Invertebrate Alert – Page 93 – Victoria Natural History Society

2023 July 13

2023 July 13

Yesterday, Cheryl Hoyle photographed a spider and a moth in View Royal. Thanks to Dr Robb Bennett for identifying the spider.

Mouse Spider Scotophaeus blackwalli (Ara.: Gnaphosidae) Cheryl Hoyle

Choristoneura rosaceana (Lep.: Tortricidae) Cheryl Hoyle

Jeremy Tatum writes: I saw a Mourning Cloak in Uplands Park today (July 13). Also, I visited Mount Tolmie at 4:30 pm this afternoon, and there were no butterflies on the concrete surface of the reservoir. 4:30 may have been too early – if you were to visit the reservoir at 5:30 or later, there would probably still be hill-topping nymphalids there. However, a nice surprise, just outside the entrance to the reservoir was a fresh Anise Swallowtail.

2023 July 12

2023 July 12

Gordon Hart writes: While Swallowtails and Lorquin’s Admirals continue, I saw my first of the year Woodland Skippers on Monday July 10, nectaring on Lavender. I believe this one is a male. [Gordon has noticed the androconia sex brand as well as the costal fold.]

Woodland Skipper Ochlodes sylvanoides (Lep.: Hesperiidae)
Gordon Hart

Jeremy Tatum shows two chrysalids:

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

Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Jeremy Tatum

“Chrysalis” is the informal word we use for the pupa of a butterfly (not so often of a moth). What is the plural of chrysalis? You have three choices. It is perfectly OK to use the normal English way of forming a plural: chrysalises. Or you may use the Greek plural: chrysalides (four syllables, stress on the second.) This is often used in writing, though I don’t often hear this version spoken. The most usual plural used by butterfly enthusiasts (and the one I usually use) is chrysalids. This isn’t quite English or quite Greek, and probably has little etymological justification – but it seems to have established itself as the usual spoken version. There is no such word as chrysalid.

2023 July 11

2023 July 11

Anne Ashley photographed this grasshopper today in her Wilmer Street garden:

Dissosteira carolina (Orth.: Acrididae) Anne Ashley

Jeremy Tatum writes that at 4:30 this afternoon one each of the three Vanessas – Painted Lady, West Coast Lady, Red Admiral – were still on the Mount Tolmie reservoir, while two more Painted Ladies flew around the Jeffery Pine.

We have not finished yet this year with Red Admirals and Mourning Cloaks. Here is a Red Admiral caterpillar, and a Mourning Cloak caterpillar preparing to pupate. The adult butterflies should be out in a few weeks.

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

Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Jeremy Tatum

We shall have to wait until next Spring, however, to see the moth arising from this caterpillar:

Egira crucialis (Lep.: Noctuidae) Jeremy Tatum

Val George has been having a number of Chlorochroa ligata Stink Bugs on his raspberry plants in Oak Bay. Here is an adult and a nymph of the same species.

Chlorochroa ligata (Hem.: Pentatomidae) Val George