2017 September 4

   Gordon Hart sends some photographs of butterflies seen on the VNHS Butterfly Walk to McIntyre Reservoir yesterday.

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  I heard several unconventional names that people were calling some of the flowers that the butterflies were nectaring on.  The sulphur and the lady are nectaring on Teasel, and the coppers on Scentless Mayweed.

Male Orange Sulphur Colias eurytheme (Lep.:  Pieridae)  Gordon Hart

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Gordon Hart

Purplish Coppers Lycaena helloides (Lep.: Lycaenidae) Gordon Hart

Female above.  Male below

Female Purplish Copper Lycaena helloides (Lep.: Lycaenidae)

   Libby Avis sends a photograph of a young geometrid caterpillar from her plum tree in Port Alberni.  We don’t know what it is – it’ll be interesting to find out.

Unknown young geometrid caterpillar  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Libby Avis

   Mike McGrenere writes:  Barb and I stopped at the entrance to Pedder Bay today to pick blackberries and observed a Common Ringlet in the grass near the Pedder Bay marina sign.  [Jeremy Tatum writes: Until the taxonomy settles down, I am calling all members of the Tullia complex on this site Large Heath C. tullia.]

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  This evening at 6:00 there was a Red Admiral on the Mount Tolmie reservoir, and, flying around the rocky summit and the Jeffery Pine were 2 Painted Ladies.  Also flying around the summit and the pine were huge, extended dense clouds of millions (literally) of flying ants.

2017 September 4

   Another Reminder:  Please, please, please! if you can,send photographs as attachments in .jpg format. 

   The VNHS September Butterfly Walk took place yesterday, in very hot weather.  There were 12 participants, who went first to McIntyre Reservoir, and then to Martindale Road, in Central Saanich.  Butterflies seen were:

Cabbage White:                      many

Orange Sulphur:                     several

Purplish Copper:                    2

Painted Lady:                         1

  Also found was a full-grown caterpillar of the White-lined Hawk Moth Hyles lineata:

White-lined Hawk Moth Hyles lineata (Lep.: Sphingidae)  Val George

    We hope to have more photographs and details from the Walk in due course.

     In the meantime, other photographs received –

     We have commented on this site how numerous and widespread the geometrid moth Neoalcis californiaria seems to be this year.  Bryan Gates sends a photograph from Black Creek

Neoalcis californiaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Bryan Gates

    Here is a rather unusual colour variety of a Spotted Tiger Moth caterpillar, from East Sooke Park.

Spotted Tiger Moth Lophocampa maculata

(Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)

Jeremy Tatum

2017 September 3 evening

   Some remarkable caterpillars have been turning up recently.  Here’s an exciting one discovered by Moralea Milne on Camas Hill on September 1, feeding on Ocean Spray Holodiscus discolor.  It is an American Lappet Moth.

American Lappet Phyllodesma americana (Lep.: Lasiocampidae)  Moralea Milne

   And a full-grown caterpillar of a White-lined Hawk Moth found at McIntyre Reservoir during a VNHS Butterfly Walk on September 3.  This is another colour variety of the caterpillar – compare it with the one on June 22.

White-lined Hawk Moth Hyles lineata (Lep.: Sphingidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   From the large to the small, here is a small moth photographed by Jody Wells on Cordova Spit, August 27.  There are lots of these small “grass moths” belonging to the Family Crambidae and (writes Jeremy Tatum) I haven’t yet learned how to identify them to species.

Grass moth (Lep.: Crambidae)  Jody Wells

…and I’m afraid that I still haven’t caught up.  More pictures tomorrow.  Jeremy

2017 September 3

   Dar Churcher sends some recent photographs from Colwood. The first two are colour varieties of Emmelina monodactyla. The first one is unusually reddish;  the second one is more typical.  The caterpillars feed on the flowers of Calystegia.

Emmelina monodactyla (Lep.: Pterophoridae)  Dar Churcher

Emmelina monodactyla (Lep.: Pterophoridae)  Dar Churcher

   Next, an ichneumonid wasp of the genus Pimpla – presumably P. rufipes.  Dar writes:

This ‘Blue deadly-looking’ winged insect moved around so quickly it was very difficult to photograph – I think I took at least 15 shots in my attempt. I’ve never seen this species before. Depending on the angle its refracted brilliant blue colouring was absolutely incredible, especially contrasted with its red legs!  [“rufipes” – Jeremy] 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  This is a parasitoid of lepidopterous larvae.

Pimpla rufipes (Hym.: Ichneumonidae)  Dar Churcher

Pimpla rufipes (Hym.: Ichneumonidae)  Dar Churcher

   Next, a tortricid.  Jeremy Tatum writes, I can’t be 100 percent sure, but I think this is very likely to be one of the many colour forms of Acleris gloverana, whose caterpillars feed on conifers.  It is known in the forestry industry as the Western Black-headed Budworm.

Acleris gloverana (Lep.: Tortrcidae)  Dar Churcher

    Jody Wells got some photographs of Orange Sulphurs at the west side of McIntyre reservoir, September 1.  Uppersides of these butterflies are notoriously difficult to photograph.  One of Jody’s upperside photographs shows very little orange – though there is a little, and other features are typical of the Orange Sulphur.  The other is a bit blurred because of motion, but shows a great deal of orange and is well worth showing to confirm the identity.  See August 18 for another successful upperside shot, by Ron Flower.

Orange Sulphur Colias eurytheme (Lep.: Pieridae)  Jody Wells

Orange Sulphur Colias eurytheme (Lep.: Pieridae)  Jody Wells

Orange Sulphurs Colias eurytheme (Lep.: Pieridae)  Jody Wells

(Note the s at the end of the second word!)

Orange Sulphur Colias eurytheme (Lep.: Pieridae)  Jody Wells

   Jeremy Tatum writes:   What an exciting season!  There’s still a backlog of contributions that I haven’t caught up with.  I’ll try and do a second posting later in the day.

2017 September 2 evening

   Scott Gilmore sends a picture of a soldier fly that he found in Upper Lantzville yesterday.  He writes:  It was identified as Exaireta spinigera by Katja Schulz on iNaturalist. It is an Australia native that has been in North American since 1985 and was first collected on this island in 2006. Some interesting reading on the species can be found here (Swann J.E., R.D. Kenner, R.A. Cannings, C.R. Copley (2006) Exaireta spinigera (Diptera: Stratiomyidae): the first published North American records of an Australian soldier fly. J. Entomol. Soc. Brit. Columbia 103: 71-72)

  This soldier fly was also featured on this site on 2016 November 10 – one was photographed on November 8 by Annie Pang in Gorge Park.

Exaireta spinigera (Dip.: Stratiomyidae)  Scott Gilmore

   Annie Pang sends photograph of two bees.  One was identified by Lincoln Best as Lasioglossum sp.   The other by Cory Sheffield as probably a male Bombus fervidus.

Lasioglossum sp. (Hym.:  Halictidae)  Annie Pang

Bombus fervidus (Hym.: Apidae)   Annie Pang 

   Lots more in the queue – to appear tomorrow.  Jeremy