2018 May 24

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  This moth was outside the door of the Elliott Building at UVic this morning:

Cyclophora dataria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

   As requested (see story, May 23 morning) I put a number of Cabbage White caterpillars out today on some wild Brassica species, though I retained one and photographed it:

Cabbage White Pieris rapae (Lep.: Pieridae)  Jeremy Tatum

2014 May 23 afternoon

   Sonia Voicescu writes:  More sightings at Rithet’s Bog! I was doing some restoration work there on Sunday and from the Fir Glen parking lot to the wet meadow area of the bog I saw the following:
2 Cabbage Whites, 19 Ringlets, 1 Western Spring Azure.

Ringlet or Large Heath Coenonympha tullia (Lep.: Nymphalidae – Satyrinae)

Sonia Voicescu

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Here is a small geometrid moth reared from a caterpillar found last year.  The moth emerged today and was released at University of Victoria.  I don’t know whether it is Cabera erythemaria or C. exanthemata.

Cabera erythemaria/exanthemata(Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

2018 May 23 morning

   Ron Flower writes:  Yesterday May 22 Nora and I went to Island View Beach and found two Anise Swallowtails at the boat ramp,  a Tiger Swallowtail and numerous Ringlets in the back field. Then we stopped at Eddy’s storage and found at least a dozen very active Field Crescents.

Field Crescent Phyciodes pratensis (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Ron Flower

Field Crescent Phyciodes pratensis (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Ron Flower

   Sheryl Falls writes:  Several (at least 3) Cinnabar moths Tyria jacobaeae  at Harewood Plains, Nanaimo, on May 21.

Cinnabar Moth Tyria jacobaeae (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)  Sheryl Falls

   While viewers have correctly interpreted my exhortation  to “concentrate their attention on the less frequently photographed species” as meaning “please do not flood me with dozens of photographs of Cabbage Whites and the like” during the conference, I was not to get off so lightly.  I was engaged in an earnest discussion last night with a Victoria astronomer on the latest trends in astrophysics, when she changed the subject and told me that she had lots of Cabbage White caterpillars on her cabbages.  She did not want to kill the poor things, but she did not want them to eat her cabbages, and would I kindly deal with the problem.  I haven’t ever revealed my interest in caterpillars to my very professional colleagues, so I don’t know which Invert Alert viewer must have tattle-taled.  Anyway, the outcome is that, instead of being flooded with dozens of photographs of Cabbage Whites, I am now to be flooded with dozens of Cabbage White caterpillars.  I am going to have to sneak out of the conference and place them carefully on one of the several other species of wild Brassicaceae that grow on the Saanich peninsula and on which I know the caterpillars will feed.  J

   Anyway, keep on sending observations and photographs – though expect some delays during this conference week.   Jeremy

2018 May 22

   Jody Wells sends photographs of dragonflies from Welch Road (Martindale Flats, Central Saanich).

Eight-spotted Skimmer Libellula forensis  (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Jody Wells

Eight-spotted Skimmer Libellula forensis  (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Jody Wells

Cardinal Meadowhawk Sympetrum illotum (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Jody Wells

   Kirsten Mills sends a photograph of a Cedar Hairstreak Gordon and Anne-Marie Hart’s Highlands property.

Cedar Hairstreak Mitoura rosneri (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Kirsten Mills

  Jeff Gaskin  writes:  Today, May 22, I found the  following Ringlets :  4 at Quick’s Bottom,74 at Layritz Park, and 9 at the Horticultural Center/Viaduct flats. That’s a total of 87 –  quite a number , hey Jeremy.

   More in the queue – whenever I can squeeze some time away from the conference.  Patience!

2018 May 21 evening

    More Möhr moths from Metchosin:

Perizoma curvilinea (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr

Perizoma curvilinea (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr

Gluphisia severa (Lep.: Notodontidae) Jochen Möhr

Nadata gibbosa (Lep.: Notodontidae) Jochen Möhr

Selenia alciphearia (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

   The West Coast form of the following spectacular hawk moth is treated by some authorities as a separate species Smerinthus ophthalmica.  Here, for better or worse, I retain the name Smerinthus cerisyi.

Smerinthus cerisyi (Lep.: Sphingidae)  Jochen Möhr

Smerinthus cerisyi (Lep.: Sphingidae)  Jochen Möhr

  On the butterfly front, Gordon Hart, just back from a visit to Ontario, reports that he has Cedar Hairstreaks, Western Spring Azures, Green Comma and Pale Tiger Swallowtails in his Highlands yard.

   Ron Flower sends photographs of a Silvery Blue from the Colwood turn-off, and a Satyr Comma from Goldstream Park, May 17.  Satyr Commas, formerly common, have become quite rare in  the last two years, so it is reassuring to know that there are still a few about.

Silvery Blue Glaucopsyche lygdamus (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Ron Flower

Silvery Blue Glaucopsyche lygdamus (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Ron Flower

Male Satyr Comma Polygonia satyrus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Ron Flower

Satyr Comma Polygonia satyrus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Ron Flower