2016 August 8

HOLIDAY!

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Just a reminder that I’m going on holiday – to England – tomorrow, and consequently I shall not be running Invertebrate Alert until I get back on August 27.   By all means continue to send in observations and photographs during this time (but they will not be processed or posted until I get back), but please try and restrict yourselves to truly noteworthy observations and your best photographs, and try not to overwhelm me with oodles of photographs of our most frequently-photographed insects!

It will still be of interest, of course, to try and record the dates of the latest Lorquin’s Admiral and Western Tiger Swallowtails.  That reminds me that I saw a Lorquin’s Admiral at UVic today, shortly before I came into the office to type this posting.  And Jeff Gaskin reports a Western Tiger Swallowtail today from Gorge Park across from Millgrove Avenue.

Gordon Hart reports on yesterday’s (August 7) VNHS Butterfly Walk as follows:

Despite a cloudy start to the day, by 1 p.m. the sun had appeared and we saw our first butterfly on Mount Tolmie- the Anise Swallowtail around the fennel at the summit. [Jeremy Tatum remarks: The Anise Swallowtail is at least partially bivoltine, so it is quite possible that it may be thinking of laying eggs on the Fennel there.  Might be worth searching for.]   Two more butterfliers (Val George and Aziza Cooper) joined me and we went out to Island View Beach, where we found at least 10 Ringlets (Large Heaths) in the meadows along the way, and a total of 15-20 by the end of the trip. We did not find any Purplish Coppers so perhaps their season is over. We arrived at the spit by the sewage plant parking lot and saw lots of Woodland Skippers. We started looking at each skipper carefully. Val found the first Western Branded Skipper, I found one sunning on the path and Aziza found a third one nearby. These were all along the fence line on the way out to the tip of the spit in the general area where Steve Ansell and Val had seen them recently. The only other butterflies we saw were four Cabbage Whites.  Later, Aziza saw a Red Admiral back at Mount Tolmie.

Western Branded Skipper Hesperia colorado (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Gordon Hart

Western Branded Skipper Hesperia colorado (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Aziza Cooper

   Aziza adds:  Sand Wasps with banded abdomens were common on Gumweed north of Island View Beach.

Sand Wasp Bembix americana (Hym.: Crabronidae – Bembicinae) Aziza Cooper

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I recently had a little discussion with Sean McCann about the spelling of Bembix.  Bembix, Bembex and Bembyx are all to be seen, and each of these spellings could be defended as the “correct” one.   Current usage, at least in North America, seems to favour Bembix.

Annie Pang sends a photograph of a colourful male sweat bee (Halictidae) from Gorge Park, August 7, identified by Annie as Agapostemon texanus.

Agapostemon texanus (Hym.: Halictidae)   Annie Pang

 Agapostemon texanus (Hym.: Halictidae)   Annie Pang