2021 March 28

   So called “pussy willow” catkins at this time of year are good places to see nectar-seeking insects.  Rosemary Jorna sends a March 25 photograph of a pussy willow twig from near Parkinson Creek on the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail, with a variety of flies and bees on it.  The most obvious fly, on the right just below centre, is a tachinid.  I see two more tachinids, and at least one bee.  It is often exciting to go out at night with a strong flashlight to see moths nectaring at pussy willows catkins.

In addition to these flies at Parkington Creek on March 25, Rosemary also saw a Mourning Cloak butterfly there.

“Pussy willow” catkins with flies and bee   Rosemary Jorna

   Shown below are two images of a tachinid fly.  Tachinid maggots develop inside other insects, such as the caterpillars of butterflies and moths.  Many adult tachinids can be recognized as such by their bristly abdomens.

Tachinid fly (Dip.: Tachinidae)   Rosemary Jorna

Tachinid fly (Dip.: Tachinidae)   Rosemary Jorna

   I have to admit, continues Jeremy, that flies are not among my favorite insects, tachinids in particular being rather low down in the scale of insects that I find attractive.  Syrphid flies (known as hover flies or flower flies) are exceptional, and I think I am not alone in finding some of them to be quite attractive as flies go.  Below is a syrphid, paying attention to its personal hygiene, keeping its eyes clean.  It was a dead heat between Jeremy Gatten and Jeff Skevington, both of whom immediately identified it as Sericomya chalcopyga.  Jeremy G even came up with an English name:  Western Pond Fly.

Sericomyia chalcopyga (Dip.: Syrphidae)   Rosemary Jorna

   And here is another dipteran, photographed by Ian Cooper.  It stumped me, writes Jeremy Tatum, but we thank Dr Rob Cannings for confirming Ian’s original identification as a non-biting midge of the Family Chironomidae.  Males often have elaborate plumed antennae;  this one is a female.

Female non-biting midge (Dip.: Chironomidae)  Ian Cooper

Female non-biting midge (Dip.: Chironomidae)  Ian Cooper

Jeremy Tatum writes:  Egira crucialis and E. simplex  are two moths of springtime that are often quite difficult to distinguish.  However, although the adults are confusingly similar, the final instar caterpillars are very different.  The moth below emerged from its pupa this morning, and since it was reared from a caterpillar (feeding on Ocean Spray), we have no doubt that it is Egira crucialis.

Egira crucialis (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Jeremy Tatum

2021 March 27 afternoon

   Rosemary Jorna sends pictures of flies from the Kemp Lake area.   She points out that the first two are the same species that she photographed last year and which we identified then as:

                          Certainly Empididae    Probably Empis    Possibly  Empis barbatoides.

She says they put her off her dinner, and she’s glad they aren’t her size.

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  The third fly, in its actual size, would more likely put me off my dinner than the empidids.   I don’t know exactly what it is, although I think it is most likely one of the Calliphoridae.

Probably Empis (Dip.: Empididae)  Rosemary Jorna

Probably Empis (Dip.: Empididae)  Rosemary Jorna

Diptera, probably Calliphoridae     Rosemary Jorna

   Ian Cooper has been continuing wandering, on bicycle, along the Galloping Goose Trail in the middle of the night.  He photographed these creatures in the dead of night.  I don’t think any of us would like to meet them if they were our size.

Callobius pictus (Ara.: Amaurobiidae) Ian Cooper

Unidentified sheetweb spider (Ara.: Linyphiidae)  Ian Cooper

Unidentified sheetweb spider (Ara.: Linyphiidae)  Ian Cooper

Eratigena (probably duellica) (Ara: Agelenidae)   Ian Cooper

Flat-backed Millepede (Polydesmida:  Eurymerodesmidae) Ian Coope

     Almost as difficult as identifying millepedes is deciding how to spell them.  Millipede or millepede?  I can think of convincing arguments to support either spelling.  After arguing with myself for a while, I persuaded myself that we can make finer use of the English language if we distinguish between “milli” to mean a thousandth part of, as in millimetre, and “mille” if we mean a thousand, as in millepede.   To use the same spelling for both uses blurs its meaning and weakens our language.

2021 March 27 morning

Butterflies!

   Kirsten Mills writes:  Yesterday, March 26, Jeff Gaskin and I were at Somenos Marsh. We were walking about 50 metres from the parking lot when we saw a Mourning Cloak. It flew by too quickly to get a photo. This was my first non Cabbage White butterfly and Jeff’s first butterfly of the year.

  Gordon Hart writes:  Yesterday, Friday, March 26, brought a first of the year Satyr Comma (I think). I have attached photos of it and an Enchoria lacteata, which has been flying around the heather for a couple of days. Looking back in the Invertebrate Alert, it seems that the first butterflies were quite a bit earlier last year.

   Jeremy Tatum writes:   We all know how difficult the commas can be, but I agree that Gordon’s butterfly is a Satyr Comma.  If anyone thinks otherwise, I’m sure you’ll let us know!  Last year, the first butterfly of the year was a Cabbage White on March 25. This year we have had Cabbage Whites on February 9, March 5 and March 16, although the first two of these were found indoors and were doubtless premature emergences because of artificial warmth.  Among the non Cabbage Whites last year, Satyr Commas  and California Tortoiseshells were reported from March 11 (plus a possible but unconfirmed California Tortoiseshell on February 20).  Mourning Cloaks were first seen on March 16.

Satyr Comma Polygonia satyrus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Gordon Hart

Enchoria lacteata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Gordon Hart

2021 March 26

   For me (writes Jeremy Tatum) one of the more interesting of the creatures that Ian Cooper has been photographing in recent days (and nights!) is the animal below.  I was sure that it was the caterpillar of a small moth, but I simply could not figure out what Family it was.  Well, it sure fooled me – it is not a moth caterpillar after all.  Dr David Wagner,  Charlene Wood and Ian himself have all identified it as the larva of a soldier beetle (Cantharidae).  This one was photograhed by Ian on lichens on a tree trunk.   This is the second interesting beetle larva to appear on these pages this week.  See also March 24 morning.

Soldier beetle larva  (Col.: Cantharidae)  Ian Cooper

   The animal below is probably the larva of a crane fly – probably Tipula paludosa. Also seen in the photograph are several tiny snails.  The larger of them, with the columnar shells, are probably Lauria cylindracea.  The smaller ones are probably of a different family.

Probably Tipula paludosa (Dip.: Tipulidae)   Ian Cooper

Unknown earthworm   (Oligochaeta)  Ian Cooper

Dark-bodied Glass Snail Oxychilus draparnaudi (Pul.: Daubebariidae ) Ian Cooper

Upper, probably Lauria cylindracea (Pul.: Lauriidae)

Lower – unknown!      Ian Cooper

   The snail below has had several English names, one of which is Leopard Slug – from the colour form shown below, a form that Ian says he doesn’t see very often.

Limax maximus (Pul.: Limacidae)   Ian Cooper

Robust Lancetooth Snail – Haplotrema vancouverense (Pul.: Haplotrematidae.) Ian Cooper

Arion distinctus (Ara.: Arionidae)  Ian Cooper

Sheetweb spider (Ara.: Linyphiidae)   Ian Cooper

Ptenothrix sp. (Coll.: Symphypleona,  Dicyrtomidae)  Ian Cooper

2021 March 25

   Ron Flower writes:   About time  – I just saw our first butterfly today,  a Cabbage White in our yard in Royal Oak.