2016 October 12

   After a spell of fine weather, we are now promised several days of fierce storms, so the numbers of invertebrates to be seen will be reduced, and we may have seen our last butterfly of the year.  We’ll keep Invert Alert going through the winter, so keep your contributions coming in, though there may not be postings every day.  I’ll take the opportunity now of thanking the many contributors for the huge variety of observations and photographs – and the very high quality of the photographs – that you have sent in to this site.  And thank you, too, to the several experts who have helped us to identify some of the more puzzling creatures. Thank you all very much – and keep them coming!    Jeremy Tatum

Cheryl Hoyle sends a photograph of a grasshopper from Metchosin, October 10.  Thanks to Claudia Copley for identifying it as Melanoplus sp.

Grasshopper Melanoplus sp. (Orth.: Acrididae)  Cheryl Hoyle

Liam Singh sends a picture of a springtail, Entomobrya intermedia from his Jade Place home.  Not all insects have wings, but those that don’t (example: fleas) have evolved from winged ancestors in the distant past, and they no longer have or need them in their present way of life.  Springtails, on the other hand, are primitively wingless; they did not evolve from winged ancestors.  For this and other reasons, they are no longer considered to be insects.  You can call them entognaths or hexapods, but not insects.  Most people will settle for springtails.

Springtail Entomobrya intermedia (Collembola: Entomobryidae)  Liam Singh

  Since yesterday we have managed to identify Liam’s bark louse shown in yesterday’s posting.  It’s about the same size as the springtail, but it has wings, so it is a genuine insect! Scroll down to October 11 to see the identification.

2016 October 11

    Some interesting photographs came in today.  Here are a few.  The others are awaiting identification, and we hope to have them up soon.

   Cheryl Hoyle sends a photograph of a Western Conifer Seed Bug from View Royal.

Western Conifer Seed Bug Leptoglossus occidentalis (Hem.: Coreidae) Cheryl Hoyle

Liam Singh sends photographs of a jumping spider and a bark louse.  The latter is quite a tiny insect, so Liam did well to photograph it.   Thanks to Dr E. Mockford for identifying it.

Bark louse  Ectopsocus californicus (Pso.: Ectopsocidae)  Liam Singh

2106 October 10

   Mike Yip sends a photograph of a Western Conifer Seed Bug from his Nanoose Bay house, October 3.

Western Conifer Seed Bug Leptoglossus occidentalis (Hem.: Coreidae) Mike Yip

   Jeremy Tatum writes:   There are lots of Banded Woolly Bears to be seen about now.  Panama Flats seems to be a particularly good location, though anyone who has visited that area recently may wonder if it will continue to be so.  As I have noted in previous years, there are many dead and squashed woolly bears on the paths, both at Panama Flats and at other locations, such as Blenkinsop Lake, or Martindale Flats.  There seem to be many more dead caterpillars than would be expected from their being accidentally trodden upon.  I fear that many people, on seeing this conspicuous caterpillar scurrying across a path, automatically go out of their way to stomp on it for no particular reason.

  The butterfly season is almost at a close, even for Cabbage Whites.  However, I saw one yesterday (October 9) along Pear Street, Saanich, so there are still a few around.  Who will be the last to see and report one to Invert Alert?  In 2014 the last Cabbage White was reported on November 10.  In 2015 the last Cabbage White was reported on October 22 – but that was not the last butterfly of the year.  That title in 2015 went to a Red Admiral on November 2.

2016 October 8

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I show below two photographs of a chrysalis of the Two-banded Grizzled Skipper, resulting from an ovum that Devon Parker found in the spring.  This hardly counts as an “alert” and strictly should not be allowed!  I couldn’t get my camera to where the caterpillar had hidden itself earlier on, but today, while preparing my pupae for the winter, I was forced to move it, so I took the opportunity of photographing it.  I thought I should post the photos, because I doubt if the pupa of this species has been photographed very often.

   I also post a photograph of an Indian Meal Moth from a corridor wall in my Saanich apartment building this morning.

Two-banded Grizzled Skipper Pyrgus ruralis (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Two-banded Grizzled Skipper Pyrgus ruralis (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Indian Meal Moth Plodia interpunctella (Lep.: Pyralidae) Jeremy Tatum

2016 October 5

   Ann Scarfe found a caterpillar of a dagger moth at Pedder Bay today:

Acronicta dactylina (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Ann Scarfe

   Rosemary Jorna writes: There were many dragonflies of at least three different species out at Camp Bernard today, October 5, but this Paddle-tailed Darner was the only one who paused.

 Paddle-tailed Darner Aeshna palmata (Odo.: Aeshnidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Rosemary continues:  This spider is one of many of the same hanging round our yard and everywhere right now, Kemp Lake Road, October 5, 2016.

 Araneus diadematus (Ara.: Araneidae)  Rosemary Jorna