2017 September 10

   Val George writes:  This moth, Triphosa haesitata, was in my car port in Oak Bay yesterday, September 9.

Triphosa haesitata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Val George

   And Jeremy Tatum writes:  This moth, Noctua pronuba, was outside my back door in Saanich today, September 10.

Noctua pronuba (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Jeremy Tatum

   Nathan Fisk writes:  September 5, 2017,Wickaninnish Beach, Pacific Rim National Park. This one’s a bit out of our area but the patterning on the wings was so striking ‎I wanted to send it in. I have a faint memory of seeing something similar in Invert Alert before.

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  What a good memory you have!  We have had Gazoryctra mathewi once before, 2013 September 8.  This is the only hepialid to appear so far on Invert Alert.    As for the area, while this site was originally intended to cover the Southern Vancouver Island Birdwatching Area, in practice we happily accept reports and photographs from the whole of Vancouver Island as long as we are not clashing with any similar website on the Island.  So, keep ’em coming!

Gazoryctra mathewi (Lep.: Hepialidae)  Nathan Fisk

   Hayley Datoo reports huge numbers of caterpillars all over the inside and outside of Huband Elementary School in Courtenay.  Huge clusters of them lining the base of the hallway wall.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  These are Mythimna unipuncta.  The caterpillars are known in agricultural circles as the Armyworm.  They eat grasses, including cereal crops.  Periodically there are huge outbreaks of them as they eat all their foodplants in the area, and armies of them search for new pastures.  The adult moth is known variously as the American Wainscot or the White-speck Moth.

Mythimna unipuncta (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Hayley Datoo

2017 September 9, 2017

   We apologize to viewers and contributors for a gap in items for a couple of days.  This was a result of a computer glitch.  We thank Adam Taylor for solving the problem, and we are now back in business.   I have posted September 7.  We have nothing for September 8, and just the one photograph below, by Bryan Gates, of a spectacular Acronicta dactylina caterpillar on an alder at his Black Creek home.

Acronicta dactylina (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Bryan Gates

2017 September 7

   Annie Pang sends a photograph of a Spotted Tiger Moth caterpillar, which she is going to rear.  We look forward to seeing the adult next spring.

Spotted Tiger Moth Lophocampa maculata (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)  Annie Pang

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I believe my Zale is now in its final instar:

Zale sp. (Lep.: Erebidae – Erebinae)  Jeremy Tatum

  Jeremy Tatum found two very common moths outside his back door today.  The first, Noctua pronuba, is a European native.  The second, Neoalcis californiaria, is very much a West Coast native, and it seems to have been particularly common and widespread this year.  The antennae of the one shown below are threadlike, and the moth is presumably a female.  Some other examples of this species seen on this site in recent days have had feathery, bipectinate antennae, and are presumably females.

Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Neoalcis californiaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

2017 September 6

   Jochen Moehr sends a photograph of a grasshopper in Metchosin, September 3.  He writes that they are very common there, and one is rarely out of earshot of a performer.  Thanks to Claudia Copley for identifying it for us as a Crackling Forest Grasshopper Trimerotropis verruculata.

Trimerotropis verruculata (Orth.: Acrididae)  Jochen Moehr

   Val George writes:  Bryan Gates and I were on Mount Washington on September 4 checking out the banded Grey Jays when we saw this butterfly.  A tough identification, but I’m pretty sure it’s a Hoary Comma Polygonia gracilis. 

   Jeremy Tatum comments:  I am more than happy to label this as a Hoary Comma Polygonia gracilis.  As described on the August 28 posting, I am for the time being treating the forms gracilis, zephyrus and oreas as conspecific under the name gracilis.  Val’s photograph shows very well the “greenish yellow submarginal spots” described by Guppy and Shepard under the name zephyrus.  What is not clear is whether these spots are specific to the form zephyrus, or whether they may also occur in the other forms.

Hoary Comma Polygonia gracilis (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Val George

   Jeff Gaskin writes that there was a lone Lorquin’s Admiral on the Cedar Hill Golf Course today, September 6, at just about 9:15 a.m.  It was on the right hand side of the course just south of the club house.

  Jeremy Tatum writes that at the back door of his apartment this morning were 2 Neoalcis californiaria  and 1 Drepanulatrix monicaria – both out of camera reach, unfortunately.

2017 September 5

   Jeremy Tatum offers some thoughts on sulphur identification.

   They are supposed to look different in UV light.  Unfortunately, I haven’t got UV eyes, so we have to see what we can do in ordinary light.

   At McIntyre reservoir the other day, we saw some butterflies that were a rich, deep orange, and some that were much paler.  We sort of assumed – not necessarily correctly – that the latter were females.  We would welcome photographs of both colour forms so that we can look at them closely.

  Anyway we have to think about Orange Sulphurs, male and female, and Clouded Sulphurs, male and female.

  The uppersides of both sexes of Orange Sulphur are washed with orange, though the amount of this varies.  It could be a fully, deep, rich orange, or it could be a pale wash that is difficult to convince oneself of.  The Clouded Sulphur is not washed with orange at all, and is a rather paler butterfly.

  This raises the question:  Were the pale butterflies we saw perhaps Clouded Sulphurs, and not female Orange Sulphurs?  Photographs welcome!

  The real difference between the sexes of both species is to look at the black terminal band.  (The termen – adjective terminal – is the outer edge of the wing.)  In the male (both species) this band is solid black.  In the female (both species) this band contains several yellow spots.  That means that, if we can see the upperside, we can tell whether it is male or female – even if we can’t tell which species.

  There is a problem in that some females of both species, known as forma helice, are white, rather than yellow or orange. (This is a form – not a subspecies.)  I do not know what percentage of the butterflies that we see here have the female helice form.   Seen in flight, a helice form could be overlooked and dismissed as a Cabbage White.

  The main difference between the two species is the orange colour, but since the depth and extent of this is variable, are there any other features?  I haven’t discovered any very obvious and distinctive characters, though there are some that are suggestive.

   I think that the width of the black terminal band is broader in the Orange Sulphur than in the Clouded Sulphur, and it extends along the costa (the leading edge) further in the Orange Sulphur than in the Clouded Sulphur.  .   This may not be much help unless you have specimens of each species in the hand  (or good photographs!) – but it may be something of an indication.

  On the underside of each wing there is a row of subterminal small black spots.  I think these are a bit more conspicuous in the Orange Sulphur than in the Clouded Sulphur.

  A further complication – the two species are supposed to interbreed occasionally, or at least intermediate forms are seen.  This raises the question as to whether they really are distinct species.  I’d like to see the caterpillars of both.  From the few photographs I have seen, the caterpillars don’t seem to be readily distinguishable.

  And yet another complication.  I presume the butterflies we are seeing are migrants – although the Forbidden Field has extensive tracts of Alfalfa, and maybe they have bred there. We have a resident (nonmigratory) sulphur on Vancouver Island – the Western Sulphur.  I believe it does not stray far from the alpine meadows, but I suppose we ought to consider the possibility that some of the sulphurs we see down here might be Western Sulphurs.   I haven’t given that much thought.

  Any good photos of the butterflies we saw on Sunday would be very welcome!

  That’s all on sulphurs.  Now for woolly bears.  This is the season for woolly bears, and there are several which can be seen about now – Lophocampa maculata, Spilosoma virginica, Hyphantria cunia, Pyrrharctia isabella.  In English, that’s Spotted Tiger Moth,  Yellow Woolly Bear or Virginia Ermine,  Fall Webworm, and Banded Woolly Bear or Isabella Moth.  The Banded Woolly Bear seems to peak in October, though I saw my first of the season today, at McIntyre reservoir.  We usually see it when it has finished feeding, and it is wandering abroad looking for somewhere to spend the winter.  Because of this, it is hard to discover its favoured foodplants, so I was interested to see that the one I saw this morning was still actively feeding upon a species of Stellaria.