2016 June 14

   Gordon Hart writes:  It’s almost time for the next count ( June 18-26), so I have attached a summary of the May count.  There were about 12 observers and 40 reports for 13 species of butterfly. That is down from last month and May 2015 when 19 species were seen.  It was the end of the season for Spring Azures with 15 seen, compared to 151 last year. On the other hand, Ringlets or Large Heath were seen in large numbers in several places. Lorquin’s Admiral were early this year, as none were seen in May 2015.

Here is a table:

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Here is the Satyr Comma caterpillar from Lochside Drive which I mentioned in the June 13 posting.

Satyr Comma Polygonia satyrus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   And here is a small moth from the outside wall of my Saanich apartment building this morning.

Idaea dimidiata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

Annie Pang sends a photograph of a very trusting Lorquin’s Admiral.

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Annie Pang

Cheryl Hoyle sends a photograph of an Elder Moth seen on June 13.

Elder Moth Zotheca tranquilla (Lep.: Noctuidae) Cheryl Hoyle

Warning – Not for the squeamish!

   Gordon Hart writes:  The attached pictures are a little gruesome, so you don’t have to post them. There was a White-footed Deer Mouse that had been killed by a neighbour’s cat on our lawn. I walked by it some time later and saw it move. A few seconds later, a sexton beetle  probably Nicrophorus defodiens , laden with mites, emerged from under the remains. Apparently the mites are a beneficial parasite who hop off onto the dead mouse to eat eggs and young maggots of the flies that land there, leaving more food for the beetle. The mites could never get to the food source on their own. There is one picture of the beetle with flies and mites, one with a wasp and one close-up of the beetle and mites. Perhaps one picture is enough!  I just could not decide which one I should send so I sent three – you can edit it to one or none.

Jeremy Tatum replies:  Viewers have had their warning – so I’m showing all three, of course! The green fly in the second photograph is a female greenbottle Lucilia sp.  I believe the wasp is Vespula – can anyone tell the species?  Thanks to Heather Proctor for identifying the mites as Poecilochirus sp.

Sexton beetle Nicrophorus defodiens (Col.: Silphidae)

Sexton beetle Nicrophorus defodiens (Col.: Silphidae)

Greenbottle Lucilia sp.(Dip.: Calliphoridae)

 Gordon Hart

Sexton beetle Nicrophorus defodiens (Col.: Silphidae)

Wasp Vespula sp.(Hym.: Vespidae)

 Gordon Hart

2016 June 13

   Val George writes:  I photographed this Chalk-fronted Corporal (Ladona julia) when on the Victoria Naturalists trip to Rhododendron Lake (near Nanaimo) on June 12.  [Jeremy Tatum comments:  This is the first time we have had a photograph of this species on the Invertebrate Alert site.]

Chalk-fronted Corporal Ladona julia (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Val George

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  Yesterday, June 12, after 4:30 pm. on Mt Tolmie, there were 2 Red Admirals, 1 Painted Lady, 1 Lady species, 3 Lorquin’s Admirals, and 1 each of Pale Tiger and Western Tiger Swallowtails.

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I walked along Lochside Trail yesterday (June 12) from Lohbrunner’s to Blenkinsop Lake, and there were Red Admiral caterpillars on the nettles all the way. Dozens of them.  I thought I was going to draw a complete blank on Satyr Commas, but I did eventually find one caterpillar.  He is a bit shy at the moment, but I’ll try and take his photograph tomorrow.  I still haven’t seen an adult Satyr Comma this year.

2106 June 11

   Jeremy Tatum shows caterpillars of three butterflies. First, a Western Spring Azure.  Found yesterday in an Ocean Spray panicle at Blenkinsop Lake.

Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo (Lep.: Lycaenidae)

Jeremy Tatum

  Next a Red Admiral, found while I was looking (unsuccessfully) for caterpillars of the Satyr Comma, usually so common in Lochside Drive south of Blenkinsop Lake.

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Jeremy Tatum

Lastly a Two-banded Grizzled Skipper..  This came from the egg found by Devon Parker near Jordan River (see May 15 posting).  Although the egg was laid on Rubus ursinus, the caterpillar seems to prefer Fragaria vesca.  The caterpillar is resting in classical pyrgine caterpillar style, looking backwards over its shoulder.

Two-banded Grizzled Skipper Pyrgus ruralis (Lep.: Hesperiidae)

Jeremy Tatum

Annie Pang sends a picture of a Common Emerald moth from her back door yesterday.  This European moth has become quite common in Victoria.

Common Emerald Hemithea aestivaria (Lep.: Geometridae) Annie Pang

Aziza Cooper writes:  Yesterday, June 9 and today, June 10 I saw Milbert’s Tortoiseshell briefly. Yesterday was at the lollipop boardwalk at Swan Lake, and today was on the south face of Mt Douglas below the west summit.

Other butterflies June 10 at Mt Douglas were:

Pale Tiger Swallowtail – 1

Anise Swallowtail – 1

Western Tiger Swallowtail – 1

Lorquin’s Admiral – 4

Cabbage White – 1

Reddish-brown flyby – possible Sheep Moth

Aziza sends a photograph of a moth, taken on June 10, on the south face of Mount Douglas below the west summit just above treetop level.  Jeremy Tatum responds:   This is Digrammia muscariata,  a moth associated with Garry Oak.

Digrammia muscariata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Aziza Cooper

2016 June 10

   Annie Pang writes:  I had quite a few of these Common Emeralds a few nights ago here in Victoria BC at my back porch.

Common Emerald Hemithea aestivaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Annie Pang

   Devon Parker writes:  I was up on the Malahat today (June 9) with my Dad. This was our sighting list for the day along the power lines. I also attach a photo of a Lorquin’s Admiral caterpillar that my Dad had found on a Salix sp. at the Spectacle Lake Parking lot on May 22 2016.

1 Western Tiger Swallowtail
4 Pale Tiger Swallowtail
10 Western Spring Azure
4 Lorquin’s Admiral
1 Dun Skipper
2 Boisduval’s Blue
1 Grey Hairstreak
1 Hemaris thetis

Grey Hairstreak Strymon melinus (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Devon Parker

(and a pentatomid bug)

 Grey Hairstreak Strymon melinus (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Devon Parker

Dun Skipper Euphyes vestris (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Devon Parker

Boisduval’s Blue Icaricia icarioides (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Devon Parker

Hemaris thetis (Lep.: Sphingidae)  Devon Parker

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Devon Parker

2016 June 9

   Gordon Hart writes:  I am enclosing a picture of a Western Eyed Click Beetle (Alaus melanops).  I almost did not see it on the black asphalt of our Highlands driveway, but I saw the two false “eyes”. It is quite large, about 30 mm.

Western Eyed Click Beetle Alaus melanops (Col.: Elateridae)  Gordon Hart

   Louise Rushton found a caterpillar which we couldn’t identify, but she kept an eye on it, and a yellow maggot of a parasitoidal tachinid fly emerged from the now-dead caterpillar.

Tachinid fly maggot (Dip.: Tachinidae)  Louise Rushton

   In the June 7 posting, we mentioned that Gordon Hart had photographed a beetle and some “tiny insects” on a daisy at Currie Creek Road.  Scott Gilmore has identified the beetle for us as Lepturobosca chrysocoma (thank you, Scott), so we now show Gordon’s photograph.  I challenged Scott to go further and to see if he could identify one of the “tiny” insects, which was also a beetle.  This probably needs close examination of the insect with a lens, but Scott rose to the challenge, and he believes that the little beetle is probably Bruchidius villosus.  Then there is a very tiny insect indeed on one of the petals on the right hand side. Jeremy Tatum is pretty sure that this is a parasitoidal wasp of the hymenopteran superfamily Chalcidoidea.  These insects insert several (sometimes many) eggs inside the egg of another insect (such as a moth egg), and these several eggs hatch into several grubs, which grow and spend their entire immature lives (larvae and pupae) inside the egg of the host insect.

Lepturobosca chrysocoma (Col.: Cerambycidae)

  and  Bruchidius villosus (Col.: Chrysomelidae)

Gordon Hart.

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  Today, June 09, I went with Rick Schortinghuis to look for Field Crescents on Stelly’s Cross Road, and almost immediately we started seeing them.  We counted at least five and there probably were more. Also, there were a few European or Essex Skippers in the grass.