2021 May 9

   Sid and Rosemary Jorna have been photographing spiders in their Kemp Lake property – and Dr Robb  Bennett has identified them for us.  Of the first one, Dr Bennett writes:  This is the introduced species Dysdera crocata, which the British call the slater slayer because of its taste for woodlice.

Dysdera crocata (Ara.:  Dysderidae)  Sid Jorna

Philodromus rufus (Ara.: Philodromidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Jochen Möhr writes that he had no moths at all at his home in Metchosin this morning, but he had a pretty Buprestis aurulenta.

Buprestis aurulenta (Col.: Buprestidae)  Jochen Möhr

   Jeremy Tatum supposes that the Stinging Nettle developed its stings to discourage animals feeding on it.  If so, it wasn’t entirely successful, for there are many butterfly and moth caterpillars, as well as small beetles, that feed on nettles.  Here is a caterpillar that I found on Stinging Nettle earlier this year, near Blenkinsop Lake.  Its translucent appearance suggested to me that it might be a crambid.

Udea profundalis (Lep.: Crambidae)   Jeremy Tatum

   The adult moth emerged today, and I released it near where the caterpillar was found

Udea profundalis (Lep.: Crambidae)   Jeremy Tatum

   Here is another ordinary-looking green nettle-eating caterpillar.  It could be any of dozens of species, and is doubless impossible to identify.  But wait!  The caterpillar is far from ordinary. What special feature is apparent on this caterpillar that tells us that it is a species of Hypena?   It case you don’t spot it, I’ll post the answer in a few days.

Hypena californica  (Lep.:  Erebidae – Hypeninae)  Jeremy Tatum

2021 May 8

   Jochen Möhr sends a photograph of a moth from Metchosin, May 7:

Litholomia napaea (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Jochen Möhr

   Rosemary Jorna sends one from Playfair Park, Victoria.  This one proved a bit tricky, but Libby Avis and Jeremy Gatten both agree upon Annaphila decia – a first for this site.

 Annaphila decia (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Rosemary Jorna

Elisabeth Ruiter found this caterpillar munching in her apple tree in Cowichan:

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Elisabeth Ruiter

Jochen reports a rather worn Smerinthus ophthalmica  from Metchosin:

Smerinthus ophthalmica (Lep.: Sphingidae)

2021 May 6

   Rosemary Jorna, Kemp Lake, sends a photograph of a spider.  Dr Robb Bennett writes:  It’s an amaurobiid, almost certainly Callobius pictus. The relatively light coloration and the blocky light abdominal marks are usually sufficient to identify this species in our area. The other local candidate, Callobius severus, is very much darker and hairier. Both are common Vancouver Island species, especially in Douglas-fir woodlands.

Callobius pictus (Ara.: Amaurobiidae)  Rosemary Jochen

  Yesterday, writes Jeremy Tatum, we showed a photograph of a butterfly, and I wrote that it was difficult to identify because I could see only the upperside.  Today we have a photograph of a moth, and I write that it is difficult to identify because I can see only the underside.  By this time, viewers will be thinking:  My!  –  Some folks are hard to please !   Well, fortunately Jochen Möhr saw the upperside before he photographed the moth in Metchosin, and saw that it is Xanthorhoe defensaria.

Xanthorhoe defensaria  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

    Jochen also sends a photograph of a pug (Eupithecia sp.)   Pugs can be hard to identify, writes Jeremy Tatum, and I have a bad habit of calling any that look a bit like this one E. annulata.  I’ll resist the habit and label this one “sp.”

Eupithecia sp. (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

2021 May 5

   Bruce Whittington sends a photograph of a blue from his Ladysmith garden yesterday.  Since it shows only the upperside, writes Jeremy Tatum, identification was a bit of a challenge, so I am grateful to Mike Yip for examining it critically and confirming Bruce’s suspicion and mine that it is a male Western Spring Azure.

Male Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo (Lep.: Lycaenidae) Bruce Whittington

   A few dragonflies and damselflies have been seen in the past few days.  Wendy Ansell writes that she saw her first dragonfly of the season yesterday at Durrance Lake.   She got a few quick snaps of it, not, she feels good enough for posting, but good enough for the first identified dragonfly reported this year.   It was an American Emerald Cordulia shurtleffii.

    Rosemary Jorna photographed two snails in her yard near Kemp Lake today:

Monadenia fidelis (Pul.: Bradybaenidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Vespericola columbianus (Pul.: Polygyridae)  Rosemary Jorna

2021 May 4

    Jochen Möhr writes from Metchosin: This morning, in addition to the two Sabulodes aegrotata and the Phyllodesma americana from yesterday,

1 Dargida procincta

1 Melanolophia imitata

2 Xanthorhoe defensaria

Girdler Moth Dargida procincta (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Xanthorhoe defensaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Melanolophia imitata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

   Jeremy Tatum writes that there were a California Tortoiseshell and a Mourning Cloak on the Mount Tolmie reservoir at 4:45 pm this afternoon.