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.

2021 June 30

2021 June 30

 

   Ron Flower sends pictures of a Bumble Bee at Goldstream Park and a pair of Sheep Moths at Uplands Park:

 

Bombus vosnesenskii  (Hym.: Apidae)  Ron Flower

 

Sheep Moths Hemileuca eglanterina (Lep.: Saturniidae)  Ron Flower

 

   Jeremy Tatum sends a photograph of a snout moth Hypena californica:

 

Hypena californica (Lep.: Erebidae – Hypeninae)  Jeremy Tatum

 

   Aziza Cooper writes:  Today, June 30, one moth was over the entrance to the Swan Lake Nature House, and five or more Lorquin’s Admirals were along the trails. I also saw four Western Tiger Swallowtails and one Essex Skipper:

 

Female Malacosoma disstria (Lep.: Lasiocampidae)   Aziza Cooper

 

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Aziza Cooper

Butterfly Walk, Sunday July 4

Hello Butterfly Watchers,
We will be having a Butterfly Walk on Sunday, July 4 as described in the VNHS calendar. Covid-19 protocols now allow larger groups, but we should still be careful about physical distancing.
We will 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.
See you on Sunday,
Gordon
Gordon Hart,
Butterfly count coordinator
Victoria Natural History Society
Jeremy Tatum writes:  We are currently having computer problems that make it difficult for is to post photographs on this site.  We are working on the problem and will resume postings  as soon as we have solved the problem.

2021 June 29

2021 June 29

 

   Laurie Tomandl writes:  I just spotted this critter outside my back door in Cordova Bay, just sitting on the baking hot cement in our current 38 degree weather at 7pm.  Is it a British Emerald?

 

  Yes, writes Jeremy Tatum .   Although we do have native emeralds here, this one is indeed the Common Emerald from Britain or Europe.   In the immediate area around Victoria, it is the commonest emerald.  Goodness knows how they got here – but we do have several European moths in the area.

 

Common Emerald Hemithea aestivaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Laurie Tomandl

 

   In addition to 11 Malacosoma californicum Jochen Möhr had the following moths at his Metchosin house this morning:

 

Idaea dimidiata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

 

 

 

Bellura obliqua (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

 

Smerinthus ophthalmica (Lep.: Sphingidae) Jochen Möhr

 

Raphia frater (Lep.:  Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

 

Eupithecia sp. (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

 

2021 June 28

2021 June 28

    Jochen Möhr’s moths from Metchosin this morning:

8 Malacosoma californicum (7f, 1m)

1 Pasiphila rectangulata

1 Spargania magnoliata

1 Tyria jacobaeae

Pasiphila rectangulata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Spargania magnoliata (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jochen Möhr

 

Jochen also sends photographs of a skipper and a damselfly:

Essex Skipper Thymelicus lineola (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Jochen Möhr

Boreal/Northern Bluet  Enallagma boreale/annexum (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)  Jochen Möhr

   Val George writes:   On June 27, I went to Swan Lake to look for Liam’s Black Saddlebags.  There were many dragonflies and damselflies near the lollipop. I counted at least eight species, including two Black Saddlebags. Two moths were on the walls near the entrance to the nature house, a Malacosoma californicum and the one in the photo, Coryphista meadii.

Coryphista meadii (Lep.: Geometridae)  Val George

  On June 26,  Rosemary Jorna photographed this small moth near Kemp Lake.   Identified by Libby Avis as a Cherry Bark Tortricid Enarmonia formosana.   The caterpillars do apparently feed on the bark of cherry and related trees.

 

Enarmonia formosana (Lep.: Tortricidae) Rosemary Jorna

 

Lynda Dowling sends a photograph of a Satyr Anglewing butterfly from her Happy Valley farm, June 28.

Satyr Anglewing Polygonia satyrus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Lynda Dowling

 

Jeremy Tatum writes that several Satyr Anglewings, originating as caterpillars on nettles along Lochside Drive north of Blenkinsop Lake, have been energing as adults in the last few days.

2021 June 27

2021 June 27

 

   Here’s a chrysalis of a Red Admiral from a caterpillar found near Blenkinsop Lake:

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Genevieve St Denis writes:  My son and daughter found this unusual caterpillar in our yard, Gorge area of Victoria – a type of sawfly, likely Elm Sawfly.   [Yes – that’s what it is –  JBT]

Elm Sawfly Cimbex americana (Hym.: Cimbicidae)  Genevieve St Denis

   Aziza Cooper writes:  On June 25 at Mt Tolmie summit there were four Painted Ladies, one Western Tiger Swallowtail and three Lorquin’s Admirals.

 

  On June 26, at Quick’s Bottom, I went to the field halfway along the path between Wilkinson and Markham Roads and found four Ringlets near the fence on the north side. This field is very overgrown with hawthorn.

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Aziza Cooper

Ringlet (aka Large Heath)  Coenonympha tullia (Lep.: Nymphalidae – Satyrinae)  Aziza Cooper

   Jochen Möhr had a nice haul at Metchosin last night:

Pasiphila rectangulata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Male Malacosoma californicum (Lep.: Lasiocampidae)  Jochen Möhr

Female Malacosoma californicum (Lep.: Lasiocampidae)  Jochen Möhr

Lophocampa maculata (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)  Jochen Möhr

Autographa ampla (Lep.: Noctuidae – Plusiinae) Jochen Möhr

   Here’s a White Satin moth from Swan Lake:

White Satin Moth Leucoma salicis (Lep.: Erebidae – Lymantriinae) Jeremy Tatum

   Aziza Cooper sends photographs of two insects  – the first below from from McMicking Point; the second from Cattle Point.   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I don’t  know what they are.  Under each picture I have put my best attempt at their Genus and Family.

Anthrax (Dip.: Bombyliidae)  Aziza Cooper

Ammophila (Hym.: Sphecidae)  Aziza Cooper