2024 June 12

  Jeff Gaskin writes:  Yesterday, June 11, there was a Mourning Cloak in very poor shape on the west side of Panama flats along the north west dyke.

  Missing Butterflies:  The following butterfly species have not yet been reported this year to Invert Alert:
Margined White, Purplish Copper, Grey Hairstreak, Red Admiral, Mylitta Crescent,  Field Crescent

More invertebrate photographs taken by Ian Cooper along the Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal after midnight June 8/9.

Possibly Cybaeus sp.  (Ara.: Cybaeidae)  Ian Cooper

Callobius (probably pictus)   (Ara.: Amaurobiidae)  Ian Cooper

Callobius (probably pictus)   (Ara.: Amaurobiidae)  Ian Cooper

Hairy Spider Weevil – Barypeithes pellucidus (Col.: Curculionidae)  Ian Cooper

Raspberry Weevil – Otiorhynchus singularis (Col.: Curculionidae)  Ian Cooper

Crane fly, possibly Tipula paludosa (Dip.: Tipulidae)  Ian Cooper
This is a female laying her eggs into the side of the mossy tree trunk by the GG trail in View Royal.

Unidentified gnat  (Diptera – Nematocera)  Ian Cooper

2024 June 11

  More of Ian Cooper’s recent photographs of a variety of invertebrates.  In case anyone is wondering, the three slugs below were not placed there to pose for a photograph!  They were all there together when Ian arrived with his camera.

Identifications pending      Ian Cooper

Identification pending   Ian Cooper

Philodromus dispar (Ara.: Philodromidae)   Ian Cooper

Enoplognatha ovata (Ara.: Theridiidae)   Ian Cooper

Scaphinotus angusticollis (Col.: Carabidae),  with mites.   Ian Cooper

Armadillidium vulgare (Isopoda:  Armidillidiidae)   Ian Cooper

Jeff Gaskin writes:   Today, June 11th,    I watched a Common Green Darner for about a minute as it briefly passed through my mom’s backyard in the Burnside/ Gorge neighbourhood.

Gordon Hart writes from the Highlands:   Yesterday, Monday June 10, I saw at least one Pale Tiger Swallowtail several times, and at the end of the day, a Western Tiger Swallowtail. I saw a Lorquin’s Admiral but only briefly.

Aziza Cooper writes:  Today, June 11 at Swan Lake, there was a Western Tiger Swallowtail and a red dragonfly.

   Meadowhawk  Sympetrum sp. (Odo.: Libellulidae)   Aziza Cooper

2024 June 10 evening

   Gordon Hart writes from his Highlands home:  There were Cedar Hairstreaks on Stonecrop (Sedum spathulifolium) , and today on the white flat flower umbels of a Viburnum mariesii , there were two Cedar Hairstreaks and two Western Spring Azures, along with a small bee.

Jeremy Tatum asks:  Is there someone out there who can identify the bee?

Unknown bee (Hym.:  Apidae?)  Gordon Hart

Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo  (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Gordon Hart

       Aziza Cooper writes:  Yesterday, June 9, at Swan Lake there was a green dragonfly near the Nature House. A Western Tiger Swallowtail was there too.

At Boas Road near Spectacle Lake, there were two Western Spring Azures, two blue species, one Pale Tiger Swallowtail and one Cedar Hairstreak. The clearcut is very overgrown now, compared with my last visit  in 2017.

At Goldstream Heights, from the end of Olympic Road to the powerline, there were five Cedar Hairstreaks, 20+ Adela, and three Blue sp.

At the railroad tracks near Goldstream campground, there were six Cedar Hairstreaks, one comma, two blue sp., and one Western Spring Azure.

Cedar Hairstreak  Callophrys gryneus  (Lep.:  Lycaenidae)   Aziza Cooper

Cedar Hairstreak  Callophrys gryneus  (Lep.:  Lycaenidae)   Aziza Cooper

Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo  (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Female Western Pondhawk Erythemis collocata  (Odo.: Libellulidae)
Aziza Cooper

Adela septentrionella  (Lep.:  Adelidae)   Aziza Cooper

Worker Bombus vancouverensis  (Hym.: Apidae)  Aziza Cooper
Kindly identified for us by Steven Roias

Golden Paper Wasp Polistes aurifer  (Hym.: Vespidae)  Aziza Cooper

Jeff Gaskin writes:   Today, June 10, Kirsten Mills and I saw one Cedar Hairstreak, and two Pale Tiger Swallowtails across the road from the Francis/King Park nature house.  Kirsten also saw a Lorquin’s Admiral nearby.    An Eight-spotted Skimmer and still a few Western Spring Azures were along the Prospect Lake Road powerline.  California Darners were also present.

Marie O’Shaughnessy photographed this Sheep Moth caterpillar in Uplands Park.  Viewers are reminded that this caterpillar can cause an urticating rash if handled.

Sheep Moth Hemileuca eglanterina  (Lep: Saturniidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

2024 June 10 morning

   A selection of photographs by Ian Cooper from Colquitz River Park, June 8-9.

Clubiona sp.  (Ara.: Clubionidae)  Ian Cooper

Woodlouse Hunter Spider – Dysdera crocata  (Ara.: Dysderidae)  Ian Cooper

Protolophus niger (Opiliones:  Protolophidae)  Ian Cooper

Protolophus niger (Opiliones:  Protolophidae)  Ian Cooper

Alderfly, Sialis sp. (Meg.:  Sialidae)  Ian Cooper

Jumping bristletail Pedetontus sp. (possibly saltator) (Microcoryphia:  Machilidae)
Ian Cooper

Ambigolimax valentianus (Pul.: Limacidae)  Ian Cooper

Unknown caterpillar (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Ian Cooper

2024 June 9

   Aziza Cooper photographed this millepede at Killarney Lake, and the Bumble Bee near the Hartland landfill on June 8.  We thank Steven Roias for identifying the bee as a male Bombus melanopygus.

Harpaphe haydeniana  (Polydesmida:  Xystodesmidae)   Aziza Cooper

Male Bombus melanopygus  (Hym.: Apidae)   Aziza Cooper

Jeremy Tatum photographed this moth at his Saanich apartment this morning.  Although not in the genus Eupithecia, it is in the closely-related genus Pasiphila and is known as the Green Pug.

Green Pug Pasiphila rectangulata  (Lep.: Geometridae)     Jeremy Tatum

Marie O’Shaughnessy writes: An early afternoon visit to McIntyre reservoir on June 8 provided a number of dragonflies and damselflies and a few Cabbage White butterflies

I found a good-looking female Eight-spotted Skimmer,
2 Blue-eyed Darners
1 Common Green Darner,  very active and unable to get a photo
6 Cardinal Meadowhawks, 2 in tandem.
At least 8 Damselflies, Pacific Forktails and Tule Bluets….Some in tandem.

The only butterflies seen there  today were three Cabbage Whites.  Two additional Cabbage Whites were near Blenkinsop Lake, and one at Outerbridge Park.  Also at Outerbridge Park were two Western Spring Azures and two Blue-eyed Darners.

Tule Bluet  Enallagma carunculatum   (Odo.: Coenagriondae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

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

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

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