2020 October 2 morning

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  A Painted Lady was near the Jeffrey Pine at the summit of Mount Tolmie, Wednesday September 30  at 4:30 p.m.

Jochen Möhr writes from Metchosin on Thursday, October 1:  While I was puttering in the garden, a freshly ecloded Painted Lady flew up and settled on a warm rock, allowing me to go inside, wash my hands, retrieve the camera and get a shot of her with the telelens at maximum extension.  Kind of her, right?

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Jochen Möhr

   Ian Cooper  sends photographs of small insects – challenging to identify – from the Galloping Goose Trail:

Thrips (Thysanoptera)  Ian Cooper

Thrips (Thysanoptera: probably Thripidae)

Bug (Hem:  maybe Lygaeidae or Anthocoridae)  Ian Cooper

Dirt-coloured Seed Bug Raglius alboacuminatus (Hem.:  Rhyparochromidae)

  Ian Cooper

Identified by Libby Avis.

2020 October 1 morning

   Kirsten Mills reports a California Tortoiseshell on September 30 on flowers near Hillside Mall.  It flew in the direction of Mount Tolmie. 

   A miscellany from Ian Cooper:

Snail-eating beetle Scaphinotus angusticollis  (Col.: Carabidae)  Ian Cooper

Woodlouse, perhaps Oniscus asellus (Isopoda: Oniscidae)  Ian Cooper

Woodlouse, perhaps Oniscus asellus (Isopoda: Oniscidae)  Ian Cooper

Lancetooth snail (Pul.: Haplotrematidae) Ian Cooper

Limax maximus (Pul.: Limacidae)  Ian Cooper

Limax maximus (Pul.: Limacidae)  Ian Cooper

Arion rufus (Pul.: Arionidae)  Ian Cooper

   Jochen Möhr’s mloths from Metchosin this morning:

2 Dryotype opina

1 Orthosia mys (same as yesterday)

I Udea profundalis 

Udea profundalis (Lep.: Crambidae)  Jochen Möhr

2020 September 30

   Jochen Möhr photographed the moth below on September 26.  It has taken a little while to identify it.   We are very grateful to Lars Crabo for identifying it as Eremodina claudens hanhami.

Eremodina claudens (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

   Jochen Möhr’s moths from Metchosin this morning:

1 Ennomos magnaria 

1 Orthosia mys (in red light from the sun shining through smoke clouds)

2 Pleromelloida cinerea 

Orthosia mys (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

   Ian Cooper photographed a lancetooth snail along the Galloping Goose Trail on September 29:

Lancetooth snail (Pul.: Haplotrematidae)  Ian Cooper

2020 September 29

   Ian Cooper sends photographs of a millipede from the Galloping Goose Trail, September 27.  We don’t know a great deal about millipedes, but Ian’s suggestion for the Family of his animal looks about right.

Flat-backed millipede (Polydesmida: probably Eurymerodesmidae)   Ian Cooper

Flat-backed millipede (Polydesmida: probably Eurymerodesmidae)   Ian Cooper

   Ian sends a photograph of a pair of flies (probably crane flies, Tipulidae) in copula.   We don’t yet know the species, but we’re working on it!

Probably Tipulidae   Ian Cooper

   And a syrphid, kindly identified for us by Dr Jeff Skevington as a species of Cheilosa:

Cheilosa sp. (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Ian Cooper

Cheilosa sp. (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Ian Cooper

Cheilosa sp. (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Ian Cooper

Cheilosa sp. (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Ian Cooper

  And another miscellany of invertebrates to enjoy:

Two Scaphinotus angusticollis in copula (Col.: Carabidae)  Ian Cooper

Scaphinotus angusticollis (Col.: Carabidae)  Ian Cooper

Arion rufus (Pul.: Arionidae)  Ian Cooper

Ariolimax columbianus (Pul.: Arionidae)  Ian Cooper

   Jochen Möhr’s moths from Metchosin this morning:

1 Drepanulatrix sp. 

3 Dryotype opina

2 Ennomos magnaria 

1 Lithomoia germana 

1 Pleromelloida cinerea 

1 Tetracis sp.

Tetracis (pallulata/jubararia ?) (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

plus one more from yesterday:

Triphosa haesitata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

2020 September 28

   The moth below was photographed today by Erin Keogh at the Swan Lake Nature House.  Thanks to Libby Avis for the identification.

Sabulodes aegrotata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Erin Keogh

   Here’s an ant photographed by Ian Cooper.  Thanks to Dr Rob Higgins of Thompson Rivers University for the tentative identification.

Formica (probably oreas) (Hym.: Formicidae) Ian Cooper

      Jeremy Tatum shows a caterpillar of an Anise Swallowtail (one borrowed from Bow Park!) preparing to pupate:

Anise Swallowtail Papilio zelicaon (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Jeremy Tatum

It has now finished the job!:

Anise Swallowtail Papilio zelicaon (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Jochen Möhr’s moths from Metchosin this morning:

1 Agonopterix nervosa

1 Triphosa haesitata

1 Drepanulatrix sp. 

1 Dryotype opina

7 Ennomos magnaria 

1 Lithomoia germana 

1 Neoalcis californiaria

1 Platyptilia carduidactylus

1 Pleromelloida cinerea

and two inaccessible micros that I was not able to get decent pictures of.

Platyptilia carduidactylus (Lep.: Pterophoridae)  Jochen Möhr

Dryotype opina (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Here’s a drone fly photographed by Ian Cooper on September 25.  Dr Jeff Skevington tells us that it is either Eristalis arbustorum or E. brousii – one needs a clear view of the legs to be sure which is which.  See 2020 August 18 for one identified by Dr Skevington as E. arbustorum, and another that cannot  be identified with certainty on September 15.

Eristalis arbustorum/brousii (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Ian Cooper

More tomorrow…