2018 April 11
Jochen Moehr continues to get exciting moths in Metchosin. Here are a few – there’ll be more to come in the next posting! Thanks to Libby Avis for help with the identifications.


Orthosia praeses (Lep.: Noctuidae) Jochen Moehr


Orthosia praeses (Lep.: Noctuidae) Jochen Moehr

Orthosia praeses (Lep.: Noctuidae) Jochen Moehr


Orthosia hibisci (Lep.: Noctuidae) Jochen Moehr
Orthosia hibisci (Lep.: Noctuidae)Jochen Moehr


Orthosia hibisci (Lep.: Noctuidae) Jochen Moehr


Orthosia hibisci (Lep.: Noctuidae) Jochen Moehr
Jeremy Tatum writes: I’m envious – all I could find at the well-lit rear door of my Saanich apartment building this morning was a weevil.


Otiorhynchus singularis (Col.: Curculionidae) Jeremy Tatum
Although this site is for terrestrial invertebrates, I couldn’t resist this next one – a marine mite. I didn’t know there were such things. It was photographed by John MacFarlane. Dr Heather Proctor writes: This is a mesostigmatan. There are no completely subaquatic mesostigs, so this was probably from the intertidal zone, or possibly got washed into deeper water. Unfortunately it is a nymph, so I can’t tell what Family it belongs to.
Jeremy Tatum writes: Until I have time to work on going through all the mites on this site, for the present I am listing, in the Index, all mites and ticks under the Order Acari. However, in modern classifications, Acari is a Subclass (or at least something higher than Order). Parasitiformes might be regarded as an Order within the Acari, and the Mesostigmata as a Suborder within Parasitiformes.


Nymphal marine mite (Acari – Parasitiformes – Mesostigmata)
John MacFarlane
Viewers who are interested in trying their hand at amateur photomicrography, or indeed more experienced photomicrographers, may be interested in a site being designed by Mr MacFarlane for that purpose. See the Invert Alert entry for March 29, or go to micronaturalist.ca or write to Mr MacFarlane at: microscope at shaw dot ca for more details. It sounds interesting.