2020 July 1

   This may be Canada Day, but it also seems to be Crab Spider Day, for two separate observers have sent a bunch of photos of Misumena vatia.  This spider lurks in flowers and often takes on the colour of the flower within which it lurks, as in this photograph of one on an Ox-eye Daisy:

Misumena vatia  (Ara.: Thomisidae)  Mr E

   The next one, on Lavender, doesn’t seem to have had much success with any attempt at cryptic coloration.

Misumena vatia  (Ara.: Thomisidae) Richard Rycraft

   The next one is also white on a purple flower – except that it does closely resemble the white central part of the Harvest Brodiaea flower, enough to deceive a very substantial prey.

Misumena vatia  (Ara.: Thomisidae)  Mr E

   I recognized the next spider as a crab spider, but I didn’t think it was M. vatia (writes Jeremy Tatum) until Dr Robb Bennett told me that it is indeed M. vatia – but a male rather than the more familiar female.   Its first pair of legs are remarkably long (part of the left front leg is hidden by a petal).  The spider is missing its second leg on the right hand side.

Male Misumena vatia (Ara.: Thomisidae)  Mr E

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  On June 29 I saw a Pale Tiger Swallowtail nectaring on the Philadelphus bush at the entrance to the Mount Tolmie reservoir – noteworthy only because it was the first one I had seen this year.  On June 30 I saw a Satyr Comma along the Lochside Trail between Lohbrunner’s and Blenkinsop Lake;  I also found another Red Admiral caterpillar on the nettles there.  Today I noticed that the Painted Lady pupa, which was shown on June 24 morning, was showing a lot of colour – next photograph:

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Jeremy Tatum

  After a few hours I noted that the butterfly within was becoming separated from the pupal shell as described by Jochen Möhr in the movie he made last year of the emergence of a Painted Lady butterfly from its chrysalis. This appearance shows that eclosion (emergence) is imminent.  [Biologists please note:  The noun is eclosion;  the verb is eclode.]  Jochen’s movie can be seen in the entry for 2020 January 1 (currently on page 35).  I waited patiently with my camera at the ready.  Then I went to unload my laundry from the washer and put it in the dryer, a process that took three minutes max. When I came back:

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   I didn’t manage to photograph the upperside.  I put the butterfly on the thistles just down the road from the Jeffery Pine on Mount Tolmie, so if you see a pristine fresh Painted Lady there, that’ll be it.

Here’s a young caterpillar of a Pale Tiger Swallowtail:

Pale Tiger Swallowtail Papilio eurymedon (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Here’s a long-horned beetle photographed by Mr E, and kindly identified by Scott Gilmore as Lepturopsis dolorosa:

Lepturopsis dolorosa (Col.:  Cerambycidae)  Mr E

   Mark Wynja writes:  On the afternoon of Sunday June 28th Mike Yip and I found a Roadside Skipper and a Dun Skipper.  Area accessed by NW Bay Logging Road in Nanoose. Follow the signs to Rhododendron Lake;  they were 300 m past the 5 km sign on that road.  These logging roads are open until further notice on weekends from 8am to 6pm.

Roadside Skipper Amblyscirtes vialis (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Mark Wynja

Here’s a caterpillar found on Ninebark at Swan Lake today:

Egira crucialis (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Jeremy Tatum

2020 June 30

   Rosemary Jorna sends photographs of a Clodius Parnassian taken by Kate Woods on Matterhorn, Shirley, June 29.

Clodius Parnassian Parnassius clodius (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Kate Woods

Clodius Parnassian Parnassius clodius (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Kate Woods

   Rosemary Jorna photographed a beetle on the Matterhorn, Shirley, June 29.  The beetle had better be careful  –  I think I see a crab spider just beneath it.

Lepturobosca chrysocoma (Col.: Cerambycidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Annie Pang is not the only person to have a wasp nest at her home.  I had one on my balcony at the same time.  But, instead of their making a large external paper nest as Annie’s wasps did (see June 21), mine were in a hole in the structure of the building; this was rather vulgar of them.   My Strata Council called in the exterminator, and the only photographs I was able to get were of one that had been exterminated, which enabled Claudia Copley to identify it as Vespula vulgaris.   As I said, rather vulgar.

Vespula vulgaris  (Hym.: Vespidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Vespula vulgaris  (Hym.: Vespidae)  Jeremy Tatum

  On June 28 we showed a photograph of a ladybird beetle from Mr E which we were not confident in naming.  Today we show a ladybird beetle photographed on Matterhorn, Shirley, by Rosemary Jorna on June 29.  Although it looks somewhat like Mr E’s June 28 beetle, this time Scott Gilmore feels confident in labelling it as Coccinella trifasciata, and I agree (Jeremy Tatum).  Although the first of the three fascia is broken, the jutting black rectangle on the pronotum is quite distinctive, and also the fascia are outlined in yellow.

Coccinella trifasciata (Col.: Coccinellidae) Rosemary Jorna

2020 June 29 afternoon

   Jeremy Tatum sends a photograph of a Red Admiral caterpillar:

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

   Question:  Is a slime mould an invertebrate in the sense used in this site, and hence is a photograph of one eligible for inclusion?  A good lawyer could argue either way  (they are not plants, they are not fungi, they don’t have a backbone), but in any case I think viewers will agree that Mr E’s photographs of one are too interesting to waste away unseen by anyone.

Wolf’s Milk Slime Lycogala epidendrum (Liceales: Tubiferaceae)  Mr E

Wolf’s Milk Slime Lycogala epidendrum (Liceales: Tubiferaceae)  Mr E

Wolf’s Milk Slime Lycogala epidendrum (Liceales: Tubiferaceae)  Mr E

2020 June 29 morning

   Ron Flower sends photographs of a Satyr Comma from Cowichan Station, and a Dun Skipper on the way to Kinsol Trestle.

Satyr Comma Polygonia satyrus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Ron Flower

Dun Skipper Euphyes vestris (Lep.: Hesperiidae)   Ron Flower

   Jeff Gaskin tells us that Kirsten Mills saw a Milbert’s Tortoiseshell on the top of Mount Tolmie shortly before 5:00 pm yesterday, June 28.  Jeremy Tatum was on Mount Tolmie at 6:30 pm and he saw two Painted Ladies near the Jeffery Pine;  nothing on the reservoir.

Val George writes:  I took this photo of a Western Red Damsel Amphiagrion abbreviatum, yesterday, June 28, at Island View Park.

Western Red Damsel Amphiagrion abbreviatum (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)  Val George

Jochen Möhr’s moths at Metchosin  this morning:

1 Callizzia amorata

1 Eupithecia sp.

1 Protitame subalbaria

1 Tyria jacobaeae

2020 June 28

    A Polyphemus Moth made it on to the front page of the Times-Colonist today.

Jeremy Tatum writes:  Yesterday I saw  Synanthedon bibioniformis  on a rose bush at Island View Beach.  This is one of the clearwing moths (Sesiidae), which I see only rarely and find so exciting whenever I see one.

A House Wren in Nanoose has submitted (via Mike Yip) several invertebrates for identification.  If any  viewers can help this bird, please let us know.

House Wren and spider.       Mike Yip

House Wren and Eratigena spider.       Mike Yip

House Wren and spider.       Mike Yip

House Wren and orthopteran         Mike Yip

House Wren and moth (I think noctuid) caterpillar.     Mike Yip

   Mike Yip adds interesting comments on the question of Ron Flower’s Parnassian butterfly [see May 27, and Val George’s comments on June 25.]:

Regarding the smintheus vs clodius question, there is no doubt that it is a clodius. If you examine Ron’s photo closely you will see that the white on the antenna is not clearly defined because it is the reflection of the light on the ridges of the antenna. Compare with the photo (shown below) that I took in 2014. The white is clearly and sharply demarcated from the black.

Parnassius smintheus (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Mike Yip

Ron:  I think you’ll have to go and get more parnassius photos to clinch the matter! (Jeremy Tatum)

Mr E sends an easy beetle, a difficult beetle and a difficult bug.  The easy beetle is Lepturobosca chrysocoma.  (Well, fairly easy  – it is subject to taxonomic name-changes.  Thus, it has appeared earlier in this site under the name Cosmosalia chrysocoma.)

Lepturobosca chrysocoma (Col.: Cerambycidae)   Mr E

Lepturobosca chrysocoma (Col.: Cerambycidae)   Mr E

(“chrysocoma” means “golden hair”)

   The beetle below is obviously a ladybird beetle (Coccinellidae).  One would think that identification would be easy, but there are several species, many of which are highly variable, and we can’t quite place this one with full confidence:

Unidentified ladybird beetle (Col.: Coccinellidae)   Mr E

Unidentified bug (Hem.:  possibly Lygaeidae?)  Mr E

Jody Wells sends photographs of two dragonflies from Martindale Valley:

Common Whitetail Plathemis lydia (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Jody Wells

Eight-spotted Skimmer Libellula forensis (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Jody Wells

   Jochen Möhr’s moths from Metchosin this morning:

Iridopsis emasculatum (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Anavitrinella pampinaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

[Jeremy Tatum writes:  Thanks to Libby Avis for identifying the above moth, which I had earlier labelled incorrectly.]

Hydriomena speciosata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr