2017 August 4, 2017

Colias alert!

   Val George writes:  At the Tuesday VNHS birding walk Jeff Gaskin reminded me that it was about this time of year that Western Branded Skippers, Hesperia colorado, had been recorded at Saanichton Spit.  So this afternoon, Aug 3, I went out there to check it out and, sure enough, I found one amongst the other skippers.  It was nectaring on Gumweed  about 100 m along the path from the parking lot.  A bonus on the way out there was a sulphur butterfly about 150 m south of Michell’s Farm on Lochside Drive.  I was pretty sure it was an Orange Sulphur, Colias eurytheme, but it wouldn’t settle long enough for me to be 100 percent sure of the species.

Western Branded Skipper Hesperia colorado (Lep.: Hesperiidae) Val George

   Aziza Cooper writes: On Wednesday, Aug. 2 at Centennial Park, this Pine White was on the lawn near the picnic tables.

Male Pine White Neophasia menapia (Lep.: Pieridae)  Aziza Cooper

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Today (August 4) I walked from Island View Beach to Cordova (Saanichton) Spit to see if I could find the Western Branded Skippers that Val reported.  On the way from IVB to the Spit I saw a Purplish Copper, a Large Heath (“Ringlet”), several Woodland Skippers and even a rather late Essex (“European”) Skipper.  And then, when I reached the exact spot described by Val above, I came across two Western Branded Skippers obviously very much in love and  performing a prolonged nuptial display.

   Aziza Cooper writes:  Today, Friday, August 4, this bee was on a Chicory flower at Maber Flats.

Bombus melanopygus (Hym.: Apidae)  Aziza Cooper

2017 August 3

   Aziza Cooper photographed a spider at East Sooke Park on July 29, and we are indebted to Robb Bennett for identifying it for us:

Male Evarcha proszynski (Ara.: Salticidae) Aziza Cooper

   Scott Gilmore photographed a robber fly at Upper Lantzville on August 2, and we are indebted to Rob Cannings for identifying it for us.  Rob writes: This is a common Cordilleran asilid of mid and late summer.  It ranges across southern BC and south to California and Arizona.  Nice shot!

Robber fly Neomochtherus willistoni (Dip.: Asilidae)  Scott Gilmore

   Jeremy Tatum found the caterpillar below on crab apple on Lochside Drive north of Blenkinsop Lake on August 3.  It is a male Vapourer Moth, also known as the Rusty Tussock. There were several adult male Vapourer Moths flying in the same area.

Vapourer Moth Orgyia antiqua (Lep.: Erebidae – Lymantriinae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Also in that area were several Red Admiral caterpillars (but no Satyr Commas) on the stinging nettles.  The nettles were all very heavily covered in dust, and I am not sure whether the caterpillars will survive.  If anyone knows of a really nice nettle patch, where the nettles are in really good condition and not covered in dust, one could conduct a rescue operation and transfer the caterpillars to better surroundings.  Let me know.

  Jeremy writes: on August 1 I saw an adult Red Admiral at Witty Beach.  At 6:00 pm on August 2 there were still a few Painted Ladies and a West Coast Lady on the Mount Tolmie reservoir.  They were so worn as to be almost unrecognizable – but were still able to fly strongly and chase each other around.  Today, August 3, I saw my first Pine White of the year, on Lohbrunner Road.

2017 August 02

   Ken Vaughan photographed the beetle below at Fork Lake, Highlands, on July 29.  Thanks to Scott Gilmore for identifying it as an earth-boring dung beetle Odonteus obesus, the first member of its Family to appear on the site.

Earth-boring dung beetle Odonteus obesus (Col.: Geotrupidae) Ken Vaughan

   Barbara McLintock photographed the beetle below on July 21, and we are again indebted to Scott Gilmore for its identification, as probably Trichocnemis spiculatus. Scott writes that he would like a clearer photo of the pronotum to know for sure. [There is a similar species, S. pauper, and it would need a close look with a magnifying glass to be sure which it is.  Jeremy]  This is a very large beetle, about 2½ inches in length.  One of its common names is Ponderous Borer.  It also seems sometimes to be called a Pine Sawyer – a name also given to Jochen Moehr’s July 31 beetle!  I have therefore removed any English name from the caption to both beetles and have left them with just a scientific name.  The one below has a long ovipositor!

Trichocnemis spiculatus (Col.: Cerambycidae)  BarbaraMcLintock

Liam Singh sends a photograph of a clearwing moth from Pedder Bay today.  Although it is much yellower than the one on Kathleen Burton’s photograph (see July 26 posting), it is the same species, Synanthedon bibionipennis.  Liam’s is a female; Kathleen’s was a male.  Here are the three indications that Liam’s is a female:

She is fatter (carrying eggs!).  She is much yellower.  The hairs on her labial palpi are all yellow not tipped with brown.  It is remarkable to receive photos of sesiids within a few days of each other.  Strawberry has been recorded as the larval foodplant of S. bibionipennis.  The person who named it bibionipennis (Jean Baptiste Boisduval – of Blue fame) must have thought that the male was a mimic of a St Mark’s Fly (Bibionidae).

Synanthedon bibionipennis (Lep.: Sesiidae)  Liam Singh

Synanthedon bibionipennis (Lep.: Sesiidae)  Liam Singh

2017 July 31

Ken Vaughan photographed the moth below in the Highlands on July 29.  Libby Avis identifies it as Scopula quinquelinearia. She quotes from the new BC Lepidoptera List:

“This taxon (i.e. quinquelinearia) was historically treated as a subspecies of S. junctaria (Walker) but was raised to species status by Pohl et al. (2010).” The 2010 reference is to the revised Alberta Lepidoptera List. Extract from the Alberta appendix below:

Scopula quinquelinearia (Packard, 1870) REVISED STATUS This taxon was treated as a subspecies of S. junctaria (Walker) by Covell (1970). The two taxa are sympatric in southwestern Alberta (Waterton–Crowsnest Pass region), without evidence of intergradation. Molecular data indicate a divergence of about 1.5% (in the “bar code” fragment of the cox1 gene of mitochondrial DNA) between these two southern mountain populations. We therefore revert to treating both as full species.”

You can see one of Libby’s photographs of this new species at

mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=7164.1

Scopula quinquelinearia (Lep.: Geometridae)  Ken Vaughan

Jeremy Tatum photographed a moth at his Saanich apartment this morning:

Xanthorhoe defensaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  There are now to be found, on Lochside Drive north of Blenkinsop Lake, caterpillars of the Red Admiral on the nettles.  Here is one of them:

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   He continues:  At 6:00 pm today there were Painted and West Coast Ladies, and Western Tiger and Anise Swallowtails, at the top of Mount Tolmie.

Jochen Moehr writes:  I spotted this fellow on my driveway in Metchosin:

 Monochamus mutator (Col.: Cerambycidae)  Jochen Moehr

2017 July 30

   Heather Proctor gives a probable identification of the mites on Ren Ferguson’s July 27 photograph of a long water scorpion. Scroll down to July 27 to see.

   Today’s (July 30) issue of the Times-Colonist page D2 carries an item about a nature photographic contest organized by the SPCA.  Proceeds from the competition go towards WildARC.  Insects are included in the eligible subjects. (It doesn’t mention other invertebrates!)  The quality of photographs submitted to our Invert Alert site is exceedingly high.  I would encourage contributors to have a go at the SPCA competition.

   Jeremy Tatum writes that he found a caterpillar of a Red Admiral at Witty Beach Road, Metchosin, today.

   Bill Katz sends a photograph of a Panthea sp. from Goldstream Park.  It closely resembles the moth that I (Jeremy Tatum) posted on June 24 and which I labelled P. virginarius.  However, I am now wondering of both of them might in fact be P. acronyctoides.  Am looking into it, and will post if we make any progress!

Panthea sp. (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Bill Katz

   Bill also photographed a caddisfly at Goldstream:

Caddisfly (Trichoptera)  Bill Katz

   Ren Ferguson photographed a spectacular Sphinx perelegans on her railing on Salt Spring Island, July 29.

Sphinx perelegans (Lep.: Sphingidae)  Ren Ferguson

   Ken Vaughan was busy at Fork Lake in the Highlands on July 29.

Misumena vatia (Ara.: Thomisidae)  Ken Vaughan

Campaea perlata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Ken Vaughan

Hydriomena nevadae (Lep.: Geometridae)  Ken Vaughan

   Of the next one, Ken comments that “it is the neatest geometrid I have seen in a while.”

The caterpillar of this moth is even more remarkable.  We’ll have to look out and see if we can find and photograph one.  I think the colour pattern of the moth is what is called “disruptive coloration”.  It divides the moth into two sharply demarcated areas, neither of which has the shape of any sort of insect or edible morsel.

Nematocampa resistaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Ken Vaughan

Neoalcis californiaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Ken Vaughan

Perizoma curvilinea (Lep.: Geometridae)  Ken Vaughan

Caripeta aequaliarea (Lep.: Geometridae)  Ken Vaughan

   There are still a few photographs in the queue – some of them awaiting identification.