2016 June 5 morning

Monthly Butterfly Walk.  Quick last-minute reminder.  All welcome.  Meet at the top of Mount Tolmie at 1:00 p.m. today, Sunday June 5.  Destination to be decided then.

   Elizabeth Garrett sends a photograph of a Sheep Moth caterpillar.  Beware, if you see any of these – they can give you a rash if you handle them!

Sheep Moth Hemileuca eglanterina (Lep.: Saturniidae)  Wylie Thomas

Here’s the upperside of the moth photographed by Devon Parker on May 31 (June 1 posting) near Jordan River.  This enables us to identify it with certainty as Drasteria divergens.

Drasteria divergens (Lep.: Erebidae – Erebinae)  Devon Parker

Here is a beetle from Devon’s May 31 Jordan River trip. Thanks to Charlene Wood for identifying it as Ditylus quadricollis.

False blister beetle Ditylus quadricollis (Col.: Oedemeridae)   Devon Parker

Annie Pang sends a photograph of a long-horned bee identified by Linc R. Best as Melissodes sp.

Melissodes sp.: (Hym.: Apidae)  Annie Pang

Aziza Cooper writes:  A visit with Moralea Milne to the Jordan Rover area on June 4 resulted in:

Clodius Parnassian – 1

Pale Tiger Swallowtail – 1

comma – 8 or more – possibly Green Comma

Western Brown Elfin – 6

Western Pine Elfin – 2

Two-banded Grizzled Skipper – 1

blues: 4 or more of at least two species.

Johnson’s Hairstreak – 1

Mylitta Crescent – 1

Johnson’s Hairstreak Loranthomitoura johnsoni (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Maybe Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo

(Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

  In an earlier version of this posting, I asked viewers to suggest what the butterfly in the above photograph is.  Opinion seems to be gravitating towards Western Spring Azure.  I’ll go along with that – Jeremy Tatum