothsayer Graphiphora augur (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Ron Flower sends this picture of a hawk moth from the Highlands, June 17.  Strictly this is a bit late for inclusion in the Invertebrate “Alert” – but hawk moths are rather special, and this one is one of our less common hawk moths, and I couldn’t resist.  Jochen Moehr reminds us that he recorded a hawk moth of the same species in Metchosin on the previous day, June 16 (see the Invert Alert for that date).  We leave it to viewers to speculate on how or why!

Paonias excaecata (Lep.: Sphingidae)  Ron Flower

Before we close – we have learned of the latest victim of Political Correctness.  Those who make it their business to be offended apparently find that the name Gypsy Moth is offensive, and the moth is to be given a new name (not yet chosen).