{"id":21119,"date":"2024-04-02T21:49:53","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T04:49:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/?p=21119"},"modified":"2024-04-02T21:49:53","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T04:49:53","slug":"2024-april-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/?p=21119","title":{"rendered":"2024 April 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

2024 April 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Jeff Gaskin writes:\u00a0 A Mourning Cloak<\/strong> was at Quick’s Bottom this morning, April 2nd, –\u00a0 the only butterfly that was there.<\/p>\n

Ian Cooper photographed this slug at Colquitz River Park, March 28.\u00a0 We had wondered whether it might be Arion silvaticus \u2013 <\/em>but Robert Forsyth writes:\u00a0 \u201cIdentifying Arion<\/em> within each of the subgenera is really risky, or just impossible. Arion silvaticus<\/em> is not a species that I\u2019ve ever been able to validate as being here. There\u2019s a study that shows that body pigmentation can be affected by diet (although I\u2019m unsure that the dotting on the mantle, typical in A. circumscriptus<\/em>, is also affected), so \u2018traditional\u2019 use of body colour probably doesn\u2019t work. Dissection (or DNA) is needed for determining species with accuracy.\u201d\u00a0 And after seeing the photograph Robert continues: \u201cIt could be, or it could be A. fasciatus<\/em>. But I also notice that this is a very young slug (judging by the size of the fern fronds; I assume that this is on a Sword Fern). So that may complicate matters further. For example, the large, black Arion <\/em>is pale and banded when very young (not saying that this is one).<\/p>\n

So \u2013 while A. silvaticus<\/em> is a possibility, we shall just label this one, for the time being,\u00a0 Arion<\/em><\/strong> sp.\u00a0\u00a0 The tiny insect to the right of the slug\u2019s head is a springtail.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong>Arion <\/em>sp.\u00a0 (Ara.: Arionidae)\u00a0 Ian Cooper<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ian\u2019s next slug is a little easier to identify.\u00a0 It is Limax maximus<\/em><\/strong>, photographed at Colquitz River Park before dawn this morning, April 2nd.\u00a0 It has borne several English names, such as Giant Garden Slug, Great Grey Slug (the one below isn\u2019t very grey!) and Leopard Slug.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Limax maximus <\/em>(Pul.: Limacidae)\u00a0 Ian Cooper<\/p>\n

\"\"Limax maximus <\/em>(Pul.: Limacidae)\u00a0 Ian Cooper<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The next animal is another difficult one.\u00a0 Dr Robb Bennett writes:\u00a0 \u00a0A male linyphiine linyphiid of uncertain genus affinity. Would need some clear images of its pedipalps to make identification progress.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"Male linyphiine spider\u00a0 (Ara.: Linyphiidae \u2013 Linyphiinae) \u00a0\u00a0Ian Cooper<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2024 April 2 \u00a0\u00a0 Jeff Gaskin writes:\u00a0 A Mourning Cloak was at Quick’s Bottom this morning, April 2nd, –\u00a0 the only butterfly that was there. Ian Cooper photographed this slug at Colquitz River Park, March 28.\u00a0 We had wondered whether it might be Arion silvaticus \u2013 but Robert Forsyth writes:\u00a0 \u201cIdentifying Arion within each of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21119","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\/21119","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21119"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21121,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21119\/revisions\/21121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}