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 14

2017 September 14

 

   Barbara McGrenere reports finding a caterpillar (shown below) of a Rough Prominent moth at McMinn Park (Cordova Bay) and seeing a Painted Lady butterfly at Outerbridge Park (Royal Oak Drive) this morning.

 

Rough Prominent Nadata gibbosa (Lep.: Notodontidae)  Jeremy Tatum

 

September 13

2017 September 13

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Lots of Neoalcis californiaria keep coming to my back door in Saanich.

 

Neoalcis californiaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

      He also reports a Red Admiral just outside the entrance to the Mount Tolmie reservoir at 4:00 p m.

 

In yesterday’s (September 12) posting I recounted how I had seen a huge Catocala  very close by in flight.  It turns out that on the very same day Gordon Hart had exactly the same experience in his Highlands yard.  As with me, shortly after flying around, the moth settled in full view, the one difference being that Gordon had his camera with him!  These “cats” are difficult to distinguish, even if they show their colourful hindwings, and I think we’ll have to leave this as Catocala sp.

Catocala sp.   (Lep.: Erebidae – Erebinae – Catocalini)  Gordon Hart

   Also seen by Gordon was a Painted Lady, which, very appropriately, settled on a butterfly-shaped sundial for its photo opportunity.

 

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Gordon Hart

 

Jeremy Tatum writes:  Here is the pupa formed by the caterpillar of the White-lined Hawk Moth shown on September 3 and 4.

 

White-lined Hawk Moth Hyles lineata (Lep.: Sphingidae)  Jeremy Tatum

 

 

September 12

2017 September 12

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  My pessimism expressed in the September 11 posting about being able to get an identification of the moth photographed by Ron Flower at McIntyre reservoir yesterday was ill-founded.  Libby Avis had no difficulty in identifying it as Loxostege cereralis – named for Ceres, goddess of agriculture.  Here is Ron’s photograph:

 


Loxostege cereralis (Lep.: Crambidae – Pyraustinae)  Ron Flower

 

   The September 10 posting had a report of masses of caterpillars of the White-speck Moth (Armyworm) invading a school in Courtenay.  Now today’s (September 12) Times-Colonist has an article (page B1) headed “Armyworm infestation decimates BC crops”, including such phrases as “seething mass” and “army of voracious worms”, “a larvae” and so on.  I haven’t seen any here in Victoria recently.  Perhaps viewers would keep a lookout for them.  I see many buildings were also decimated by Hurricane Irma.  I always thought that “to decimate” meant “to reduce by ten percent” – but I suppose our language evolves and becomes less comprehensible as it does so.

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I visited McIntyre reservoir again today.   I saw a Painted Lady, a Purplish Copper, and lots of Cabbage Whites – but no sulphurs.  That does not mean that they have all necessarily gone, and it would still be worth a few visits there.  I had some excitement at the Lochside trail pig farm.  A huge Catocala moth flew right by my head, flashing brilliant red hindwings.  You usually find these moths settled on a wall with their hindwings hidden.  To see the moth in flight was quite exciting.  Later it settled on a branch.  I couldn’t be sure of the species, but, although there were no nearby oaks, I believe it was most likely C. aholibah.  Then, a little bit further south on Lochside, I found several nests of the Fall Webworm, and I found an isolated caterpillar that had left its nest.  It can be surprising to discover that the Fall Webworm is actually a woolly bear, every bit as woolly, soft, long-haired and cuddly as the other woolly nears in our area.

 

Fall Webworm Hyphantria cunea (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)  Jeremy Tatum

 

Fall Webworm Hyphantria cunea (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)

 Jeremy Tatum

September 11

2017 September 11

 

   Jeremy Tatum sends photographs of some caterpillars.  The first from Ocean Spray at Mount Douglas.  The second from Rubus sp. in East Sooke Park, now feeding on willow.

 

Unicorn Prominent Schizura unicornis (Lep.: Notodontidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Peppered Moth Biston betularia (Lep.: Geometridae)

Jeremy Tatum

   The Zale caterpillar that has been shown on August 28 and 30, and September 2 and 7 is now pupating.  We have narrowed it down to Z. lunata or Z. minerea, probably the former.  Its ventral side is interesting:

 

Zale sp. (Lep.: Erebidae – Erebinae)  Jeremy Tatum

 

 

I went to McIntyre reservoir today.  There were still hundreds of Cabbage Whites in flight.  I also saw one (or more?) pristine Orange Sulphur and one (or more?) pristine Painted Lady.  The sulphur was a full, rich orange.  I didn’t see any of the paler sulphurs that we saw during the VNHS September Butterfly Walk.  It would be nice to get some good photographs of these.  Although we assumed that they were female Orange Sulphurs, I am not 100 per cent certain, and I am toying with the possibility that they may have been Clouded Sulphurs – a different species.  In any case today I had a look at the Brussels Sprouts plants to see if I could spot any caterpillars.  I found one caterpillar each of Cabbage Looper and Cabbage White Butterfly.  The adult Cabbage Looper is the Ni Moth.  The mark on the upperside of the forewing is supposed to resemble the Greek letter nu (n);  “Ni” is the Latinized form of Greek “nu”.   The Ni Moth is a plusiine (i.e. belongs to the Subfamily Plusiinae of the Family Noctuidae).  Most of the plusiine caterpillars don’t have the usual complement of abdominal prolegs (count them), and they walk in a semi-looper fashion.

 

Ni Moth Trichoplusia ni (Lep.: Noctuidae – Plusiinae)  Jeremy Tatum

Cabbage White Pieris rapae (Lep.: Pieridae)   Jeremy Tatum

 

Message just received from Ron Flower, who, too, visited McIntyre reservoir today.  He writes:  Around noon at the reservoir we saw 2 Woodland Skippers, 6 Painted Ladies, 4 Orange Sulphurs, 2 Purplish Coppers, dozens of Cabbage Whites, and a new moth to us. There could have very well been more of each for they seemed to be everywhere.  [Jeremy Tatum writes:  I’m not very optimistic, but we’ll try and identify the moth.]

 

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Ron Flower

 Orange Sulphur Colias eurytheme (Lep.: Pieridae)  Ron Flower

Male Purplish Copper  Lycaena helloides (Lep.:  Lycaenidae)  Ron Flower

 

Jeff Gaskin writes:  Yesterday, Sept. 10, there was a Painted Lady on a Buddleia bush along Gorge Road near Harriet Street.  Today there were no fewer than 6 Pine Whites in East Sooke Park between Aylard Farm and Beechey Head.

 

Gerry and Wendy Ansell write:  Of interest this afternoon (Monday, September 11) was 1 Grey Hairstreak at Panama Flats.   There were also several Woodland Skippers.

 

 

 

 

 

September 10

2017 September 10

 

   Val George writes:  This moth, Triphosa haesitata, was in my car port in Oak Bay yesterday, September 9.

 


Triphosa haesitata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Val George

 

   And Jeremy Tatum writes:  This moth, Noctua pronuba, was outside my back door in Saanich today, September 10.

 


Noctua pronuba (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Jeremy Tatum

 

 

   Nathan Fisk writes:  September 5, 2017,Wickaninnish Beach, Pacific Rim National Park. This one’s a bit out of our area but the patterning on the wings was so striking ‎I wanted to send it in. I have a faint memory of seeing something similar in Invert Alert before.

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  What a good memory you have!  We have had Gazoryctra mathewi once before, 2013 September 8.  This is the only hepialid to appear so far on Invert Alert.    As for the area, while this site was originally intended to cover the Southern Vancouver Island Birdwatching Area, in practice we happily accept reports and photographs from the whole of Vancouver Island as long as we are not clashing with any similar website on the Island.  So, keep ’em coming!

 


Gazoryctra mathewi (Lep.: Hepialidae)  Nathan Fisk

 

 

   Hayley Datoo reports huge numbers of caterpillars all over the inside and outside of Huband Elementary School in Courtenay.  Huge clusters of them lining the base of the hallway wall.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  These are Mythimna unipuncta.  The caterpillars are known in agricultural circles as the Armyworm.  They eat grasses, including cereal crops.  Periodically there are huge outbreaks of them as they eat all their foodplants in the area, and armies of them search for new pastures.  The adult moth is known variously as the American Wainscot or the White-speck Moth.

 


Mythimna unipuncta (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Hayley Datoo