2022 June 6 afternoon

    Jochen Möhr writes:   An exodus of a colony of what I only know as “Sugar Ants”.  They are exceedingly tiny, perhaps something like 3 mm long, they are very vivid, and they were running up one of the corners of the home we are in.  Many were carrying tiny white specs.  I think they were transporting their larvae to the new home.  

Ants carrying larvae (Hym.: Formicidae)  Jochen Möhr

2022 June 6 morning

    Val George sends a photograph of a young female Dot-tailed Whiteface at the Munn Road Ponds, June 1.   Thanks to Dr Rob Cannings for confirming Val’s identification.

Dot-tailed Whiteface Leucorrhinia intacta (Odo.: Libellulidae)   Val George

Jeremy  Tatum sends a photograph of a micro moth reared from Armenian Blackberry, and identified by Libby Avis as Ditula angustiorana:

Ditula angustiorana (Lep.:  Tortricidae)  Jeremy Tatum

In spite of yesterday’s (June 5) wet weather, Gordon Hart saw a Pale Tiger Swallowtail in the Highlands during a brief sunny spell around mid-day.

2022 June 5

    Aziza Cooper sends a picture of a large crane fly in her Saanich apartment today:

Tipula pubera (Dip.: Tipulidae)  Aziza Cooper

   Ron Flower sends photographs of two moths from his Royal Oak home, June 3.

Autographa californica (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Ron Flower

Triphosa haesitata  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Ron Flower

  The sharp-eyed will see what looks like a bdelloid mite just above the midpoint of the leading edge of the righthand forewing.

2022 June 4

   Jochen Möhr sends a photograph of a bumble bee from Metchosin.  We thank Steven Roias and Gordon Hart for confirming it as Bombus melanopygus.

Bombus melanopygus (Hym.: Apidae)  Jochen Möhr

2022 June 3

Hello, Butterfly Watchers,

As per the VNHS calendar ( https://www.vicnhs.bc.ca/?page_id=1518 ) and page 18 in the Victoria Naturalist, there is a Butterfly Walk scheduled for this Sunday, June 5.

We meet at the top of Mount Tolmie by the reservoir, at 1.00 p.m. You can park in the parking lot there, or in the large lot north of the summit. After a look around the summit, and depending on the weather, we will decide on a destination from there. 

You can review Vancouver Island butterflies at Val George’s new website : https://vancouverislandbutterflies.com/

 Here’s hoping the weather forecast improves by Sunday!

 Gordon Hart,

 Butterfly count coordinator

Victoria Natural History Society

Gordon Hart

hartgordon19@gmail.com

   Aziza Cooper writes:  On June 2, I went to the railroad tracks near Goldstream campground. I found about 16 Western Spring Azures and a Cinnabar Moth. 

Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Cinnabar Moth Tyria jacobaeae (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)  Aziza Cooper

   Jody Wells sends a photograph of a crab spider from the Highlands, May 27.  Dr Robb Bennett writes: It’s one of the very flattened types of thomisid crab spiders, either Coriarachne brunneipes or Bassaniana utahensis. It’s hard to differentiate between the two on the basis of habitus images like Jody’s but my first guess is C. brunneipes.

Probably Coriarachne brunneipes though perhaps Bassaniana utahensis  (Ara.: Thomisidae)

Jody Wells

   Jochen Möhr sends a photograph of a tent caterpillar.  You wouldn’t think there would be any question about the spelling of the scientific name of such a common and familiar insect as this – yet some references spell it Malacosoma californicum and others spell it californica.  I can think (writes Jeremy Tatum) of several arguments in favour of each.  You’d think the “correct” spelling should be –a, yet, in the original published description it was spelled –um.  The Rule (I think) is that the original spelling must prevail, even if the author got it “wrong” – unless the author’s mistake was obviously “inadvertent”, in which case it should be corrected.  To deal with this difficult case, I tossed a coin and it came out –um.

Malacosoma californicum (Lep.: Lasiocampidae)  Jochen Möhr