INVERTEBRATE ALERT
This blog provides an informal forum for terrestrial invertebrate watchers to post recent sightings of interesting observations in the southern Vancouver Island region. Please send your sightings by email to Jeremy Tatum (tatumjb352@gmail.com). Be sure to include your name, phone number, the species name (common or scientific) of the invertebrate you saw, location, date, and number of individuals. If you have a photograph you are willing to share, please send it along. Click on the title above for an index of past sightings.The index is updated most days.

September 24

2017 September 24

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:   And I thought the butterfly season was over!  Not a bit of it!   Bill Savale and I went to McIntyre Reservoir today and we saw six species there.  Several Cabbage Whites, of course.  A male and a female Purplish Copper in perfect brand-new condition.   A pristine fresh Painted Lady, and a not-so-fresh American Lady.  (The latter is a real rarity in our area, and even in British Columbia.)  Two sulphurs.  One was a deep rich orange and was clearly an Orange Sulphur. The other was a much paler yellow, similar to the few of that colour that we saw on the VNHS September Butterfly Walk.  I am pretty well convinced now that these are Clouded Sulphurs.  I had a good look at one of them.  It was a male (no yellow spots within the terminal band).  That rules out the possibility that it was a female Orange Sulphur, and also rules out the possibility that it was a white (helice) form of a female of any sulphur.  The width of the black terminal band appeared to be obviously narrow compared with that of an Orange Sulphur.  While I am pretty-well convinced that it was a Clouded Sulphur, it would still be of great interest if someone could obtain (or if someone already has obtained) a photograph of one of these paler sulphurs.  One feature of interest to look at would be the row of dark subterminal spots on the underside of the forewing.  It is a pity that we cannot investigate the large alfalfa patches in the Forbidden Field.  There might even be caterpillars there.

 

September 23

2017 September 23

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I visited McIntyre Reservoir today in hopes of seeing an American Lady.  No such luck, and unfortunately most of the Teasels are now past flowering.  There are a very few Teasels left, and lots of other flowers, so it is still worth a look to find Painted or American Ladies.

 

I did see from one to three (not sure which) Orange Sulphurs.  The one I had a good look at was obviously a female (yellow spots inside the broad terminal band), and it was every bit as deep orange as a male Orange Sulphur.  This makes me think again quite seriously about those paler sulphurs seen during the VNHS September Butterfly Walk.  I may have too hastily dismissed them as female Orange Sulphurs, and I now wonder if in fact they may have been Clouded Sulphurs.  I don’t think they were the form helice that occurs in many female sulphur species, because forma helice is almost as white as a Cabbage White.  If anyone has photos of these paler sulphurs from the VNHS Butterfly Walk, we would be very interested to see them.

 

There were still lots of Cabbage Whites at McIntyre reservoir.

 

Rosemary Jorna writes from Kemp Lake Road:  I do not know if this spider lived in our house or came in with me as I had been working in the yard. We I came in for coffee and I settled down on the couch.   After a few minutes it ran down my arm and ended up on our deck for photos before a quick trip out back to a new home.

Robb Bennett writes:

It could be a female of Steatoda grossa but my first guess would be Steatoda albomaculata.  Steatoda grossa females are usually mostly dark brown but they often have some amount of pale patterning. Males of grossa are patterned and this is likely the same scenario as in Latrodectus (same family – Theridiidae) where the adult males retain juvenile patterning and some females do, too, especially subadults.

 

Steatoda sp.(Ara.: Theridiidae)  Rosemary Jorna

 

Bill Savale found some tiny beetles in a long-dried specimen of a fungus that he had had for some years.  Many thanks to Charlene Wood for identifying them and photographing them. They are at most 1.5 mm in length.  Have a look on a ruler to remind yourself of what a millimetre looks like to appreciate Charlene’s skill in getting the photograph.

 

Hadraule blaisdelli (Col.:  Ciidae)  Charlene Wood

 

Jeremy Tatum writes:  The Pheosia rimosa caterpillar shown on September 20 has now grown a lot and has changed colour:

 

Pheosia rimosa (Lep.: Notodontidae)  Jeremy Tatum

 

September 22 evening

2017 September 22

 

    Here’s another Metchosin moth from Jochen Moehr.  Thanks to Libby Avis for identifying it as Lacinipolia sp.   L. pensilis is a good fit, but it seems safer to label it just Lacinipolia sp.  

 

Lacinipolia sp. (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Moehr

   Jochen writes:  This morning, there were a fair number of moths on my wall:

6 Ennomos magnaria

4 Tolype distincta

1 probably Neoalcis californiaria

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Here is a Peppered Moth caterpillar:

 

Peppered Moth Biston betularia (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  Today, September 22, there were no fewer than 7 Painted Ladies at the Horticultural Center on Quayle Road in Saanich.

 

Ron Flower writes:  Today at McIntyre reservoir we got 2 Painted Ladies, 20 or more Cabbage Whites, 1 Woodland Skipper and I think the previously found American Lady.  Also at Island View there were 2 Ringlets (Large Heath ­Coenonympha tullia) and 4 Woodland Skippers.

 

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  Yes!!!  One of them is indeed an American Lady.  But I think it may be a different individual than the one shown on September 16.  The large white patch near the apex of the upperside forewing is orange in Mike’s September 16 butterfly.  So, there may be more than one there!

 

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui (Lep. Nymphalidae)  Ron Flower

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui (Lep. Nymphalidae)  Ron Flower

American Lady Vanessa virginiensis (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Ron Flower

American Lady Vanessa virginiensis (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Ron Flower

 

September 22 morning

2017 September 22 morning

Happy Equinox, Everyone!

 

   Here’s another moth from Metchosin, photographed by Jochen Moehr and identified for us by Libby Avis. 

 


Dryotype opina (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Moehr

 

   And now Libby sends some photographs herself from Port Alberni.

 


Xylena curvimacula (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Libby Avis

 


Lithomoia germana (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Libby Avis

 


Philedia punctomacularia (Lep.: Geometridae)  Libby Avis

 

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  The Notodontidae (“prominents”) is a family of moths, many of which have extraordinary caterpillars.  One was shown on September 20.  Here’s another:

 


Schizura unicornis (Lep.: Notodontidae)  Jeremy Tatum

 

 

   Marie O’Shaughnessy writes that there were at least three Painted Ladies on Whiffin Spit yesterday.  Here is one of them.

 

Painted Lady  Vanessa cardui (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

 

Painted Lady  Vanessa cardui (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

September 21

2017 September 21

 

   Barb McGrenere found a caterpillar of the Girdler Moth Dargida procinctus in the Cordova Bay area.

 

Girdler Moth Dargida procintus (Lep.: Noctuidae)

Barb MGrenere

 

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  I’ve been seeing a fair number of Painted Ladies lately.  Especially today, in fact in Beacon Hill Park I saw five, and in the Cecilia Ravine Park there were two.

 

   Some more moths from Metchosin, sent by Jochen Moehr:

 


Noctua pronuba (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Moehr

 


Xanthorhoe defensaria (Lep.: Geometridae) Jochen Moehr

 


Orgyia pseudotsugata (Lep.: Erebidae – Lymantriinae)  Jochen Moehr

 

More photographs and observations tomorrow!