2024 July 3 afternoon

   Val George writes:  This rather worn Grey Hairstreak was at the summit of Mount Douglas yesterday afternoon July 2.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  This is the first report in Invert Alert of a Grey Hairstreak this year.  Purplish Copper yet to come.

 Grey Hairstreak  Strymon melinus  (Lep.: Lycaenidae)   Val George

   Here are some photographs by Ian Cooper:  All pictures from Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal, July 2nd, evening after dusk.

 Enoplognatha ovata (Ara.: Theridiidae)  Ian Cooper

Ian writes:  Enoplognatha ovata are currently abundant, but sightings of the red ‘candy stripe’ variant have been infrequent.

Believed to be Anyphaena aperta (Ara.: Anyphaenidae)  Ian Cooper

   Ian writes:  Took a while to pin down the identification for this one! I knew I’d seen this species before, and that we had published it on Invert a couple of years ago, [2022 October 22 morning] but its name escaped me. It’s reminiscent of a crab spider (no web, just waits to ambush passing prey [but the 2022 photograph appears to show some webbing]) but it isn’t a crab spider. It’s been referred to as a ‘sac’ spider, but I’m not sure if that term is still used.

Brown Lacewing  (Neu.: Hemerobiidae)  Ian Cooper

Crane fly – (Dip.: Tipulidae)  Ian Cooper

Ian writes:  I saw a few of these crane flies actively laying their eggs in various locations by the trail, including in a tree’s moss.

Western Black Carpenter Ant – Camponotus modoc (Hym.: Formicidae)
Ian Cooper

2024 July 3 morning

   Marie O’Shaughnessy writes:
I went for an hour’s meander into Uplands Park July 2 and found

more than 30 Essex Skippers
3 Sheep Moths
2 Cabbage Whites
1 Lorquin’s Admiral

Essex Skipper  Thymelicus lineola  (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Essex Skipper  Thymelicus lineola  (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Marie continues: At McIntyre reservoir, July 1st afternoon:

2 Common Green Darners
6 Blue Dashers
5 Eight-spotted Skimmers
3 Cardinal Meadowhawks
4 Variegated Meadowhawks
3 Blue-eyed Darners
I saw only 2 Cabbage White Butterflies 

Variegated Meadowhawk  Sympetrum corruptum  (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Eight-spotted Skimmer Libellula forensis  (Odo.: Libellulidae) Marie O’Shaughnessy

Blue-eyed Darner Rhionsaeschna multicolor (Odo.: Aeshnidae) Marie O’Shaughnessy

Blue-eyed Darner Rhionsaeschna multicolor (Odo.: Aeshnidae) Marie O’Shaughnessy

2024 July 2 evening

Ian Cooper writes:  Here are some of the photos taken at dusk by the Galloping Goose trail on June 30 2024.

Unidentified linyphiid spider (Ara.: Linyphiidae)    Ian Cooper

Enoplognatha ovata (Ara.: Theridiidae)   Ian Cooper

Non-biting midge (male) (Dip.: Chironomidae)  Ian Cooper

The next two photographs show a gracillariid moth of the genus Caloptilia.   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Although I have not been able to determine the species, it does seem to bear a close resemblance to the very appropriately named Caloptilia nondeterminata, which is most likely what it is.

Caloptilia (possibly nondeterminata) (Lep. Gracillariidae)  Ian Cooper

Caloptilia (possibly nondeterminata) (Lep. Gracillariidae)  Ian Cooper

Here are two photographs by Aziza Cooper of the Milbert’s Tortoiseshell reported by Aziza from Swan Lake on the June 30 afternoon posting.

Milbert’s Tortoiseshell Aglais milberti  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Aziza Cooper

Milbert’s Tortoiseshell Aglais milberti  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Aziza Cooper

And today, July 2, Aziza writes:  At Maber Flats there was a Milbert’s Tortoiseshell next to the road. Another butterfly flew past, possibly a second Milbert’s. There was also one Cabbage White.

Milbert’s Tortoiseshell Aglais milberti  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Aziza Cooper

2024 July 2 morning

Jeremy Tatum shows two moths from his Saanich apartment building today:

Malacosoma californica (Lep.: Lasiocampidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Identification uncertain, possibly Eudonia echo (Lep.: Crambidae)
Jeremy Tatum

2024 July 1 evening
On June 30, Marie O’Shaughnessy saw, at Swan Lake:

4  Cardinal Meadowhawks
2 Common Green Darners
2 Blue-eyed Darners
1 Western Pondhawk
12 Blue Dashers mostly male
6  Lorquin’s Admirals
2 Western Tiger Swallowtails
1 Cabbage White
1 European Paper Wasp

And on Mount Tolmie

3 Red Admirals all seen together at one point
2  Western  Tiger Swallowtails
No Painted (or West Coast) Ladies

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Cardinal Meadowhawk Sympetrum illotum (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Blue Dasher Pachydiplax longipennis  (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Jeremy Tatum writes:  I tried to persuade Dr Rob Cannings not to spend a lot of his time in the difficult task of tying to identify a dragonfly exuvia, but he gave us a good chunk of his time anyway.  Dr Cannings writes of the exuvia below:  It looks like Libellulidae, but the exuviae of some Corduliidae can be very similar. The structure of the labium is important and can’t be seen well here, except to separate these families from others. The shape of the head in exact dorsal view is useful as are the size/presence/absence of lateral and dorsal spines – especially in identifying genera and species. But you have to have awfully good views of these characters, and photographs usually are not clear enough.

Dragonfly exuvia (Odonata)   Marie O’Shaughnessy

And, by the way, Latin scholars, we do know that the word “exuviae”  is not used in the singular in classical Latin, but we badly need a word to describe cast skins such as the ones above, so entomologists have agreed to call such a skin an exuvia, which we hope will not cause undue damage or inconvenience to anyone.  “Exuviae” means “spoils” (e.g. of war); the English word, like the Latin, is not generally used in the singular, either.

European Paper Wasp  Polistes dominula (Hym.: Vespidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy