2020 July 26

   Warm thanks to Libby Avis,  Annie Pang and Scott Gilmore for continued help with the identification of, respectively, moths, bees and beetles on this site.   Without their help, I could not manage this site.  Jeremy Tatum

   Jochen Möhr’s moths and a beetle from Metchosin this morning:

1 Callizia amorata 

1 Caripeta divisata

1 Eulithis xylina

1 Eupithecia sp.

2 Hesperumia latipennis

1 Hesperumia sulphuraria

1 Lacinipolia strigicollis

1 Leucania farcta

1 Oligocentria pallida

1 Perizoma curvilinea

1 Schizura ipomoeae

1 Scopula quinquelinearia

1 Sicya crocearia 

1 Ypsilopha canariella 

1 Polyphylla crinita

Oligocentria pallida (Lep.: Notodontidae)  Jochen Möhr

Schizura ipomoeae (Lep.: Notodontidae) Jochen Möhr

Furcula scolopendrina (Lep.: Notodontidae) Jochen Möhr

Leucania farcta (Lep.: Noctuidae) Jochen Möhr

Perizoma curvilinea (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr

Scopula quinquelinearia  (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr

Caripeta divisata (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr

June Beetle Polyphylla crinita (Col.: Scarabaeidae) Jochen Möhr

   Here are some shots of two bees photographed by Rosemary Jorna at Muir Creek on July 25:

Bombus flavifrons (Hym.: Apidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Bombus flavifrons (Hym.: Apidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Bombus flavifrons (Hym.: Apidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Bombus (probably bifarius)(Hym.: Apidae) Rosemary Jorna

   Gordon Hart writes from the Highlands:  Last evening, Saturday July 25, we saw the grey Sphinx perelegans on the purple petunias it seems to like. It was gone by the time I set up my camera. I took a walk around with the flash on the camera and a headlamp, and saw many moths on the Buddleia bushes and around the porch light. There was a beautiful Pyrausta perrubralis.

2020 July 25

   Jochen Möhr’s moths from Metchosin this morning:

3 Eulithis xylina

1 Hesperumia latipennis

1 Hesperumia sulphuraria

1 Lacinipolia pensilis

1 Nadata gibbosa 

1 Panthea virginarius

1 Protitame subalbaria

Lacinipolia pensilis (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Protitame subalbaria (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jochen Möhr

Hesperumia sulphuraria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Yesterday, July 24, I saw two large (female) Western Tiger Swallowtails on Buddleia in UVic’s Finnerty Gardens.   I would not normally report sightings of such a usually common butterfly, except that I have seen so few of them this year.  I had almost forgotten how large and spectacular they are.

2020 July 24 afternoon

   Jochen Möhr writes from Metchosin:  I found this large caterpillar crawling in my garage.  I picked it up and got the impression that its bristles are stinging.  

   Jeremy Tatum replies:  Yes indeed its bristles have an effect a bit like stinging nettles.  It affects some people more than others.  It certainly affects me, and apparently Jochen, too.  Viewers who find one are advised not to handle it.

Sheep Moth Hemileuca eglanterina (Lep.: Saturniidae)  Jochen Möhr

   Mike McGrenere writes:  This caterpillar came home with me from Rocky Point on my pack.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  This is not a moth, but is rather the larva of a giant sawfly:

Trichiosoma triangulum (Hym.: Cimbicidae)  Mike McGrenere

2020 July 24 morning

   Jochen Möhr’s moths, and a butterfly, from Metchosin yesterday morning, July 23:

1 Callizzia amorata

1 Choristoneura rosaceana

1 Cyclophora pendulinaria

2 Eulithis xylina

1 Gabriola dyari

1 Hydriomena californiata or marinata

2 Hesperumia latipennis

1 Homorthodes hanhami

1 Lacinipolia cuneata

1 Nadata gibbosa

2 Panthea virginarius

2 Sicya crocearia

1 Smerinthus ophthalmica

Callizzia amorata (Lep.: Uraniidae)  Jochen Möhr

Choristoneura rosaceana (Lep.: Tortricidae)  Jochen Möhr

Cyclophora pendulinaria Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr

Smerinthus ophthalmica (Lep.: Sphingidae)  Jochen Möhr

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

Jochen Möhr’s moths from Metchosin this morning, July 24:

3 Callizzia amorata

4 Eulithis xylina

1 Homorthodes hanhami

1 Lacinipolia strigicollis

1 Nadata gibbosa

3 Panthea virginarius

2 Sicya crocearia

1 Smerinthus ophthalmica

1 Nepytis umbrosaria

Nepytia umbrosaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

2020 July 23 afternoon 

  Jeremy Tatum writes:   A few weeks ago I had the idea that I’d like to post pictures of both sexes of both species of our local Malacosoma, so I reared six caterpillars of each.  Darn it, but all the M. disstria  turned out to be females, so I didn’t get a guaranteed picture of a disstria male.  So, here is my incomplete (and hence not all that useful!) set. (One of the caterpillar photographs is Rosemary’s)

Malacosoma californicum (Lep.: Lasiocampidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Malacosoma disstria (Lep.: Lasiocampidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Female Malacosoma californicum (Lep.: Lasiocampidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Female Malacosoma disstria (Lep.: Lasiocampidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Male Malacosoma californicum (Lep.: Lasiocampidae)  Jeremy Tatum

More tomorrow…