2015 April 2

   Scott Gilmore sends photographs of a looper caterpillar that he found on a Douglas Fir in Upper Lantzville yesterday.

Neoalcis californiaria (Lep.: Geometridae) Scott Gilmore

Neoalcis californiaria (Lep.: Geometridae) Scott Gilmore

   Libby Avis writes:  I’m sending along a couple of March Flies, female on the left and male on the right. The genus is Bibio but I don’t know the species. Quite distinctive because the males’ eyes are so much larger than the females’. Came across a number of these on the Log Train Trail in Port Alberni yesterday.

   Jeremy Tatum comments: Although these are often called March Flies, in our area they are usually most noticeable in April.  The group is named after a common European species, Bibio marci, which does not mean “of March”.  Rather, it means “of Mark”, so called because the species is often abundant near to St Mark’s Day, which is April 25, and they are perhaps better referred to as St Mark’s flies.

St Mark’s fly  Bibio sp. (Dip.: Bibionidae)  Libby Avis