This blog provides an informal forum for terrestrial invertebrate watchers to post recent sightings of interesting observations in the southern Vancouver Island region. Please send your sightings by email to Jeremy Tatum (tatumjb352@gmail.com). Be sure to include your name, phone number, the species name (common or scientific) of the invertebrate you saw, location, date, and number of individuals. If you have a photograph you are willing to share, please send it along. Click on the title above for an index of past sightings.The index is updated most days.

2024 February 13

2024 February 13

    At last, after navigating through the difficulties of installing a new computer system and transferring files from one to the other, I believe Invertebrate Alert is now almost back in business. The one thing still remaining to do is to update the Index. I haven’t managed to update that since February 5 – I am still working on it (writes Jeremy Tatum).

 

   Ian Cooper sends a photograph of a springtail from View Royal, Feb 07 2024, and some recent spiders.  We thank Dr Robb Bennett for help with identifying the spiders.

 

Springtail  Orchesella cincta (Coll.: Orchesellidae)    Ian Cooper

 

 

Of the first two spiders below, Dr Bennett writes:  They are most likely a conspecific male and female pair. The female is definitely a Neriene – enough of the epigyne is visible in the side view to confirm the genus. Probably N. digna but I’m not positive without being able to examine the beasts. So, “Neriene sp.”

 

Male Neriene sp. (Ara.:  Linyphiidae – Linyphiinae)  Ian Cooper

Female Neriene sp. (Ara.:  Linyphiidae – Linyphiinae)  Ian Cooper

 

Next – another linyphiine, probably again Neriene:


Probably Neriene (Ara.: Linyphiidae – Linyphiinae)  Ian Cooper

 

Of the last one, below,  Ian writes:  I recognized this spider as soon as I saw it, but was not able to get a good side photo of it because it retreated to a crevice at the back of the hollow it was set up in when my camera’s flash went off. I’ll likely have further opportunities to photograph it in future, as these spiders tend to stay put.

Pimoa altioculata (Ara: Pimoidae)  Ian Cooper

 

More tomorrow…