2020 December 11

    Jochen Möhr sends a further collection of Operophtera from Metchosin yesterday.  Jeremy Tatum and Jochen agree on the probable identifications as labelled below.

Operophtera occidentalis (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Operophtera occidentalis (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Operophtera occidentalis (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Operophtera occidentalis (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

   Springtails used to be lumped within a single Order – Collembola.  Collembola is now a Class (or to some authors a Subclass), divided into three or four Orders.

Above:  Orchesella villosa (Coll: Orchesellidae)

Below left:  Ptenothrix sp. (Coll:  Symphypleona – Dicyrtomidae)

Ian Cooper

2020 December 10

   Winter is fast approaching, yet there are still lots of invertebrates around, and even a butterfly is not impossible.  Ron Flower saw two Honey Bees and a bumble bee (probably Bombus vosnesenskii) at Swan Lake on Sunday, and Ian Cooper is finding an amazing array of creatures in Colquitz Creek Park:

Sphenophorus sp. (Col.: Curculionidae)  Ian Cooper

   Thanks to Scott Gilmore for the identification of this beetle.  Apparently they are popularly (but not on this site!) called “billbugs”.

Elongate-bodied springtail Tomocerus sp. (Collembola – Entomobryomorpha – Tomoceridae)

 Ian Cooper

Dark-bodied Glass Snail Oxychilus draparnaudi (Pul.: Daubebariidae)  Ian Cooper

Lauria cylindracea (Pul.: Lauriidae)  Ian Cooper

   Yesterday, Jochen Möhr wrote from Metchosin:  This morning, the abundance of Operophtera continues.  There were 25 critters on the wall.  I would boldly call 21 of them O. brumata, and at least two occidentalis, and two look like in between.

Here are our best attempts at identification of seven of them:

Operophtera occidentalis (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochem Möhr

Operophtera (maybe occidentalis) (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Operophtera occidentalis (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Operophtera occidentalis (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Operophtera (maybe occidentalis) (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

2020 December 8

An earwig, and slugs galore from Colquitz River Park, by Ian Cooper:

Male Common Earwig  Forficula auricularia (Derm.: Forficulidae)  Ian Cooper

Limax maximus (Pul.: Limacidae)  Ian Cooper

Deroceras reticulatum (Pul.: Agriolimacidae) Ian Cooper

Arion sp. (possibly circumstriptus) (Pul.: Arionidae)  Ian Cooper

   Robert Forsyth comments:  The hole in the top of the mantle (not the pneumostome, which is on the side, but not clear here) would seem to be a wound (failed predation, or perhaps disease). There are slugs (Hemphillia spp.) with an area of the dorsal mantle ‘cut away’ to expose a flat shell, but this isn’t one of them. This Arion is somewhat reminiscent of Arion circumscriptus, but I wouldn’t say for certain.

 Top:  Deroceras reticulatum (Pul.: Agriolimacidae)

Bottom:  Oxychilus draparnaudi (Pul.: Daubebariidae)

Ian Cooper

Possibly a young Limax maximus (Pul.: Limacidae)  Ian Cooper

   We are continuing to make efforts to distinguish between the Western and European Winter Moths, Operophtera occidentalis  and O. brumata.  Jochen Möhr writes from Metchosin:

This morning, 13 Operophtera, 9 I would call brumata, and 4 occidentalis.  I attach the images of 7 of them, which I was able to reach with the tripod-mounted camera.

Jeremy Tatum writes:   I agree that the first two may be occidentalis, though without any huge degree of certainty.     I would call the remaining five brumata, but again without any pretence of certainty.

We’d encourage moth-ers to try to get some good photos of winter moths at the Goldstream Park Nature House.  Some of them there look like very obvious occidentalis.    Amazingly, I haven’t seen any of either species at my Saanich apartment building for some weeks.

Operophtera (probably occidentalis)  (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jochen Möhr

Operophtera (probably occidentalis)  (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jochen Möhr

Operophtera (brumata?)  (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jochen Möhr

Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Operophtera (brumata?)   (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

2020 December 7

   Birdwatchers have recently been watching a rare (in this area) bird – a Black Phoebe – in Central Saanich.  It was watched snatching insects from a pond by Keith Taylor, who obtained the accompanying photograph.  One can see clearly that its prey is an aquatic bug – either a Water Boatman (Corixidae) or a Backswimmer (Notonectidae).   This is a good opportunity to mention that so far we have had very few photographs of aquatic insects on this site.

Black Phoebe Sayornis nigricans (Pas.: Tyrannidae)

or a backswimmer (Hem.: Notonectidae)

   Here’s a recent photograph of a spider from Colquitz River Park, by Ian Cooper:

Cybaeus signifer (Ara.: Cybaeidae)  Ian Cooper

    Jochen Möhr sends photographs from Metchosin of difficult Drepanulatrix and Operophtera moths.  For the Drepanulatrix I think we’ll have to be content with Drepanulatrix monicaria/secundaria.  Likewise we’ll label the Operophteras as Operophtera brumata/occidentalis, although, writes Jeremy Tatum, I’m close to certain that they are both brumata, with a very slender chance that they might have a little bit of occidentalis in their genes.

Drepanulatrix monicaria/secundaria (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jochen Möhr

Operophtera brumata/occidentalis (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jochen Möhr

Operophtera brumata/occidentalis (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jochen Möhr

2020 December 6

   More tiny, curious creatures from Colquitz River Park by Ian Cooper.  We are grateful to Charlene Wood, who figured out what they are!

Lace bug Acalypta sp. (Hem.: Tingidae)  Ian Cooper

Ground beetle Notiophilus sp. (Col.: Carabidae)  Ian Cooper

Barklouse (Psocodea: probably Lepidopsocidae)  Ian Cooper

(Family suggested by Dr E. Mockford.)

I asked Dr Mockford about the apparent lack of wings of this specimen.  He replied: There are some barklice  in which some adults have wings and others do not.  In some the wings in one sex, usually females, are small knobs while the other sex has normal wings.  There are a few in which some individuals have normal wings and others have no trace of wings. There are some forms, the booklice, genus Liposcelis, in which there is no trace of wings in either sex.  In that group, the males are usually smaller than the females and undergo one fewer nymphal instars.

After a gap of four mothless nights in Metchosin, Jochen Möhr photographed a Winter Moth (to be expected) and a Drepanulatrix (rather later in the year than expected).

Operophtera brumata (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Möhr

Drepanulatrix secundaria/monicaria (Lep. Geometridae) Jochen Möhr

   Jeremy Tatum photographed this Grey Firebrat in his Saanich apartment this morning.  I am still waiting for a photograph from someone of the genuine Silverfish Lepisma saccharina.

Ctenolepisma longicaudata (Thysanura: Lepismatidae) Jeremy Tatum

   Here’s another from Ian Cooper.  It’s amazing what’s down there at our feet that many of us are unaware of.

Flat-backed millipede (Polydesmida: probably Eurymerodesmidae  Ian Cooper