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.

May 27

2016 May 27

 

   Annie Pang sends some pictures of flies from the Gorge area.

 

Merodon equestris (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Annie Pang

 

Probably Lucilia sp. (Dip.: Calliphoridae) Annie Pang
The female (separated eyes) is in front;  the male (eyes close together) is behind.

 

 

Probably Hybomitra sp. (Dip.: Tabanidae)  Annie Pang

 

Probably Hybomitra sp. (Dip.: Tabanidae)  Annie Pang

 

[Thanks to Claudia Copley for the tentative identification of this fly.  Jeremy Tatum writes: These flies have a very painful bite, and I am terrified of them.]

May 25

 

2015 May 25

 

Annie Pang sends pictures of a Two-spotted Ladybird beetle, and of a bumblebee seeking nectar in a Foxglove.

 

Two-spotted Ladybird Adalia bipunctata (Col.: Coccinellidae)  Annie Pang

Bombus centralis (Hym.: Apidae)   Annie Pang

  Gordon Hart sends a picture of a cicada from his Highlands garden.  Thanks to Claudia Copley for the identification as a teneral Okanagana sp.

 

Cicada Okanagana sp.  (Hem.: Cicadidae)   Gordon Hart

 

Libby Avis sends photographs of a caterpillar of Enypia packardata from Rathtrevor Park, Parksville, May 4.   We are not sure how (or if) it is possible to distinguish this caterpillar from that of E. griseata, but we assume, from its range, that it has to be packardata.

 

Enypia packardata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Libby Avis

Enypia packardata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Libby Avis

   Gerry and Wendy Ansell write: On Tuesday May 24, 2016, we saw three Purplish Coppers on the Indian Reserve north of Island View Beach Regional Park.

 

Male Purplish Copper Lycaena helloides (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Wendy Ansell

  Jeremy Tatum shows a third variation of a Large Yellow Underwing.  See also May 19 and 23.

 

Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

 

Jeff Gaskin writes: “Today, May 25, I looked for butterflies on the Galloping Goose trail from Sooke Road at Glen Lake Road to the Colwood exit of the Island Highway. My results are the following:  Cabbage White 25, Western Tiger Swallowtail  6,  Lorquin’s Admiral  2,  Pale Tiger Swallowtail  1,  and Western Spring Azure  1. 

 

 

May 24

2016 May 24

 

    Here are some photographs of Boisduval’s Blue from Devon Parker’s trip to the clear cuts west of Spectacle Lake on May 19.  Also a Western Spring Azure from there, and two that we can’t be 100 percent sure of, but which may be Silvery Blues.   The first photograph is of a fairly battered individual, and it appears to have the marks of a bird’s bill on its wings, especially the right hindwing, and near the tornus of the right forewing.

 

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

 


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

 


Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Devon Parker

 

Maybe Silvery Blue ? Glaucopsyche lygdamus (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Devon Parker

 

Maybe Silvery Blue ? Glaucopsyche lygdamus (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Devon Parker

 

 

    While near Spectacle Lake on May 22, Devon photographed the moth below:

 


Hemaris thetis  (Lep.: Sphingidae)   Devon Parker

 

 

   Libby Avis sends some photographs from a hike to Cous Estuary in the Alberni Valley, Saturday May 21st.

 Buprestis aurulenta (Col.: Buprestidae)   Libby Avis

 

Chrysolina quadrigemina/hyperici (Col.: Chrysomelidae)  Libby Avis

 

Libby writes:  Both are European species released here to control St John’s Wort.  Hard to tell apart without dissection, although Bug Guide says quadrigemina seems to be more common. We saw large numbers of them all clustered on the host plant.

 

Leptarctia californiae (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)  Libby Avis

 

 

   Annie Pang sends a photograph of a male Philodromus dispar from Victoria, May 21.

 

Philodromus dispar (Ara.: Philodromidae) Annie Pang.

 

   During the two-Parker two-Jeremy expedition on May 14 to find the Johnson’s Hairstreak in the Jordan River area, we came across a handsome noctuid caterpillar on an

alder leaf. Jeremy Gatten soon after identified it as Eurois sp., and further reference to David Wagner’s book on owlet caterpillars revealed that it was almost certainly Eurois astricta.  While it initially continued to feed on alder, it very soon turned its attention to Hardhack which I had brought in for somebody else.  Here is a picture of the caterpillar.

 

Eurois astricta (Lep.: Noctuidae)    Jeremy Tatum

May 23

2016 May 23

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Sorry I didn’t manage an Invert Alert yesterday – I was curled up comfortably in bed all day.  Nice to do once in a while.  Although it’s morning now, this will probably be the only Invert Alert I’ll post today, but keep the observations and photos coming in.  I think I have caught up as of Monday morning, but, if you think that I may have missed any of your photographs, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

 

Rosemary Jorna took a photograph of a syrphid fly at Whiffin Spit on May 18.  We thank Jeff Skevington who tells us that, although it cannot be identified for certain at species level from the photograph, it is female of the genus Syrphus.

 

Syrphus sp. (Dip.: Syrphidae)   Rosemary Jorna

Nick Doe sends a photograph of a Mesoleuca gratulata from Gabriola Island, May 22, which I think is a slightly late date for this species.

 

Mesoleuca gratulata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Nick Doe

Jeremy Tatum sends another photograph of a Large Yellow Underwing.  You can compare this one with the one posted on May 19 to see just how variable this European species is.

 

Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba (Lep.: Noctuidae) Jeremy Tatum

 

 

Annie Pang reports her first sightings for the year – and very early ones at that – of Lorquin’s Admiral at Gorge Park. May 20.

 

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

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

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

   And Marie O’Shaughnessy found one on Mount Tomie on May 22.  Seems that Lorquin’s Admirals are back in season – a little early.

 

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

On May 7, Gordon Hart found a strange-looking beetle.  Thanks to Scott Gilmore for identifying it as Neoclytus conjunctus.

 

 

 Neoclytus conjunctus (Col.: Cerambycidae)  Gordon Hart

 

Scott Gilmore sends pics of three nice beetles form Upper Lantzville, May 21.

 

Cardiophorus sp. (Col.: Elateridae) Scott Gilmore

Buprestis aurulenta (Col.: Buprestidae) Scott Gilmore

 

Three-banded Lady Beetle Coccinella trifasciata (Col.: Coccinellidae)

Scott Gilmore

 

Rosemary Jorna sends a photograph of a Cinnabar Moth, seen on Gillespie Road, May 21.

 

Cinnabar Moth Tyria jacobaeae (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae) Rosemary Jorna

 

Devon Parker sends reports of some butterflies seen on May 21 and 22:

 

May 21

Hill with Radio Tower east of Mallard Lake, Tofino

1 Anise Swallowtail

3 Western Pale Swallowtail

1 Western Pine Elfin

1 Western Brown Elfin ovipositing on Kinickinnick

 

May 22

Clearcut North of Spectacle Lake, Malahat

1 Common Ringlet (aka Large Heath Coenonympha tullia)

2 Mylitta Crescent

3 Persius Duskywing

1 Western Pale Swallowtail ovipositing on Alder and Oceanspray

2 Western Brown Elfin

2 Two-Banded Grizzled Skipper

1 Cedar Hairstreak

15+ Boisduval’s Blue (blackmorei subspecies)

10+ Western Spring Azure

 

 

 

May 21

2106 May 21

 

   Rosemary Jorna and Annie Pang each send pictures of a bumblebee;  Rosemary’s from Kemp Lake Road, May 18;  Annie’s from Esquimalt Gorge Park, May 20.  Unfortunately I can’t identify most Hymenoptera, so if there is any viewer out there who knows what these bees are, please do let us know, at   jtatum AT uvic.ca

 

 

Bumblebee,  probably Bombus sp. (Hym.: Apidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Bumblebee,  probably Bombus sp. (Hym.: Apidae)  Annie Pang

 

Jeremy Tatum writes:  Is this a dagger which I see before me?   Actually Jeremy Tatum didn’t write that at all – William Shakespeare did.  I don’t know the play Macbeth very well, but I assume that there is a character in the play who is a moth enthusiast, and that he has just come across a member of the genus Acronicta.  The moths of this large genus are called daggers because they show a dagger-like mark in the middle of the forewing.   This mark is prominent and obvious in some species.  In others it requires a little bit of imagination.  I think in Acronicta dactylina it needs rather more than a little bit.  I can’t honestly say that I see a dagger before me at all.

 

Acronicta dactylina (Lep.:  Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

 

Here is Enargia infumata  from Blenkinsop Lake:

 

Enargia infumata (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

 

And here is a Common Emerald Moth.  It is an introduced European species.  It is known as the Common Emerald in Britain, but here, at least in Victoria, it is commoner than most of our native emeralds, so the name is still appropriate.

Common Emerald Hemithea aestivaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum