2016 April 10

   Just a gentle reminder:   It is helpful, when reporting an invertebrate, to give the species, where it was seen, and the date. (Not “yesterday”, or “this evening”  –  but the date!)  If you don’t know the species, send a photograph, if you can, and we’ll do our best.  But an unidentified species without a photograph is a bit hard to post!  And please also remember that, when sending a photograph, it is a HUGE, HUGE help if you would send the photograph as an attachment rather than in the body of the message!   Thanks to all.

   Ron Flower writes:  Today, Sunday April 10^th  [thank you!  – Jeremy], at Prospect Lake power lines I saw numerous Western Spring Azures and Sara Orangetips.  The highlight was a Two-banded Grizzled Skipper (also called “checkered” skipper – though on this site we are using the word “grizzled” for all Pyrgus skippers and “chequered” for Carterocephalus skippers, rather than mixing them haphazardly.   Jeremy].  The skipper was on the power line trail opposite from where the Yellow-breasted Chat was a few years ago down in a deep ravine area.

2016 April 9

   Rebecca Reader-Lee writes: Yesterday (April 8), I found this moth at our house (North Highlands). I’m sure it’s not unusual as I see them often.  [Jeremy Tatum responds:  Well, it’s Egira rubrica, and it’s certainly not one I see very often!  A nice one to get!]

Egira rubrica (Lep.: Noctuidae)

Rebecca Reader-Lee

   Aziza Cooper writes:  Seen today, April 9, a Mourning Cloak perched on a rock across the lawn from the Swan Lake Nature House.  Bill Savale and Jeremy Tatum also report single Mourning Cloaks today, from Mount Tolmie and from Spectacle Lake, as well as a Moss’s Elfin at Spectacle Lake.

Mourning Cloak  Nymphalis antiopa (Lep.:  Noctuidae)  Aziza Cooper

2016 April 8

   Thomas Barbin sends a remarkable photograph of a nomad bee (one of several groups of cleptoparasitic bees also known as cuckoo bees), from the Highlands District yesterday. Cleptoparasites lay their eggs in the nests of other species of bee or wasp, and often resemble their hosts closely.

Nomad bee Nomada sp. (Hym.: Apidae – Nomadinae)   Thomas Barbin

Gordon Hart writes from Highlands District:  Today we had five butterfly species in the yard: a Cabbage White, 2 Western Spring Azures, a Mourning Cloak, a Moss’s Elfin and two commas, Green Commas, I think. [Agreed!  Jeremy] I am attaching a photo of the elfin since it was so colourful . The FW seemed almost blue-grey. The commas who kept skirmishing over a patch of brambles looked like Green Commas, although I notice the one I sent from April 2 has two small horizontal white bars between two vertical black bars on the FW. Today’s subjects don’t have the white bars.

Green Comma Polygonia faunus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)   Gordon Hart

Moss’s Elfin Incisalia mossii (Lep.: Lycaenidae)   Gordon Hart

   Val George writes:  Mount Tolmie this afternoon, April 7:  One each of California Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral, Mourning Cloak.

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Val George

Annie Pang sends a picture of a sawfly, probably Trichiosoma triangulum, from Victoria, April 6.  As with her recent picture of the moth Mesoleuca gratulata, she appears to have caught it in the act of ovipositing.

 Sawfly, probably Trichiosoma triangulum (Hym.: Cimbicidae)  Annie Pang

Mike Yip writes from Nanoose Bay:  First-of-year last week 2 Sara Orangetips and 1 Western Brown Elfin. Today first-of-year  5  Spring Azures & 2 Western Pine Elfins.

Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo (Lep.: Lycaenidae)   Mike Yip

Western Pine Elfin Incisalia eryphon (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Mike Yip

2016 April 7

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Thanks to Rob Bennett for identifying the spider which I photographed at my Saanich apartment this morning, April 7.

 Scotophaeus blackwalli (Ara.: Gnaphosidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Scotophaeus blackwalli (Ara.: Gnaphosidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Jeremy continues:  There were also a couple of moths on the walls of my apartment building.  The immature stages of these moths are of some interest – Hypena decorata because the caterpillar has only three pairs of mid-abdominal prolegs;  Cyclophora dataria because the pupa is very similar to that of the Cabbage White butterfly – one of my favorite examples of convergent evolution of two unrelated insects.

I had originally labelled the Hypena moth as Hypena californica.  I am greatly indebted to Jeremy Gatten for pointing out that the two white dots near the apex shows that the moth is, in fact, H. decorata.

 Hypena decorata (Lep.: Erebidae – Hypeninae) Jeremy Tatum

Cyclophora dataria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

Devon Parker reports two blue butterflies, presumably Western Spring Azures, on April 6.  One at Flanagan Place, and one at the intersection of Glanford Street and Mackenzie Avenue.

2016 April 4

   Annie Pang writes:  I was at Gorge Park today (April 3, 2016) in Victoria, BC, when I spotted a wee winged creature that could only have been Mesoleuca gratulata commonly known as White Ribbon Carpet moth.  This one flies by day and man, does it fly!  It led me on a chase all over the park, often hovering over a leaf as if to land, but …well, not quite, and then off it went.  I certainly had a frustrating time of it and actually found myself talking to the little beggar, imploring it to please LAND! Well, eventually it did alight on a leaf …..somewhat further away than I would have liked, but I just took the one shot I got and then it was off.  They nectar on flowers and like to sun if they are cool and I have seen them lay eggs on Blackberry leaves and other members of that plant family during the day.  I’ve heard it said that the color of this moth intentionally makes it look like a bird dropping so as to camouflage it from feathered predators, but I do think it is a pretty little one. 

Song to a White Ribbon Carpet

A tiny little bit of flying cloth
a’flitting all about throughout the day
it is the White Ribbon Carpet moth
that had my heart and legs pounding away.
and when finally it landed on a leaf
I took the only shot that I could take.
It seemed to take delight in all my grief
to chase it all about. That little flake!
Your days are numbered though my little one
and so you make the most of time that’s yours
for soon in time when spring is all but done
your spirit will have flown to distant shores.
So fly and sun and mate and lay your eggs,
while I pursue you, on my aching legs!
© Annie Pang

Mesoleuca gratulata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Annie Pang

   Jeremy Tatum comments:  Butterfly and moth enthusiasts will recognize Annie’s description of so many day-flying geometrids – how they so often look as though they are just about to land – but they don’t!  So frustrating!  Annie’s moth in her photograph above shows the moth bending her abdomen while just about to lay an egg on a blackberry plant. If you look on the blackberry stem just to the right of her right wing-tip, you’ll see an egg standing between two of the blackberry spines.