2024 April 6

   Ian Cooper sends photographs of a velvet mite and a globose springtail:

Velvet Mite  (Acari:  Trombidiidae)  Ian Cooper

Globose springtail, Ptenothrix sp. (Coll.: Dicyrtomidae)   Ian Cooper

Jeremy Tatum writes:

On January 4, I made some preliminary remarks about the Annotated Taxonomic Checklist (ATC) of the Lepidoptera of North America North of Mexico edited by Gregory Pohl and Stephen Nanz.   I have now had time to go through the butterflies as our local species are affected by the ATC.  I shall be following the ATC when I prepare the 2024 Butterfly Report (in January 2025).

English names of our butterflies are not affected by the ATC,  except that the Western and Brown Elfins are now lumped, so we should now call them all Brown Elfins.  I also suggest below that we should call our Coenonympha the California Ringlet.

There are several changes in sequence, which I shall not list here, but the new sequence will become apparent when I produce the 2024 butterfly report.

The following are the changes in the scientific names of butterflies that I have detected in the ATC.  (I have not tackled the moths.)

The Hesperiidae (formerly included in a now no longer used Superfamily Hesperioidea) are now included in the Superfamily Papilioidea.  What this means when re-written in English with the long words removed, is that you can now happily call the skippers butterflies.

Th Arctic Skipper  is no longer considered to be the same species as the European Chequered Skipper C. palaemon.  It is now either C. mandan or C. skada.  It is not yet clear which of these two names apply to the Vancouver Island butterflies.  Arctic Skipper is not a particularly good name, since it is by no means even approximately restricted to the Arctic.

The Common and Western Branded Skippers are treated as separate species in the ATC, and I shall (admittedly with some reluctance) be following that here.  The Common Branded Skipper (known as the Silver-spotted Skipper in the UK) is Hesperia comma.  This species may occur on Vancouver Island, but the colony on Cordova Spit is believed to be the Western Branded Skipper Hesperia colorado.

The tiger swallowtails are no longer in Papilio, but are now in Pterourus.   This not a new-fangled name.  It is the genus they used to belong to before they were (inexplicably) lumped with other quite different  butterflies in Papilio.

The Purplish Copper is now Tharsalea helloides.

Mitoura and Incisalia are now subgenera of the enlarged genus Callophrys.
Thus, we now have:
Cedar Hairstreak:  Callophrys (Mitoura) gryneus.          Formerly Mitoura rosneri.
Western Pine Elfin:  Callophrys (Incisalia) eryphon.      Formerly Incisalia eryphon.
Moss’s Elfin:  Callophrys (Incsialia) mossii.                      Formerly Incisaloa mossii.
Brown Elfin:  Callophrys (Incisalia) augustinus.              Formerly Incisalia iroides.

The name augustinus is not a new-fangled name.  It is merely returning the Brown Elfin to its former species name before it suffered from lot of unnecessary “splitting”.

 The small and large fritillaries are now in the Subfamily Heliconiinae.  (Surprising?)

The larger fritillaries (Zerene, Hydaspe) are now in the genus Argynnis, with Speyeria being regarded as a subgenus.  This now agrees with European practice.

The “Ringlet” has long caused nomenclatural problems, and such problems are doubtless not yet over. The ATC lists four species of Coenonympha, two of which do not concern us.  The remainder consists of a huge Holarctic assemblage of numerous forms and populations referred to as the “tullia complex”.  The ATC treats this complex as consisting of just two species – Coenonympha tullia and C. california.  The former has three named subspecies. The latter has numerous subspecies and synonyms. (A rough quick count came to about 30.)  The ATC does not specifically indicate to which species our Vancouver Island population belongs, but I think it is intended that our butterflies are C. california, and, if Invertebrate Alert is to follow ATC usage, this is the name that we should henceforth use.

The ATC does not deal with English names, so we are left with the question as to what English name we should use.   “Ringlet” is not ideal, since that name is used in the UK for a quite different species.  I have sometimes suggested that we should use the UK name “Large Heath” – but that won’t do, for Large Heath is C. tullia, and our butterfly is no longer tullia.  We might use “Ringlet” with an adjective in front of it. The problem then is – what adjective?  I suppose the obvious solution is to call our butterfly the California Ringlet.

Generally, the use of special English names for subspecies is to be discouraged – but if we do use an English name for a subspecies, we might follow what the birdwatchers do, and use parentheses and quotation marks, as in Yellow-rumped (“Myrtle”) Warbler.  The English name for our western yellow-throated population of this bird has problems of its own, for it is Incorrect.  I suppose the day will come when Lorquin’s Admiral and Milbert’s Tortoiseshell will also suffer from Incorrectness.

2024 April 5

    Jeff Gaskin writes: Today, April 5th, there were two Mourning Cloaks at Panama Flats.  I saw one with Les Peterson in the south-east end of the flats and Les saw the other one by the gravel trail next to Interurban Road.

Val George writes:  This Drepanulatrix moth (secundaria? monicaria?) was on the wall of my Oak Bay house this morning, April 5.   Jeremy Tatum agrees:  Yes, I can’t tell the difference between monicaria  and secundaria, either, though this one does look a lot like monicaria.  It’s a male, anyway – see the bipectinate antennae.

Drepanulatrix monicaria/secundaria  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Val George

Here are more miscellanea from Ian Cooper.  It’s amazing, the number of creatures under our feet that most of us never notice.   Thanks to Robert Forsyth, Heather Proctor, Robb Bennett for help with the identification of the slugs/snail, mite, spider, respectively.

First, a Leopard Slug.  Compare this unspotted variety with the very spotted one shown on April 2.  Is the April 2 one what gave Rudyard Kipling the inspiration for How the Leopard Got His Spots?

Limax maximus (Pul.: Limacidae)  Ian Cooper

Another pair of slugs below in a tender moment. Labelled Deroceras panorbitanum in earlier photographs in this site of this species,  Robert Forsyth tells us that recent work has led to the recognition that P. panorbitanum is a Sicilian endemic, and the species that we have here is P. invadens.

 Deroceras invadens  (Pul.: Agriolimacidae)  Ian Cooper

Vespericola columbianus  (Pul.:  Polygyridae)   Ian Cooper

If anyone is unsure about the statement that millepedes have two pairs of legs on each segment, have a look at the millepede below.

Flat millepede Scytonotus sp. (Diplopoda:  Polydesmidae)   Ian Cooper

Velvet Mite  (Acari:  Trombidiidae)  Ian Cooper

Female linyphiine spider (Ara.:  Linyphiidae – Linyphiinae)  Ian Cooper

2024 April 4

  More biodiversity from Ian Cooper:

Steatoda sp. Possibly Steatoda bipunctata (Ara.: Theridiidae)   Ian Cooper

Rugathodes sexpunctatus (Ara.: Theridiidae)   Ian Cooper

Female Pimoa altioculata (Ara: Pimoidae) guarding her egg sac.   Ian Cooper

Two Grey Field Slugs in copula – Deroceras reticulatum (Pul.: Agriolimacidae)
Ian Cooper

Millepede.   Class Diplopoda.  Order probably Julida
Ian Cooper

Globose springtail, Ptenothrix sp. (Coll.: Dicyrtomidae)   Ian Cooper

2024 April 3

  Ian Cooper sends photographs of a variety of insects.  We don’t attempt to identify them to species, since they would all require specialist knowledge, but we are grateful to Dr Rob Cannings who has identified the flies to Family level.   If any viewer can go further with the identification of these insects, please let us know.

  Diptera – Sciaridae          Ian Cooper

Diptera – Sciaridae          Ian Cooper

Diptera – probably Heleomyzidae     Ian Cooper

The next is a crane fly, but not the common and familiar Tipula paludosa.

 Diptera  –  Tipulidae      Ian Cooper

   The next is a hymenopterous insect (wasp) scavenging on the flesh of a dead mouse.  It would be most interesting to know what it is, even just to Family level. We hope that some viewer might be able to help us.

      Hymenoptera      Ian Cooper

Hymenoptera      Ian Cooper

2024 April 2

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  A Mourning Cloak was at Quick’s Bottom this morning, April 2nd, –  the only butterfly that was there.

Ian Cooper photographed this slug at Colquitz River Park, March 28.  We had wondered whether it might be Arion silvaticus – but Robert Forsyth writes:  “Identifying Arion within each of the subgenera is really risky, or just impossible. Arion silvaticus is not a species that I’ve ever been able to validate as being here. There’s a study that shows that body pigmentation can be affected by diet (although I’m unsure that the dotting on the mantle, typical in A. circumscriptus, is also affected), so ‘traditional’ use of body colour probably doesn’t work. Dissection (or DNA) is needed for determining species with accuracy.”  And after seeing the photograph Robert continues: “It could be, or it could be A. fasciatus. But I also notice that this is a very young slug (judging by the size of the fern fronds; I assume that this is on a Sword Fern). So that may complicate matters further. For example, the large, black Arion is pale and banded when very young (not saying that this is one).

So – while A. silvaticus is a possibility, we shall just label this one, for the time being,  Arion sp.   The tiny insect to the right of the slug’s head is a springtail.

Arion sp.  (Ara.: Arionidae)  Ian Cooper

Ian’s next slug is a little easier to identify.  It is Limax maximus, photographed at Colquitz River Park before dawn this morning, April 2nd.  It has borne several English names, such as Giant Garden Slug, Great Grey Slug (the one below isn’t very grey!) and Leopard Slug.

Limax maximus (Pul.: Limacidae)  Ian Cooper

Limax maximus (Pul.: Limacidae)  Ian Cooper

The next animal is another difficult one.  Dr Robb Bennett writes:   A male linyphiine linyphiid of uncertain genus affinity. Would need some clear images of its pedipalps to make identification progress.

Male linyphiine spider  (Ara.: Linyphiidae – Linyphiinae)   Ian Cooper