{"id":14350,"date":"2021-06-25T16:59:57","date_gmt":"2021-06-25T23:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/?p=14350"},"modified":"2021-06-26T15:57:41","modified_gmt":"2021-06-26T22:57:41","slug":"june-25-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/?p=14350","title":{"rendered":"June 25"},"content":{"rendered":"

2021 June 25<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Jeremy Tatum writes:\u00a0 This small moth, which I\u2019ll tentatively label Choristoneura occidentalis<\/em><\/strong>, came into my apartment yesterday.\u00a0 In forestry circles its caterpillar is known as the Western Spruce Budworm<\/strong>.\u00a0 I believe the foresters don\u2019t like it very much.\u00a0 This is part of a complex coming under the heading \u201cChoristoneura fumiferana<\/em> (or fumerana<\/em>) group\u201d\u00a0 According to Powell and Opler, \u201cthe western components defy suitable placement by our nomenclatural system.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Choristoneura occidentalis <\/em>(Lep.: Tortricidae)\u00a0\u00a0 Jeremy Tatum<\/p>\n

I found this caterpillar on a willow at Durrance Lake.\u00a0\u00a0 The long fine hairs mark it as Nycteola <\/em>sp.<\/p>\n

The two commonest Nycteola <\/em>\u00a0species here are N. frigidana <\/em>and N. cinereana<\/em>.\u00a0 The caterpillars of frigidana<\/em> are supposed to feed on Salix<\/em> and those of cinereana <\/em>\u00a0on Populus<\/em> \u2013 but I don\u2019t know if this is rigidly true.\u00a0 I\u2019ll label it \u201cprobably\u201d frigidana<\/em> for the moment \u2013 but we\u2019ll see when the adult moth emerges.<\/p>\n

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Nycteola <\/em>(probably frigidana<\/em>)\u00a0 (Lep.: Nolidae)\u00a0 Jeremy Tatum<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And here is a Red Admiral <\/strong>caterpillar, from Stinging Nettle near Blenkinsop Lake.<\/p>\n

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Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta <\/em>(Lep.: Nymphalidae)\u00a0 Jeremy Tatum<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On June 1 we posted a photograph by Steven Roias of the caterpillar of a Mouse Moth.\u00a0 <\/strong>The adult moth emerged today and I released it, after photographing it, at Panama Flats, where there is probably a colony of them.<\/p>\n

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Mouse Moth Amphipyra tragopoginis <\/em>(Lep.: Noctuidae)\u00a0 Jeremy Tatum<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We referred yesterday to reports of \u201cbutterflies\u201d in Uplands Park, although we speculated that these might in fact have been Sheep Moths.\u00a0 <\/strong>Elizabeth Garrett has since photographed two of them, and indeed that is what they are:<\/p>\n

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Sheep Moths Hemileuca eglanterina <\/em>(Lep: Saturniidae) Elizabeth Garrett<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today, in the heat of the day, there are also many Sheep Moths<\/strong> charging at high speed over Mount Tolmie.\u00a0 More about Mount Tolmie at the end of this posting.<\/p>\n

On June 5 we mentioned that Sandringham Care Home on Fort Street had acquired a kit of 29 Painted Lady <\/strong>caterpillars.\u00a0 The adult butterflies arising from these were released in the Sandringham garden yesterday.\u00a0 The hope was that they would stay there.\u00a0 However, the Painted Lady is a long-distance migrant and a powerful flower, so I\u2019m not sure if many will stay.\u00a0 If any viewer sees any Painted Ladies in that area, please do let us know.<\/p>\n

Liam Singh writes:\u00a0 I just wanted to let you know that I saw at least\u00a05 Black Saddlebags<\/strong> at Swan Lake on June 24. They were about 100m east of the lollipop boardwalk\u00a0chasing each other. I even saw a pair mating and then\u00a0laying eggs in the water! \u00a0I’ve attached a photo of one that I was able to catch (after waiting two hours for it to fly close enough). \u00a0I’ve also attached a photo of a male Common Green Darner<\/strong> that I caught (one of many present).<\/p>\n

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Black Saddlebags Tramea lacerata <\/em>(Odo.: Libellulidae)\u00a0 Liam Singh<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Common Green Darner Anax junius <\/em>(Odo.: Aeshnidae)\u00a0\u00a0 Liam Singh<\/p>\n

[Jeremy Tatum writes:\u00a0 In spite of its name, the Common Green Darner, while not rare, is not particularly \u201ccommon\u201d, and is one of our more spectacular dragonflies.]<\/p>\n

Jeff Gaskin writes:\u00a0 Kirsten Mills and I saw up to 6 Clodius Parnassians<\/strong> in their usual place along Nanaimo River Road around km 9 from the hwy.\u00a0\u00a0This was on June 24 around 2 p.m.<\/p>\n

Butterfly enthusiasts are reminded that last year some parnassians were seen that were suspected to be possibly P.smintheus<\/em>.\u00a0 Those who see parnassians are asked to keep a sharp look out and see if any of them might be this species.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Tatum writes:\u00a0 I was on Mount Tolmie this morning, and I looked at an interesting large poster near the top, which I hadn\u2019t noticed before, describing the history, natural history and geology of Mount Tolmie.\u00a0 One thing it said was that the thing that we have been calling the \u201creservoir\u201d is indeed just that \u2013 a water reservoir.\u00a0 It also said that there are 11 species of butterfly to be seen on Mount Tolmie.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t list them, but let\u2019s make an attempt now:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Propertius Anglewing<\/li>\n
  2. Essex Skipper<\/li>\n
  3. Woodland Skipper<\/li>\n
  4. Anise Swallowtail<\/li>\n
  5. Western Tiger Swallowtail<\/li>\n
  6. Pale Tiger Swallowtail<\/li>\n
  7. Cabbage White<\/li>\n
  8. Sara Orangetip<\/li>\n
  9. Purplish Copper<\/li>\n
  10. Western Brown Elfin<\/li>\n
  11. Grey Hairstreak<\/li>\n
  12. Western Spring Azure<\/li>\n
  13. California Tortoiseshell<\/li>\n
  14. Mourning Cloak<\/li>\n
  15. Painted Lady<\/li>\n
  16. West Coast Lady<\/li>\n
  17. Red Admiral<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Wow!\u00a0 That\u2019s 17!\u00a0 Are there more I should add?<\/p>\n

    Geologically much of Mount Tolmie is Wark gneiss, so we can look forward to a nice walk on the Wark gneiss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    2021 June 25 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jeremy Tatum writes:\u00a0 This small moth, which I\u2019ll tentatively label Choristoneura occidentalis, came into my apartment yesterday.\u00a0 In forestry circles its caterpillar is known as the Western Spruce Budworm.\u00a0 I believe the foresters don\u2019t like it very much.\u00a0 This is part of a complex coming under the heading \u201cChoristoneura fumiferana (or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-invertebrate-alert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14350"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14370,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14350\/revisions\/14370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}