July 8 evening

   Gordon Hart sends two photographs of a digger wasp  (thread-waisted wasp) from Pike Lake Substation, July 6.  This is believed to be a predator of grasshoppers.

Digger wasp  Prionyx canadensis (Hym.: Sphecidae)   Gordon Hart

Digger wasp  Prionyx canadensis (Hym.: Sphecidae)   Gordon Hart

   More moths from Metchosin, photographed by Jochen Möhr; identified by Libby Avis.

Gabriola dyari (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr

Raphia frater (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Iridopsis larvaria/emasculatum  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

   More tomorrow…

July 8 morning

   Here are more moths from Metchosin, photographed by Jochen Möhr and identified by Libby Avis.

Eulithis xylina (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Perizoma costiguttata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Iridopsis larvaria/emasculatum (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Acronicta dactylina (Lep.: Noctuidae) Jochen Möhr

Lacinipolia cuneata (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Lacinipolia patalis (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

   Jeremy Tatum writes:   Here is one of several weevils I noted on thistles at Rithet’s Bog yesterday (July 7).  Charlene Wood writes:  It is a “Thistle Head Weevil” Rhinocyllus conicus, which was introduced in the late 1960s as a biocontrol agent on musk/nodding thistle.  It’s well established in North America and also attacks native Cirsium spp.  It’s blackish-brown with tufts of yellow hair that fall out as the beetle ages. The snout is short and broad.

Rhynocyllus conicus (Col.: Curculionidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   More this evening…

June 7

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I managed to get a close-up of the Pyrausta californicalis caterpillar that Val found in his garden yesterday:

Pyrausta californicalis (Lep.: Crambidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Also, a couple of caterpillars that I found on cottonwood at Rithet’s Bog today:

Nycteola sp. (Lep.: Nolidae)   Jeremy Tatum

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  Last Tuesday,  July 03, Kirsten Mills and I drove along Nanaimo River Road;  between kms 9 and 14 we saw at least 8 Clodius Parnassians and 1 Grey Hairstreak.  Also, there we saw many Lorquin’s Admirals, Western Tiger Swallowtails, and some Pale Tiger Swallowtails.

  Jochen Möhr sends photographs of three Lacinipolia strigicollis  from Metchosin.  Thanks to Libby Avis for identification.  One might guess that the bluer individuals are fresher – though the one without blue seems to be in very good condition, so maybe we need to guess again.

Lacinipolia strigicollis (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Lacinipolia strigicollis (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Lacinipolia strigicollis (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

   Jeremy Tatum writes that at 6:45 pm this evening there was a Painted Lady on the Mount Tolmie reservoir, and three more near the Jeffery Pine.

   More tomorrow – we have a backlog, which is a nice thing to have.

July 6

   Gordon Hart writes:  I checked the patches of Spreading Dogbane at the Pike Lake Substation ponds on July 4, and I found one Grey Hairstreak, and many bee species. The Dogbane is in full bloom and not dried out yet, so may be worth checking again when it is sunny. I saw one Sheep Moth go speeding by, a Lorquin’s Admiral and a Western Tiger Swallowtail. There were a few dragonflies and I have attached a photo of a Four-spotted Skimmer Libellula quadrimaculata.

Honey Bee Apis mellifera (Hym.: Apidae)  Gordon Hart

Four-spotted Skimmer Libellula quadrimaculata (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Gordon Hart

   On July 2 we showed a photograph by Val George of the pretty little crambid moth Pyrausta californicalis from Val’s Oak Bay garden.  Val has since noticed several of these moths flying around the larval foodplant Mentha in his garden.  He also found and photographed a small caterpillar (shown below) on the mint. The caterpillar is semitranslucent like that of many crambid caterpillars and it seems all but certain that it must be a caterpillar of Pyrausta californicalis.  Jeremy Tatum will try to rear the caterpillar.

Pyrausta californicalis (Lep.: Crambidae)  Val George

   Jochen Möhr sends pictures of beetles from Metchosin.

Polyphylla crinita (Col.: Scarabaeidae)  Jochen Möhr

Yellow Douglas Fir Borer  Centrodera spurca (Col.:  Cerambycidae)  Jochen Möhr

   It is some days since a butterfly was reported from Mount Tolmie, in spite of several visits to the reservoir in the late afternoon or evening.  It has been either overcast or windy.   However, Jeremy Tatum reports a Red Admiral from the reservoir at 6:20 pm on June 6.

July 5

[No July 4 posting]

   Barbara McGrenere writes:  Yesterday, on a walk along the Cowichan Valley Trail to the Kinsol Trestle, Mike and I saw many Western Tiger Swallowtails, several Cabbage Whites and several Lorquin’s Admirals.  There was one Clodius Parnassian nectaring on some purple flowers between the main parking lot and the Kinsol Trestle.

   Nathan Fisk photographed the bee below at Fort Rodd Learning Meadow on July 3.  Thanks to Annie Pang for identifying it as a European Wool Carder Bee Anthidium manicatum.

European Wool Carder Bee Anthidium manicatum (Hym.: Megachilidae)  Nathan Fisk

   Rosemary Jorna found a pair of Lorquin’s Admirals at Aylard’s Farm,  East Sooke Park, this morning, sharing a private moment.

Lorquin’s Admirals Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   Val George writes:   Yesterday, July 4, on my way to Nanaimo I took a quick drive up the Nanaimo River Road to look for butterflies.  As well as the more common species, I found a single Western Meadow Fritillary and a single Grey Hairstreak.  The day before, July 3, there were two moths in my carport in Oak Bay.  The one is, of course, a Common Emerald  Hemithea aestivaria;  is the other one a Herpetogramma pertexalis?  [Jeremy Tatum writes:  Herpetogramma certainly.  But is it H. pertextalis  or H. thestealis?  Libby Avis tells us that, according to current thinking, true pertextalis occurs in Canada only in a small area in southern Ontario, so we’ll have to label this one Herpetogramma thestealis.]

Western Meadow Fritillary Boloria epithore (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Val George

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

Common Emerald Hemithea aestivaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Val George

Herpetogramma thestealis (Lep.: Crambidae) Val George