2021 March 9

   Rosemary Jorna  writes: This fly explored my back pack yesterday. We were on the summit of Mount MacDonald in the Sooke Hills.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  I think it is in the group of fly families known as calypterates.  Beyond that, I really don’t know, though at a wild guess I might suggest genus Pollenia. If any viewer can help, please do let us know.  [Added later:   Dr Rob Cannings helped!  Rob agrees – Pollenia.  Apparently the flies formerly lumped under Pollenia rudis are now split into half-a-dozen species, identifiable mostly by variation in thoracic and leg setae, so we’ll settle for Pollenia sp. for this one.]

 Pollenia sp. (Dip.:  Calliphoridae)  Rosemary Jorna

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I found a moth with 12 syllables on the wall of my apartment building in Saanich this morning –  Hydriomena nubilofasciata, the Oak Winter Highflyer.  The caterpillar feeds on oaks in late spring / early summer.  The moth is to be seen in late winter / early spring.  I don’t know that it flies particularly high.  The large genus Hydriomena are known as highflyers – I suppose the person who first used this name happened to be looking at a moth that happened to be flying high.  Followers of this site will have noticed that the highflyers are not always easy to identify to species – we have often had to leave them unidentified.  H. nubilofasciata is, fortunately, relatively easy to identify – not least because it is seen in March/April, when there’s not much choice.

Hydriomena nubilofasciata (Lep.: Geometridae) Jeremy Tatum

2021 March 8 evening

   A selection of photographs from Ian Cooper in Colquitz Creek Park and along the Galloping Goose Trail last night:

Cepaea nemoralis (Pul.: Helicidae)  Ian Cooper

Cryptomastix germana or Vespericola columbianus (Pul.: Polygyridae)  Ian Cooper

Rough Woodlouse – Porcellio scaber (Isopoda: Porcellionidae) Ian Cooper

There is a small snail (Vertiginidae?) near the bottom right.

Non-biting midge (male) (Dip.: Chironomidae)  Ian Cooper

Thanks to Robb Bennett for confirming Ian’s identifications of the spiders.

Pimoa altioculata (Ara: Pimoidae)  Ian Cooper

Part of the spider’s leg is seen near the top left.

 Female Neriene digna  (Ara.: Linyphiidae)  Ian Cooper

2021 March 8 morning

   Gordon Hart (Highlands) writes that on March 5 he saw his first butterfly of the year – a Cabbage White trying to get out of his greenhouse.   This is the second Cabbage White we have heard of this year (see also February 9) emerging a little prematurely from inside a building. Later on the same day the spring-flowering heather had attracted two or three species of bumble bees.  One is a Yellow-faced Bee Bombus vosnesenskii .  The other two are possibly colour varieties of the Black-tailed Bee B. melanopygus.  We’d be happy if some knowledgeable viewer would confirm (or otherwise!) this.

Bombus vosnesenskii (Hym.: Apidae)  Gordon Hart

Probably Bombus melanopygus (Hym.: Apidae)  Gordon Hart

Possibly Bombus melanopygus (Hym.: Apidae)  Gordon Hart

   Also on March 5, Gordon photographed an American Tissue Moth Triphosa haesitata.

Triphosa haesitata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Gordon Hart

   Ian Cooper writes:  As a further confirmation that Spring has truly arrived, for the first time since last autumn, the sealed off burrow entrance of the largest Antrodiaetus pacificus Trapdoor spider known to inhabit the 9km area of the Galloping Goose Trail was wide open and the resident spider was plainly visible at its open doorway. Amazing! The attached photo is one of multiple attempts to get a close up shot of it. These spiders can live up to be 20 years or so, according to Claudia Copley, and the size of this seasoned arachnid makes it clearly one of the 9km area’s longest-lived resident spiders. I was very happy to see it was still alive and active!

 Note the mass of yellowish mud the spider has used to build up and strengthen its burrow entranceway. A veritable fortress! When it retreated into the depths of its lair in response to the approach of my light and camera, I was able to peer into the burrow and see it extended quite a way back into the embankment. Wow!

   Jeremy Tatum writes that, as an astronomer, he can’t quite agree that Spring has yet arrived.  Some would say that Spring has arrived when the first Sara Orangetip is seen.  I insist that spring has not arrived until the Right Ascension and Declination of the Sun are zero. We have almost a fortnight to wait yet.

Trapdoor Spider Antrodiaetus pacificus (Ara. (Myg.): Antrodiaetidae)  Ian Cooper

2021 March 7

    Here’s a spider from the Galloping Goose Trail, photographed by Ian Cooper on March 6.  This is what Dr Bennett writes:

I looked at these with Darren Copley. We agree that the spider is a linyphiid but are unsure whether linyphiine or erigonine. Possibly a Bathyphantes (linyphiine) but could also be something else such as a Grammonota (erigonine). There aren’t actually all that many linyphiids with chevron-like abdominal patterns. I think we lean towards Bathyphantes.

    We hope these long words are long enough for our viewers – and we thank Robb and Darren for taking so much trouble to identify a modest little spider.  For those who may be slightly baffled by the long words, they are not as mysterious as they sound.  Sheetweb spiders belong to the Family Linyphiidae (Families end in –idae), and members of this Family are referred to as linyphiids.   The Family Linyphiidae includes several Subfamilies (ending in –inae), such as Linyphiinae and Erigoninae, and spiders belonging to these linyphiid subfamilies are referred to as linyphiines and erigonines.  Bathyphantes and Grammonata are genera (plural of genus.)  So now you know! 

Just maybe Bathyphantes sp. (Ara.: Linyphiidae – Linyphiinae)  Ian Cooper

2021 March 6

    Rosemary Jorna sends photographs of a tiny moth and a tiny beetle from Kemp Lake.  Thanks to Scott Gilmore for identifying the beetle to Family level.

Alucita montana (Lep.: Alucitidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Small beetle (Col.: Eucinetidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   And talking of tiny insects, writes Jeremy Tatum, here’s one from the Tineidae – which doesn’t mean tiny.  It is a web-spinning clothes moth, regrettably from my apartment.

Tineola bisselliella (Lep.: Tineidae)   Jeremy Tatum

  And now – a big insect:   Ian Cooper found this cocoon of a giant sawfly along the Galloping Goose Trail.  Not sure which of two species it is.

Trichiosoma triangulum or Cimbex americana (Hym.: Cimbicidae)

Ian Cooper