2020 July 8

   Rosemary Jorna sends pictures of a beetle and two bees to challenge us.  Scott Gilmore kindly identified the beetle as a female Rugose Stag Beetle Sinodendron rugosum.

Female Rugose Stag Beetle Sinodendron rugosum (Col.: Lucanidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   This bumble bee will, I think, have to remain Bombus sp.

Bombus sp.  (Hym.: Apidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   We are grateful to  Annie Pang, who points out that the tiny bee below is carrying a ball of pollen on its hind legs, which marks it as belonging to the Family Apidae (the same family as the Honey Bee, all our Bumble Bees as well as a few other bee genera).  As well, its dark, nearly hairless body, combined with its tiny size (Rosemary estimates half a cm), marks it as a Ceratina species, common name “Small Carpenter Bee”.  Unlike their more “fuzzy” cousins in the Apidae family of bees, Ceratina bees do not make the best pollinators, especially the males.  Their lack of body hair and their tiny size do not allow for much transfer of pollen from one plant to another as they nectar and collect pollen.

Small Carpenter Bee Ceratina sp.  (Hym.: Apidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   Jochen Möhr’s moths from Metchosin this morning:

Maybe Eudonia commortalis (Lep.: Crambidae)

Jochen Möhr

Drepanulatrix secundaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Pasiphila rectangulata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Eulithis xylina (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Stenoporpia excelsaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

    Tracy Hueppelsheuser of the BC Ministry of Agriculture in Abbotsford is interested in records of crane flies of all species, so please keep a look out for them and try to get good-quality close-up photographs, which we’ll post here and forward to Tracy.  Here are a couple from Jochen in Metchosin.  We’ll add identifications if and when we know what species they are.

Crane fly (Dip.: Tipulidae)   Jochen Möhr

Crane fly (Dip.: Tipulidae)   Jochen Möhr

2020 July 7

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  The little moth below emerged from a pupa found on an English Hawthorn leaf at Layritz Park during the VNHS Butterfly Walk on July 5.

Yponomeuta padella (Lep.: Yponomeutidae) Jeremy Tatum

Yponomeuta padella (Lep.: Yponomeutidae) Jeremy Tatum

   The caterpillar below was found on a cottonwood leaf at Panama Flats this morning:

Orgyia antiqua (Lep.: Erebidae – Lymantriinae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Val George writes:  This morning, July 7, I saw Sheep Moths Hemileuca eglanterina everywhere in Uplands Park in Oak Bay.  I saw two moths flying and seven caterpillars in various locations in the park.

Sheep Moth Hemileuca eglanterina (Lep.: Saturniidae)  Val George

      Ron Flower writes:   Yesterday Monday July  6 this butterfly landed on my neighbour’s driveway here in Royal Oak:

California Tortoiseshell Nymphalis californica (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Ron Flower

   Another California Tortoiseshell was found yesterday:

California Tortoiseshell Nymphalis californica (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Sarah Gallagher

   Jochen Möhr’s moths in Metchosin this morning:

Protitame subalbaria (Lep. Geometridae) Jochen Möhr

Probably  Eudonia commortalis (Lep.: Crambidae)

Jochen Möhr

  Here’s a female (note the fat body, loaded with eggs)  Western Tiger Swallowtail photographed by Annie Pang in Gorge Park.

Female Western Tiger Swallowtail Papilio rutulus  (Lep.: Papilionidae)

Annie Pang

Female Western Tiger Swallowtail Papilio rutulus  (Lep.: Papilionidae) Annie Pang

   Here are three dragonflies photographed – and identified – by Annie Pang.  Annie gets a Gold Star from Rob Cannings for her identifications.

Cardinal Meadowhawk Sympetrum illotum (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Annie Pang

Male Eight-spotted Skimmer Libellula forensis (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Annie Pang

Female Eight-spotted Skimmer Libellula forensis (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Annie Pang

2020 July 6 evening

   Wanted:   Good quality close-up photographs of crane flies.   Have a look around your porch light and elsewhere.  There are several species of interest.  Also of interest would be some good-quality photographs of Polistes wasps.  The interest in the latter is aroused in that the abdomen of the Polistes wasp in this morning’s photograph shows rather more black than is usual in P. dominula.

  Jochen Möhr writes from Metchosin:  This morning on the wall merely one moth, which I surmise might be Lacinipolia pensilis. 

Lacinipolia pensilis (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr 

2020 July 6 morning

   Report on yesterday’s Butterfly Walk, by Gordon Hart:

On Sunday, July 5, 10 butterfly enthusiasts gathered on Mount Tolmie. Our first sighting was not a butterfly, but a large Sheep Moth that circled the summit several times. We saw five species of butterfly in the area around the reservoir: Painted Lady, Lorquin’s Admiral , Cabbage White, Western Tiger Swallowtail and an Essex Skipper. We then travelled to Layritz Park where Ringlets have been reported since May. We saw five species there, with Essex Skippers being counted in the dozens, or probably hundreds, one Woodland Skipper, at least 10 Cabbage Whites , two (or three?) Western Tiger Swallowtails, and at least eight Lorquin’s Admirals, but not a single Ringlet. We suppose that the first hatch is over, and they are between broods.

One rather sad sighting was an injured Sheep Moth missing one forewing being pursued on the ground by a Paper Wasp, Polistes sp. The moth actively resisted and the wasp finally left, but the moth, being unable to fly, will not have gained much by fighting off the predator.

On a happier note, it was nice to see everyone again, and the walk was a great way to spend my birthday as well!

Essex Skipper Thymelicus lineola (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Gordon Hart

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Gordon Hart

Paper Wasp Polistes (probably dominula) (Hym.: Vespidae)

Sheep Moth Hemileuca eglanterina (Lep.: Saturniidae)
Gordon Hart

    Annie Pang sends a photograph by Rhona McAdam of a Catocala.  Probably the familiar C. aholibah, although Libby Avis points out that it could also be C. ilia.  Both are oak feeders.

Catocala (probably aholibah) (Lep.: Erebidae – Erebinae)  Rhona McAdam

   Ted Dobie sends a photograph of Buprestis aurulenta from his Gordon Head garden.

Buprestis aurulenta (Col.: Buprestidae)  Ted Dobie

2020 July 5 evening

   Continuing with Mr E’s queue of difficult ones.

   First a fungus covered with numerous springtails and a few mites.  It took several seconds for Dr Heather Proctor, University of Alberta, to reply to my query re the mites.  Her area of expertise is mites, so I didn’t really expect her to work on the springtails – but she had a go at them, too!   This is what she wrote, as I say just seconds after I asked!

   The long-legged mites belong to the prostigmatan family Cocceupodidae (or Eupodidae, depending on whether you accept Cocceupodidae as a separate family). Probably the genus Linopodes. For the springtails, I will guess Hypogastruridae but don’t take my word on that!

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Since I have never seen the long words Cocceupodidae or Eupodidae before, I am quite happy, for the purposes of Invert Alert, to accept the former as a separate Family!

Springtails (Coll.: possibly Hypogastruridae)

Mites, probably Linopodes sp. (Prostigmata: Cocceupodidae)

Mr E

 Thanks to Libby Avis for working on the identification of the following two micro moths:

Hellinsia (possibly homodactylus) (Lep.: Pterophoridae)  Mr E

Zeiraphera (possibly canadensis) (Lep.: Tortricidae – Olethreutinae)  Mr E

Zeiraphera (possibly canadensis) (Lep.: Tortricidae – Olethreutinae)  Mr E

   Rosemary Jorna photographed this bumble bee.  Annie Pang makes a very tentative identification, but she remarks that often it is easier to identify a bumble bee if photographs are available from several different angles  (e.g. dorsal, lateral, frontal, etc.).

Bombus (possibly bifarius) (Hym.: Apidae)  Rosemary Jorna

  Jochen Möhr,  Metchosin, sends photographs of a Pale Tiger Swallowtail, his first-of-season Lorquin’s Admiral, and a Sculptured Pine Borer.

Pale Tiger Swallowtail Papilio eurymedon (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Jochen Möhr

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Jochen Möhr

Sculptured Pine Borer Chalcophora angulicollis(Col.: Buprestidae)  Jochen Möhr