2017 August 26

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I have had exactly the same experience as Annie Pang (see August 25 posting) – for weeks I have had no moths at my back door in Saanich, when suddenly, in the space of a few days, Annie and I both get a Neoalcis californiaria!

Neoalcis californiaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

   And no sooner had I written the above, when Dar Churcher sent in a photograph of yet another one in Colwood:

Neoalcis californiaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Dar Churcher

   Dar also sends a photograph of a “small brown job” from Colwood, August 18.  This is a tough one, and I often give up on pugs, but I think I’ll stick my neck out and call it Eupithecia unicolor (a misnomer if ever there was one –  it’s one of the few pugs with obviously two colours!)

Eupithecia unicolor (Lep.: Geometridae)  Dar Churcher

   Dar also sends a photograph of a moth from her fir hedge on July 3.  I can’t identify it for sure, but I believe it may be Choristoneura freemani.   There are probably some forestry experts on this species around somewhere – we’d be glad to hear from one.

Possibly Choristoneura freemani (Lep.: Tortricidae)  Dar Churcher

   Dar Churcher sends a photograph of a small caterpillar found on an amaryllis plant.  It is a “micro”, and I don’t think I can identify it.  Funnily enough it looks not unlike the caterpillar of Choristoneura freemani – though amaryllis is quite the wrong foodplant!       Dar asks: Is that a parasitic worm visible inside the lower half of the body?  Jeremy writes:  It is not a tachinid or hymenopterous parasitoid.  I am not expert on the insides of caterpillars, but I think the wiggly thing (not a very technical term!) is probably part of the caterpillar’s digestive tract.

Unidentified “micro” moth caterpillar (Lepidoptera)  Dar Churcher

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  At McIntyre reservoir today, there were still uncountable numbers of Cabbage Whites there and in the adjacent cabbage fields.  The only other butterflies I saw there were a single Woodland Skipper and a single fresh-looking Painted Lady.  A few days ago I saw a recently-vacated nest of a Painted Lady caterpillar on a thistle in that area.   This evening at 6:00 pm I saw three Painted Ladies at the top of Christmas Hill.  Although very worn, they were still flying strongly.

 There are a few more photographs in the queue.  Shall try to post tomorrow.

2017 August 25

   Annie Pang sends a picture of a male Neoalcis californiaria from her back porch, August 23.

Neoalcis californiaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Annie Pang

    Val George photographed an adult and some nymphal stink bugs in his Oak Bay garden on August 15.  We are grateful to Charlene Wood for making a careful study of these photographs, and for confirming their identification as Chlorochroa sp.  Charlene went to the trouble of examining museum specimens, and found that not all specimens matched their formal descriptions. This makes determination of Val’s bugs risky! While C. ligata is a possibility (apparently the species varies in colour from dark in the south to bright green in the north), we shall opt for caution on this site and label them just Chlorochroa sp.

Adult Chlorochroa sp. (Hem.: Pentatomidae) Val George

Chlorochroa sp. nymphs (Hem.: Pentatomidae)  Val George

   As August comes to a close, every last butterfly counts!   Mike McGrenere reports a couple of late sightings of Lorquin’s Admiral – one at his Cordova Bay home on August 22, and one along the south end of the Blenkinsop Lake boardwalk today.  Jeremy Tatum reports one Red Admiral and one Painted Lady on the Mount Tolmie reservoir at 6:00 pm this evening.  It would be worth looking in the evenings for hill-topping nymphalids on the tops of other local hills, such as Mount Douglas, Christmas Hill, and Highrock Cairn.

   Gordon Hart reports one of our most spectacular dragonflies.  He writes:  Today, August 25, I noticed a large dragonfly land and perch vertically on a lawn chair. I wish it had chosen a more natural backdrop, but I was able to get some photographs of a Pacific Spiketail Cordulegaster dorsalis. This is the second one I have seen since we moved to the Highlands 14 years ago, although I am sure they occur regularly in the area.

Pacific Spiketail Cordulegaster dorsalis (Odo.: Cordulegastridae)   Gordon Hart

2017 August 24

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Here is a chrysalis of a Western Tiger Swallowtail.  These swallowtails are quite clever.  The pupae can vary in colour from green to brown, depending on the background upon which they are formed.  If they pupate in a well-lit area among green leaves, they will be green; but if they pupate in a darker area they are brown.  This one chose a particularly dark area, and it is one of the darkest swallowtail pupae that I have seen.  By the way, in case you are wondering, it is facing toward the left.

Western Tiger Swallowtail Papilio rutulus Jeremy Tatum

   Below is the third photograph that I have taken of this caterpillar because at first I thought it was a lifer for me.  By the time that it reached its final instar, however, I realized that it was a Yellow Woolly Bear, or Virginia Ermine.

Spilosoma virginica (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae) Jeremy Tatum

   The  caterpillar below, found on willow at King’s Pond, is quite small, and I am hoping it will grow. It is long and slender and it walks in full looper fashion just like a geometrid.  However, the number of midabdominal prolegs isn’t right for a geometrid.  It has two functional pairs and two vestigial pairs, and it may belong to another family.  [Added later:  As the caterpillar grew, it became obvious that it wasn’t a geometrid.  It is a Zale.]

Zale sp. (Lep.: Erebidae)    Jeremy Tatum

   Aziza Cooper writes:  On Sunday April 20 I went to Forbidden Plateau and walked along the boardwalk. I found four Mariposa Coppers and one Oreas Comma.

   Later I searched the perimeter of the huge gravel parking lot just south of Nordic Road. The parking lot looks east over Mount Washington Parkway, and has slopes with lots of flowers. Along the edge I found what I think are Branded Skippers. There were at least five.

Across the road to the west, I found two Purplish Coppers and two Anna’s Blues.

    Jeremy Tatum comments:  Identifying the commas (especially from the uppersides alone) and the skippers poses some difficult identification problems.  No writer of whom I am aware has given a clear and unambiguous account of the distinctions between the forms Polygonia gracilis, zephyrus and oreas.  Likewise I am unaware of any clear and unambiguous published way of distinguishing between the forms Hesperia comma and Hesperia colorado, and why they are different at the species level.

  Because of these difficulties, from this point and until I learn of further information, I am henceforth treating all reports of the first group on this site under the label Hoary Comma Polygonia gracilis, and all reports of the second group under the label Branded Skipper Hesperia comma.   (The latter species is known in the U.K. as the Silver-spotted Skipper – a name that is used in North America for a quite different species.)  Viewers of this site looking for records of these species should bear this in mind.  We would be very glad to hear from viewers who can give us some further guidance on these species, on how we can distinguish between them, and if any of the photographs on this site should be relabelled.

Hoary Comma Polygonia gracilis (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Aziza Cooper

Branded Skipper Hesperia comma (Lep.: Hesperiidae) Aziza Cooper

Mariposa Copper Lycaena mariposa (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Cabbage White Pieris rapae (Lep.: Pieridae)  Aziza Cooper

   Gordon Hart sends a photograph of a female Striped Meadowhawk Sympetrum pallipes. We are grateful to Rob Cannings for identifying it for us.

Striped Meadowhawk Sympetrum pallipes (Odo.: Libellulidae) Gordon Hart

2017 August 22

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  Yesterday, August 21, just after 5 p.m. Kirsten Mills and I had 2 Red Admirals and 4 Painted Ladies on Mount Tolmie.  Most of the ladies looked very faded. Also, yesterday in Playfair Park, were 3 Lorquin’s Admirals in the flower garden.

    Kirsten Mills also reports that she had a Western Tiger Swallowtail in the parking lot at the Butchart Gardens.  Also, there were 3 Pine Whites.

  Jeremy Tatum writes: I visited McIntyre reservoir this morning.  I think if one were to make a determined and persistent count of the Cabbage Whites around the reservoir and in the surrounding brussels sprouts fields, one would come up with several hundred, and quite possibly a thousand, Cabbage Whites.  I didn’t see any other butterfly species there, but it is still very much worth a visit – see Jeff’s account of his visit there in yesterday’s posting. 

  Jody Wells sends photographs of what he describes as two colour varieties of  “looks like a grasshopper — flies looking like a butterfly”.  Claudia Copley and Jeremy Tatum agree that these are indeed two colour varieties of Dissosteira carolina.  This species has been given several names, such as Carolina Grasshopper, Carolina Locust and Mourning Cloak Grasshopper  –  the latter because, when in flight, it can indeed be mistaken at first for a Mourning Cloak butterfly.

Dissosteira carolina (Orth.: Acrididae)  Jody Wells

Dissosteira carolina (Orth.: Acrididae)  Jody Wells

   Jody also sends a picture of a Sympetrum dragonfly from Martindale.  Rob Cannings writes: Gosh, Jeremy, I’m not sure. Few of the really useful characters are in view, although colour of wing venation and stigma, the black on sides of abdomen, elimination of other species, and the fact that it’s by far the most common Sympetrum in late summer in our area suggest that it’s a Striped Meadowhawk S. pallipes. Even a glimpse of the dorsal surface of the thorax (let alone the sides) would show it’s that species or not. Anyway, that’s my guess. 

Sympetrum sp. (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Jody Wells