2020 February 15 afternoon

   Jochen Möhr photographed another Eupithecia annulata/olivacea in Metchosin this morning.  He made two colour-renderings of it in the hope that this may help with the identification.  Jeremy Tatum writes that he thinks it looks more like annulata than olivacea, but seeing it this early in the year suggests that olivacea is more likely.  I think we’ll  just have to label this as another either/or.

Eupithecia annulata/olivacea (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Eupithecia annulata/olivacea (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

   Libby Avis writes:  We stopped at the Buckley Bay rest stop yesterday on the way to Courtenay, and we found six Egira hiemalis. (I think they prefer a drier habitat that we get here), one Hypena californica and an undetermined Eupithecia.

2020 February 15 morning

   Libby Avis writes from Port Alberni:  We were having coffee on February 13 in Quality Foods in Qualicum and found a Two-spotted Ladybird crawling up the inside of the window. We rescued it, brought it home to photograph and let it go. We hope it will survive if it doesn’t turn cold again, but it seems very early for it to be out of hibernation. I don’t know whether it got into Quality on someone’s coat  or if it emerged from a plant or the produce section! Anyway, I think they’re fairly common in BC but it ‘s only the second time that we’ve seen one; the other one was also in Qualicum, but later in the year – June 30th 2018. The earliest date in the Invert Alert index is May 10th.

Two-spotted Ladybird Adalia bipunctata (Col,: Coccinellidae)  Libby Avis

2020 February 13

•    Jochen  Möhr writes from Metchosin:  After a hiatus from January  6 to yesterday, February 12, finally some moths at the light.  There were actually five individuals.
•    Jochen originally suggested that these are Eupithecia olivacea, but, writes Jeremy Tatum, I wrote that they were probably E. annulata.  However, these two species are more similar than I had realized, and, based on their early appearance, Jochen’s original identification is more likely to be right.  Literature suggests that olivacea appears from early March, but annulata usually waits until April.  Apologies to Jochen!

Eupithecia (probably olivacea)   (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Eupithecia (probably olivacea)   (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhrr

Eupithecia (probably olivacea)   (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

2020 February 9

   Gordon Hart writes:  I was surprised to see a Water Strider, Gerridae sp., on a flooded area at Maber Flats on Friday, February 7. It was about 6 ^oC, so I would have thought it was too cold for large bugs. I have attached a photo.

Water Strider (Hem.: Gerridae)  Gordon Hart

 

2020 February 1

   Mr E sends a photograph of a whitefly  –   a bug of the Family Aleyrodidae  –   from Elk Lake, Janury 26.

Whitefly  (Hem.: Aleyrodidae)   Mr E