2017 June 12

   This small bee was photographed by Ann Tiplady in her Oak Bay garden.  We are grateful to Cory Sheffield for identifying it as a cleptoparasitic bee of the genus Nomada.

In case that long word is a “lifer” for anyone, here is what Wikipedia says:

   Kleptoparasitism or cleptoparasitism (literally, parasitism by theft) is a form of feeding in which one animal takes prey or other food from another that has caught, collected, or otherwise prepared the food, including stored food (as in the case of cuckoo bees, which lay their eggs on the pollen masses made by other bees). The term is also used to describe the stealing of nest material or other inanimate objects from one animal by another.

Nomada sp.: (Hym.: Apidae)  Ann Tiplady

Margined White Pieris marginalis

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  Sorry I missed the Duncan trip on Sunday – I just hadn’t been paying attention to the outings schedule in the Victoria Naturalist!  Looks as though a good time was had by all – but no Margined White.  So Bill Savale and I went up to Cowichan Station today to see if we could find one.  Well, we did – eventually.  We had just about given up without having seen one, when at last we saw just one.

  Here are my thoughts on the Margined White.  I think there are probably two broods – to be seen in April/May, and July/August, but June is probably not a good month. Do not despair – try again in July.  The butterfly has a slightly lighter flight than the Cabbage White. It tends to fly low, and it nectars from Herb Robert.  You have to go along the railway line north from Cowichan Station, over the bridge, and past the church.  Any white that you see beyond there, at the right time of year, is most likely to be a Margined White.

   The male is completely immaculate white on the upperside.  If you get a good look, you may see two faint grey spots on the forewing upperside – that will be a female.  On the underside, the veins are accentuated by grey in the spring brood (remember the butterflies here were once included under “Veined White”), but not in the summer brood, so that, in July, the underside of the wings, like the upperside, is completely white.  In spite of the name, there are no particular markings on the margins of any of the wings.

  The caterpillar feeds on Nasturtium officinale and Hesperis matronalis – both of which were growing strongly north of Cowichan Station today.  In appearance the caterpillar and chrysalis are, as far as I can tell, indistinguishable from those of the European Green-veined White Pieris napi, to which it is obviously closely related.   I would put them all under the banner Pieris napi – a Holarctic species with much variation though its large range.  However, North American taxonomists currently divide the North American populations into several species on the grounds of minor variations in the maculation.

  Other butterflies seen at Cowichan Station today:  Cabbage White, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Cedar Hairstreak, Western Tiger Swallowtail.

  But where have all the Satyr Commas gone?

2017  June 11

   Several butterflyers visited Eddy’s Storage (Stelly’s Cross Road, west of West Saanich Road, Brentwood Bay) to see the Field Crescents there.  There must be at least a dozen or more.   Aziza Cooper sends a photograph of one – nectaring on an Ox-eye Daisy, which is where you will most likely see one.   It would be nice to get a few more photographs, so that we can see the difference between the males and the females.  At one time the two sexes were thought to be different species, and they had different scientific names –  Phyciodes campestris and P. pratensis.  You’ll find both names in the books. To complicate things still further, some authors are now using the name P. pulchella.   Also at Eddy’s, Aziza reports a Western Tiger Swallowtail and a Cabbage White.

Field Crescent Phyciodes pratensis (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Aziza Cooper

   Jeremy Tatum writes that there are still Painted Ladies and Red Admirals to be seen on the Mount Tolmie reservoir and around the Jeffery Pine, after about 5:30 in the evenings.  He also saw a Red Admiral on Livesay Road, Central Saanich, today.

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  The VNHS trip to Duncan produced the following highlights:  At Cowichan Station, no Margined Whites were seen but we did see a comma species, 2 Cedar Hairstreaks, 3 Red Admirals, and 4 Western Tiger Swallowtails.  At Mount Prévost the only butterfly at the top was an Anise Swallowtail,  and near the bottom were both Pale and Western Tiger Swallowtails, and 4 Western Spring Azures.  At the sewage lagoons was a Lorquin’s Admiral.  Altogether we had 8 species.

    As viewers can see, this is a pretty busy time for Invert Alert. Contributors can be a huge help if they will try to adhere to the following guidelines.

    Send observations and sightings to jtatum@uvic.ca   Send photographs as attachments in .jpg format.  Include in your report where you saw the creature (not “my backyard”  – I have no idea where your backyard is) and when  (not “yesterday”, but give the date, writing out the month in words – not 5/6/17 or 6/5/17, but June 5, 2017).  If you do not know the identity of the animal you have photographed, I will try and identify it, or get someone to do so.  But if you do know what the animal is, please say so – then I don’t have to try and identify it myself.  If you can do these things, it will be an absolutely enormous help.  

   And thank you all for your great observations and photographs of so many different sorts.  It’s really great fun.

2017 June 10, evening

   Jochen Moehr sends photographs of a variety of insects from Metchosin.

Bombus vosnesenskii (Hym.: Apidae)  Jochen Moehr

Bombus melanopygus (Hym.: Apidae)  Jochen Moehr

Drone Fly Eristalis tenax (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Jochen Moehr

Spittlebug adult (Hem.: Cercopoidea)  Jochen Moehr

   Jeremy Tatum sends photographs of two noctuid caterpillars, with “probable” identifications.

Probably Eurois occulta (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Probably Egira curialis (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

2017 June 10 morning

   Gordon Hart sends a photograph of a bluet from Goldstream Heights, June 6.  Rob Cannings writes:  It could be a male Boreal Bluet Enallagma boreale. But Northern Bluet E. annexum is also a possibility  — the two are  normally not separable in photos unless a very clear view of the tip of the tail (dorsal is best) is visible. We almost have that here, but it’s just not sharp enough for me to give a definite determination. Separating them by habitat around here is usually not easy, either, although in my experience, higher elevation peatlands (bogs, fens) are somewhat more likely to have E. boreale around them. Anyway, it’s one of the two.

  (Jeremy Tatum notes:  Our Northern Bluet was formerly included in E. cyathigerum, but the latter is now regarded as a separate European species, so ours has acquired the new name E. annexum.)

Boreal Bluet Ennalagma boreale or Northern Bluet E. annexum (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)

Gordon Hart

   Aziza Cooper writes: Here is a Western Tiger Swallowtail which I saw on Summerset Place in Sidney.  I think it’s a Western Tiger rather than a Pale, even though the photo doesn’t show the darker yellow.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  Yes, I think I agree, but this illustrates again that the two can be hard to distinguish.  Mike Yip pointed out in connection with an earlier photograph that the crescent near the tail is orange in the Pale Tiger Swallowtail and yellow in the Western Tiger Swallowtail.

Western Tiger Swallowtail Papilio rutulus (Lep.: Papilionidae) Aziza Cooper

   Nathan Fisk writes: I’m happy to report that the Field Crescents are still flying at Eddy’s on Stelly’s Cross Road. I saw at least four nectaring on the daisies amongst Himalayan blackberry.   What lovely creatures!

Field Crescent Phyciodes pratensis (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Nathan Fisk

   Jochen Moehr sends a photograph of a spittlebug nymph extracted from the “spittle” on a rosemary bush.  He writes:  “extracting it from the foam onto my finger left a really good rosemary fragrance on the finger”.   We have labelled previous photographs of spittlebugs on this site as “Philaenus spumarius”, but in fact spittlebugs are scattered through several Families, and until we can find a specialist in identifying these bugs, it is perhaps safest to leave our label at Superfamily (“-oidea”) level.

“Spittle” made by spittlebug nymph.   Jochen Moehr

Spittlebug nymph (Hem.: Cercopoidea)  Jochen Moehr

   Jochen also sends a photograph of a mosquito.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  One would need a specialist to identify it, and I’ll be honest and say that I have no idea which one it is!  However, the best-known genera are Culex, Anopheles and Aedes.   Anopheles is supposed to rest head down, tail in the air, whereas the other two rest horizontally.  Many Aedes have black-and-white legs.  Thus the odds are slightly in favour of this one being Aedes.

Mosquito.  Perhaps Aedes sp. (Dip.: Culicidae)  Jochen Moehr

2017 June 9

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I have just received an announcement from BCNature which says:

Starting May 23rd and running until August 13th, we will be accepting photo entries which capture the beauty of Canadian nature all around us. Special prizes from our generous supporters are available for the winners who will be announced.

   It occurs to me that we have a lot of absolutely super photos from contributors to Invert Alert, and you might want to enter some of your Invert photos to the BCNature competition.  I have absolutely no objection (indeed I would strongly encourage you to enter), and as far as I know VNHS doesn’t either.  Whether BCNature has any restrictions such as “mustn’t have been posted elsewhere” you’d have to find out from them.  Presumably if you googled BCNature you’d find some details.

  David Allinson sends an interesting photograph of a noctuid moth that at first sight might look as though it were crippled.  In fact I believe it is in excellent health.  I believe it has just (within the last few minutes) emerged from its pupa, and its wings have not yet expanded.  The moth will climb up on to something, and its wings (initially soft and flabby) will expand and harden in 20 minutes or so.  All of this miracle is perfectly normal.  Because its wings have not yet expanded, I don’t think I can identify it, other than to Family level.

Freshly-emerged noctuid moth (Lep.: Noctuidae)  David Allison

   Ann Tiplady sends a photograph of a halictid bee Agapostemon sp. from her Oak Bay garden.

Agapostemon sp. (Hym.: Halictidae)  Ann Tiplady

   Ann also sends a photograph of a very young (second instar?) caterpillar of a Vapourer Moth from a lupine in her garden.

Vapourer Moth Orgyia antiqua (Lep.: Erebidae – Lymantriinae)

Ann Tiplady