2019 September 29

   Jochen Möhr sends photographs, taken yesterday in Metchosin, of three individuals of the large geometrid moth Ennomos magnaria.

Ennomos magnaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Ennomos magnaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Ennomos magnaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Jochen’s moths from Metchosin this morning, no photographs taken:

1 Dryotype opina

5 Ennomos magnaria

1 Noctua pronuba

8 Pleromelloida cinerea

1 Schizura ipomoeae

1 Sunira decipiens

2 Tetracis jubararia/pallulata

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  On September 26, Kirsten Mills tells me that she saw a California Tortoiseshell and two Painted Ladies on the concrete reservoir on Mount Tolmie.  She was there just before 5 p.m.

   Jeremy Tatum saw two Cabbage Whites on Anchorage Road, Esquimalt, today, September 28.

2019 September 27

   Ron Flower writes:  Yesterday, September 26, we photographed two moths at McIntyre Reservoir and a wasp at Outerbridge Park.

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  The moths are easy – but the ichneumonid wasp isn’t!  It bears more than a passing resemblance to Limonethe mauratur.  It’s even possible that that’s what it is.

Autographa californica (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Ron Flower

Noctua pronuba (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Ron Flower

Probably Limonethe maurator (Hym.:  Ichneumonidae)  Ron Flower

Jochen Möhr’s moths from Metchosin this morning:

2 Drepanulatrix sp.

5 Ennomos magnaria

1 Noctua pronuba

1 Plemyria georgii

6 Pleromelloida cinerea

1 Sunira decipiens

1 Schizura ipomoeae

1 Tetracis sp.

   Not all moths are as easy to identify as Ron’s  two above.  While the first of Jochen’s below is certainly Plemyria georgii, the second is more difficult.  It is Drepanulatrix  – but which one?  It could be D. secundaria, but, writes Jeremy Tatum, I’m going to go for  Drepanulatrix monicaria.

Plemyria georgii (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Drepanulatrix (probably monicaria)  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

   And if Drepanularix is tricky,  Eupithecia is downright hard!  Jeremy Tatum believes that the one below is probably Eupithecia annulata.

Eupithecia (probably annulata) (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

2019 September 26

   Jochen Möhr’s moths from Metchosin this morning:

1 Drepanulatrix sp.

1 Nadata gibbosa

5 Pleromelloida cinerea

1 Lithomoia germana

1 Sunira decipiens

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  In the original description of the moth below I had misidentified it as a probable Schizura ipomoeae.  Glad to have Libby Avis back from a short trip – she has corrected the error of my ways!  I was even in the wrong Family – it is a noctuid, not a notodontid.  Libby writes: It is Lithomoia germana, an unusual looking noctuid. It has much larger, more pronounced spots than S. ipomoeae and a very deep abdomen which makes it look a bit top-heavy when it’s at rest. We quite often get it here (Port Alberni) in late summer/fall and I’ve also seen it in Pemberton and at Manning Park. Nice to get a report from the Victoria area.

I suppose this might be a case of convergent evolution.  Apart from the conspicuous reniform and orbicular spots (typical of a noctuid) it does look rather similar to the notodontid genus Schizura.  They must have independently discovered how to look like a fragment of bark.

Lithomoia germana (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

2019 September 25

  A nice surprise – several  late-season (September 24) nymphalids! –

   Gordon Hart writes, from the Highlands: Anne-Marie saw a butterfly land in the apple tree  –  so I grabbed my camera and ran out to have a look. I managed a couple of pictures of a California Tortoiseshell, and then, while waiting for it to reappear, I noticed a Red Admiral on the Buddleia flowers. I also photographed a syrphid fly on some fall Asters.  [Jeremy Tatum writes:  The fly was identified for us – within minutes! – by Dr Jeff Skevington, in Ottawa!]

And Mike McGrenere writes, from Cordova Bay:  Barb and I watched a Satyr Comma land on the sunny stucco of our house this afternoon. It was there for about 30 seconds then flew off.

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Gordon Hart

California Tortoiseshell Nymphalis californica (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Gordon Hart

Hover fly Helophilus fasciatus (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Gordon Hart

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  I have only been seeing Cabbage Whites lately with 10 being seen today.  However, Kirsten Mills tells me that today,  September 25, she saw another Lorquin’s Admiral at Panama Flats near the grey shed.  She also found 2 Painted Ladies  :  1 at Cedar Hill Middle School,  and 1 near Doncaster Elementary School.  She saw 14 Cabbage Whites at Panama Flats,  and another 30 Cabbage Whites elsewhere.

Jochen Möhr’s moths from Metchosin this morning:

2 Drepanulatrix sp.

1 Ennomos magnaria

1 Euxoa sp.

1 Feltia jaculifera

1 Noctua pronuba

1 Dryotype opina

8 Pleromelloida cinerea

1 Sunira decipiens

1 Tetracis sp.  

Euxoa difformis (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Dryotype opina (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Feltia jaculifera (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

2019 September 24

   Three of Jochen Möhr’s moths from Metchosin yesterday:

Hypena californica (or decorata?) (Lep.; Erebidae – Hypeninae)

Jochen Möhr

Hypena californica (or decorata?) (Lep.; Erebidae – Hypeninae)

Jochen Möhr

Euxoa sp. (Lep.:  Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Xestia finatimis complex (Lep.: Noctuidae) Jochen Möhr