2020 July 8

 

   Rosemary Jorna sends pictures of a beetle and two bees to challenge us.  Scott Gilmore kindly identified the beetle as a female Rugose Stag Beetle Sinodendron rugosum.

 

Female Rugose Stag Beetle Sinodendron rugosum (Col.: Lucanidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   This bumble bee will, I think, have to remain Bombus sp.

 

Bombus sp.  (Hym.: Apidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   We are grateful to  Annie Pang, who points out that the tiny bee below is carrying a ball of pollen on its hind legs, which marks it as belonging to the Family Apidae (the same family as the Honey Bee, all our Bumble Bees as well as a few other bee genera).  As well, its dark, nearly hairless body, combined with its tiny size (Rosemary estimates half a cm), marks it as a Ceratina species, common name “Small Carpenter Bee”.  Unlike their more “fuzzy” cousins in the Apidae family of bees, Ceratina bees do not make the best pollinators, especially the males.  Their lack of body hair and their tiny size do not allow for much transfer of pollen from one plant to another as they nectar and collect pollen.

 

 

 

Small Carpenter Bee Ceratina sp.  (Hym.: Apidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   Jochen Möhr’s moths from Metchosin this morning:

 

 

 

Maybe Eudonia commortalis (Lep.: Crambidae)

Jochen Möhr

Drepanulatrix secundaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Pasiphila rectangulata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Eulithis xylina (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Stenoporpia excelsaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

    Tracy Hueppelsheuser of the BC Ministry of Agriculture in Abbotsford is interested in records of crane flies of all species, so please keep a look out for them and try to get good-quality close-up photographs, which we’ll post here and forward to Tracy.  Here are a couple from Jochen in Metchosin.  We’ll add identifications if and when we know what species they are.

 

Crane fly (Dip.: Tipulidae)   Jochen Möhr

Crane fly (Dip.: Tipulidae)   Jochen Möhr