2023 June 28 evening

   Judy Smith found this caterpillar on her lettuces in Grant Street, Victoria.  We thank Libby Avis for identifying it as Peridroma saucia.  The caterpillar is known as the Variegated Cutworm¸ and the adult as the Pearly Underwing.  Libby has been seeing lots of adults at light in Port Alberni for a few weeks now.

  Peridroma saucia  (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Jeremy Tatum shows a Satyr Comma, just emerged from its chrysalis today.  It was released along the Lochside Trail, north of Blenkinsop Lake.  This is a male.  Compare it with the female shown on June 26 morning.  The underside of the male is more “scribbly” than that of the female.

Male Satyr Comma  Polygonia satyrus  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)
Jeremy Tatum

Jeremy Tatum reports a Red Admiral on the Mount Tolmie reservoir at 5:00 pm today, June 28.

2023 June 28 morning

We start with three photographs by Cheryl Hoyle in View Royal.  Thanks to Libby Avis for identifying the moths, and Thomas Barbin for confirming the spider.  The moth Pasiphila rectangulata is commonly known as the Green Pug.  True pugs are the genus Eupithecia – but Pasiphila is a closely related genus, so Green Pug stands!   They are usually greener than this one, which is a grey form.

Green Pug  Pasiphila rectangulata (Lep.: Geometridae)
Cheryl Hoyle

Lacinipolia patalis (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

Platycryptus californicus (Ara.: Salticidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

Two bugs and a bee from Ian Cooper:

Chlorochroa sp. (Hem.: Pentatomidae)  Ian Cooper

Eurygaster amerinda (Hem.: Scutelleridae)  Ian Cooper

Andrena sp. (Hym.: Andrenidae)   Ian Cooper

And some young caterpillars from Jeremy Tatum:

Polyphemus Moth Antheraea polyphemus (Lep.: Saturniidae)  Jeremy Tatum

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

2023 June 27

   Ian Cooper photographed this clearwing moth along the E&N trail in View Royal, June 26.  Thanks to Libby Avis for confirmation of Ian’s identification as Synanthedon bibionipennis.  Libby writes that she saw a lot of them along the Somass Estuary on June 25.

Synanthedon bibionipennis (Lep.: Sesiidae) Ian Cooper

Kirsen Mills sends a photograph of a Pacific Forktail and a Cardinal Meadowhawk:

Pacific Forktail Ischnura cervula (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)
Kirsten Mills

Cardinal Meadowhawk  Sympetrum illotum  (Odo.: Libellulidae) Kirsten Mills

Ian Cooper photographed a colourful spider.  He writes: This extremely fast-moving spider spotted running frantically through the ground vegetation by the E&N Trail was one of the more unusual species I saw on June 26.  Dr Robb Bennett writes: Wow! – one of our most photogenic spiders. One of the species of Castianeira ant mimics. I have trouble telling them apart without a microscope but it’s probably either C. longipalpa or C. walsinghami. They are actually fairly common but often mistaken for ants.

Castianeira longipalpa/walsinghami  (Ara.: Corinnidae)
Ian Cooper

2023 June 27 morning

   Ian Cooper photographed this clearwing moth along the E&N trail in View Royal, June 26.  Thanks to Libby Avis for confirmation of Ian’s identification as Synanthedon bibionipennis.  Libby writes that she saw a lot of them along the Somass Estuary on June 25.

Synanthedon bibionipennis (Lep.: Sesiidae) Ian Cooper

Kirsen Mills sends a photograph of a Pacific Forktail and a Cardinal Meadowhawk:

Pacific Forktail Ischnura cervula (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)
Kirsten Mills

Cardinal Meadowhawk  Sympetrum illotum  (Odo.: Libellulidae) Kirsten Mills

   Ian Cooper photographed a colourful spider.  He writes: This extremely fast-moving spider spotted running frantically through the ground vegetation by the E&N Trail was one of the more unusual species I saw on June 26.  Dr Robb Bennett writes: Wow! – one of our most photogenic spiders. One of the species of Castianeira ant mimics. I have trouble telling them apart without a microscope but it’s probably either C. longipalpa or C. walsinghami. They are actually fairly common but often mistaken for ants.

Castianeira longipalpa/walsinghami  (Ara.: Corrinidae)
Ian Cooper

2023 June 26 evening
The latest sunset of the year.  About 9:20 pm PDT.  As from tomorrow, the evenings will start to draw in.  (But for a while, by less than a minute per day.)

Jeremy Tatum writes:  Still lots of butterfly activity at the Mount Tolmie reservoir, 5:00 pm.  Pale and Western Tiger Swallowtails, Lorquin’s Admirals, Painted Ladies, West Coast Lady.

Here’s another selection of interesting invertebrates from Ian Cooper:

Male Common Earwig Forficula auricularia (Derm.: Forficulidae)

Female Common Earwig Forficula auricularia
(Derm.: Forficulidae)
Ian Cooper
Notice the shapes of the cerci in the two sexes.

Common Pillbug Armadillidium vulgare  (Isopoda: Armdillidiidae) Ian Cooper

European Sowbug  Oniscus asellus (Isopoda: Oniscidae)
Ian Cooper

Banasa Stink Bug Banasa dimiata
(Hem.: Pentatomidae)
Ian Cooper

 Meadow Spittle Bug  Philaenus spumarius (Hem.: Cercopidae)
Ian Cooper

Meadow Spittle Bug  Philaenus spumarius (Hem.: Cercopidae)
Ian Cooper

Notice that the word “Bug” is a separate word for the three true bugs (Hemiptera), but are attached to another word in the isopods – much in the same way that we write drone fly, hover fly, etc., for true flies, but dragonfly, butterfly, stonefly, etc. for insects that are not true flies.