2016 September 8

   Aziza Cooper sends photographs of a moth and a snail, both photographed on September 7.  The moth was on the wall of the Bob Wright Building at UVic.  It is the July Highflyer, an exceedingly variable Holarctic species.  So great is the range of variation in the July Highflyer that it took some time to recognize this one for what it is. The snail was at Fort Rodd. It is the Pacific Sideband Snail, also known as the Faithful Snail.

July Highflyer Hydriomena furcata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Aziza Cooper

Pacific Sideband Monadelia fidelis (Pul.: Bradybaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  There are still lots of Cabbage Whites around.  Also, I have noted, in several places, nests or tents of the Fall Webworm.  These are not at all related to the “tent caterpillars” that we get in the spring.  Here is a photograph of a Fall Webworm caterpillar in its penultimate instar from an alder at Maber Flats today.  Being a species of woolly bear, it was very active, and I just got a not-very-good photo indoors.

Fall Webworm Hyphantria cunea (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)  Jeremy Tatum