2019 August 10 

      A few of Jochen Möhr’s photographs from yesterday:

Neoalcis californiaria (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jochen Möhr

Neoalcis californiaria (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jochen Möhr

Eulithis xylina (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

   Here’s a pupa of a Sheep Moth:

Sheep Moth Hemileuca eglanterina (Lep.: Saturniidae) Jeremy Tatum

2019 August 19 morning

   Because of the recent computer glitch, we lost the contributions for August  8, 10 and 11.  (There were no postings for August 9 and 12.)  I have located these contributions, and I am going to try and post them following this posting. My limited computer skills prevent me from inserting them in their correct places between August 7 and 13.  Sorry for the confusion – that computer problem really fouled things up!

   Jeff Gaskin reports that, on August 18, he saw a Lorquin’s Admiral at Cecilia Ravine Park, and one on the Galloping Goose Trail by Swan Lake, while Kirsten MIlls saw one near the top of Mount Tolmie.  These three are in addition to the two August 18 sightings reported on the August 18 evening posting.

2019 August 18 evening

   It seems that this morning’s Invert Alert went without problems, so please let us all cross our fingers and assume that Invertebrate Alert is now back to normal, at least until the computer system again thinks incorrectly that a photograph contains malware.  So carry on as before the computer glitch.  To those who sent photographs last week that were never posted, and you would like to see them posted, please re-send them, together with the where and the when.  In the meantime, to start us off again here are a couple of my own recent photographs.    The first is from my apartment building in Saanich.  The second was from Swan Lake.

Autographa californica (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Cucullia montanae (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

  Gerry and Wendy Ansell report that they saw a Lorquin’s Admiral today at Swan Lake, and Jeremy Tatum saw one at Royal Roads University.  In the evening at 6:00 pm there were three Painted Ladies on the top of Mount Tolmie – one on the reservoir, two near the Jeffery Pine

2019 August 18 morning

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I don’t think I have found a permanent solution to the computer problem that beset Invert Alert recently, but I am posting two photographs here as a test.  If they work all right, we may try opening up Invertebrate Alert to photographs again.   I’ll let you know in the next posting. Apologize to those who who did not have their photographs posted in the past week.  In the meantime, please continue to send text reports of interesting sightings,

  The photographs below show a harvestman on the wall of my Saanich apartment building yesterday.

The name  “daddy-long-legs” is used for several different insects, spiders and harvestmen in different parts of the English-speaking world, so perhaps it is best to stick to the name “harvestman”.  In England the name “daddy-long-legs” is used for a crane fly.  I have never seen this, but I have read that harvestmen from time to time undergo ecydsis, when they shed their entire skin, legs included, in one piece.  The second pair of a harvestman’s legs are longer than the others.  It uses the second pair for tactile exploring, although it is thought that these legs may also have olfactory or chemical sensors.  Sometimes a harvestman will lose one or more legs through accident, and these legs do not degererate.  The loss of one or two legs does not unduly incommode the animal, unless it loses one of the second pair, in which case the animal is more seriously inconvenienced.

Phalangium opilio (Opil.: Phalangiidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Phalangium opilio (Opil.: Phalangiidae)  Jeremy Tatum

2019 August 16

   Thomas Barbin writes that he saw a Purplish Copper at Goldstream Park on August 14.  Jeremy Tatum writes that he and Jochen Möhr saw a Painted Lady at Jochen’s Metchosin property today, August 16.