2020 October 4 afternoon

   (Unfortunately, because of a technical hitch, this was not posted until the morning of of October 5.)

   Jeff Gaskin reports the sighting of an unidentified nymphalid butterfly (a Lady or a Red Admiral) this afternoon at 2:30 pm on Lampson Street at Bewdley Street in Esquimalt.  Jeff and Jeremy Tatum are both seeing a few Cabbage Whites still.

   Ian Cooper sends two more photographs from the Galloping Goose Trail near the 9 km marker. First, a caterpillar (green form) of the Large Yellow Underwing moth.

Noctua pronuba (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Ian Cooper

   Next, this magnificent millipede.   We have been calling this “Probably Eurymerodesmidae”, but we are sure there must be someone out there who knows exactly what it is.  Do let us know!  (jtatum at uvic dot ca)

Flat-backed millipede (Polydesmida: probably Eurymerodesmidae)   Ian Cooper

More tomorrow…

2020 October 4 morning

   A spider photographed by Ian Cooper, and identified by Dr Robb Bennett as an immature male Clubiona sp.:

Clubiona sp. (Ara.: Clubionidae)  Ian Cooper

   Jochen Möhr writes from Metchosin that he photographed a ” funny creature, which looks like a caddis fly larva – but on dry land at 180m above sea level??? “.   Yes, indeed, writes Jeremy Tatum, it does indeed look very like a caddisfly larva, and I was equally puzzled  myself when I first saw one like this.  We’d need to see the adult insect to be certain of the identification, but I believe it is the tineid moth Phereoeca uterella:

Probably Phereoeca uterella (Lep.: Tineidae)  Jochen Möhr

2020 October 3 afternoon

   Rosemary Jorna writes:  We hiked through the Sooke hills from Harbourview to the YMCA Camp Thunderbird. We did not see a variety of insects but there were many snail eating Scaphinotus angusticollis on the trail, at least 12 in the last 3 kilometres.   Over the last couple of weeks, I seem to see one or two every time I am out but they move too fast to photograph. Today was different –  several posed for the camera but as they all look the same I am only sending a shot of one eating the remains of a banana slug.

Snail-eating beetle Scaphinotus angusticollis (Col.: Carabidae) Rosemary Jorna

      Here are two slugs photographed by Ian Cooper:

Limax maximus (Pul.: Limacidae)  Ian Cooper

Ariolimax columbianus (Pul.: Arionidae)  Ian Cooper

2020 October 3 morning

   Here’s a spider photographed by Ian Cooper.  Dr Robb Bennett says it’s a philodromid crab spider in the Philodromus/Rhysodromus species group.

Running crab spider (Ara.: Philodromidae)  Ian Cooper

   A few more photographs by Ian Cooper from the Galloping Goose Trail:

Banana Slug Ariolimax columbianus (Pul.: Arionidae)  Ian Cooper

Snail-eating beetle Scaphinotus angusticollis (Col.: Carabidae) with earthworm.  Ian Cooper

Unknown bug (Hemiptera)  Ian Cooper

Unknown slug. Possibly Arion rufus (Pul.: Arionidae) Ian Cooper

Probably Oniscus asellus (Isopoda: Oniscidae) with several Collembola.  Ian Cooper

   There are still a few bees around.  Here are two from the Kemp Lake area, photographed by Rosemary Jorna.

Bombus vosnesenskii (Hym.: Apidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Unkown bumble bee Bombus sp. (Hym.: Apidae) Rosemary Jorna

Unkown bumble bee Bombus sp. (Hym.: Apidae) Rosemary Jorna

   Rosemary also sends photographs of a spider and of a tortricid moth:

Araneus diadematus (Ara.: Araneidae)  Rosemary Jorna

We originally labelled the moth below as Acleris gloverana.  We are most grateful to Dr Jason Dombrowskie for pointing out that it is in fact A. variegana.

Acleris variegana (Lep.: Tortricidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Acleris variegana (Lep.: Tortricidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   Gordon Hart writes: We visited East Sooke Park on Thursday, October 1. It was a bit late in the day, and we did not see many birds, but at Aylard Farm we saw one Variegated Meadowhawk, Sympetrum corruptum, which is apparently one of 16 species of dragonflies in North America that migrate to some degree. ( See http://www.migratorydragonflypartnership.org/index/identificationGuides ) .

Variegated Meadowhawk, Sympetrum corruptum (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Gordon Hart

2020 October 2 morning

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  A Painted Lady was near the Jeffrey Pine at the summit of Mount Tolmie, Wednesday September 30  at 4:30 p.m.

Jochen Möhr writes from Metchosin on Thursday, October 1:  While I was puttering in the garden, a freshly ecloded Painted Lady flew up and settled on a warm rock, allowing me to go inside, wash my hands, retrieve the camera and get a shot of her with the telelens at maximum extension.  Kind of her, right?

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Jochen Möhr

   Ian Cooper  sends photographs of small insects – challenging to identify – from the Galloping Goose Trail:

Thrips (Thysanoptera)  Ian Cooper

Thrips (Thysanoptera: probably Thripidae)

Bug (Hem:  maybe Lygaeidae or Anthocoridae)  Ian Cooper

Dirt-coloured Seed Bug Raglius alboacuminatus (Hem.:  Rhyparochromidae)

  Ian Cooper

Identified by Libby Avis.