Author: tatumjb352

2025 April 14 morning

   Michael Ryan reports a sighting of a Mourning Cloak along Craigflower Road on February 24 for the first butterfly reported this year.

  Kirsten Mills reports that she and Jeff Gaskin saw a Mourning Cloak and a (probable Satyr) Comma at Cowichan Bay Dock on February 28.

  Gordon Hart photographed a Green Comma in his Highlands property on March 6.   He saw another (or the same?) one there on March 25.

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

   Marie O’Shaughnessy saw three California Tortoiseshells chasing each other around the top of Mount Tolmie on April 3.  On the same day, Burl Jantzen saw a butterfly on Mill Hill that sounded, from his description, quite likely another California Tortoiseshell.

California Tortoiseshell Nymphalis californica  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

 

On March 28 and April 11, Ian Cooper went out to check on a Tiger Swallowtail chrysalis that he has been keeping his eye on all winter:

Tiger Swallowtail Pterourus sp. (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Ian Cooper

Tiger Swallowtail Pterourus sp. (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Ian Cooper

 

  Mike and Barb McGrenere photographed this Satyr Comma in their Cordova Bay garden on April 1.

Satyr Comma Polygonia satyrus  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)
Mike and Barb McGrenere

  

Jeff Gaskin writes that on April 3rd, there was a Western Spring Azure that passed through his mother’s garden on Wascana Street in the Burnside/Gorge community.  Aziza Cooper photographed one at Quick’s Bottom on April 10, and Wendy Ansell photographed one at Rithet’s Bog on April 12.

Western Spring Azure  Celastrina echo  (Lep.: Lycaenidae) 
Aziza Cooper

Aziza Cooper reports three Cabbage Whites, one on April 4 at Quadra and Bay, and two on April 3, in Metchosin at Pedder Bay and Metchosin Road and Witty’s Lagoon parking lot.  

    Marie O’Shaughnessy reports a Mourning Cloak on Mount Tolmie and a Cabbage White in Uplands Park on April 4.  Val George reports his first Cabbage White of the year in his Oak Bay garden, April 5.  Wendy Ansell reports a Cabbage White on April 6.  Jeremy Tatum saw his first on April 8, and two more on April 12, and another on April13.

Mourning Cloak  Nymphalis antiopa (Lep.: Nymphalidae) 
Marie O’Shaughnessy

2025 April 13 evening

Eupithecia sp. (just possibly annulata) (Lep.: Geometridae) Jeremy Tatum

Eupithecia sp. (just possibly annulata) (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

Eupithecia ravocostaliata  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Val George

Hydriomena nubilofasciata (Lep.: Geometridae)   Val George

Hydriomena nubilofasciata (Lep.: Geometridae)   Val George

Orthosia praeses (Lep.: Noctuidae) Jeremy Tatum

Neoalcis californiaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

2025 April 13 morning

   Here, I think, writes Jeremy Tatum, is the last of the backlog of non-lepidopterous invertebrates.  This evening, I hope, we shall post the backlog of moths.  As with the backlogs of all the photographs submitted during the February-March technical problems, we label these photographs with only the name of the animal and the name of the photographer.  Tomorrow morning, if all goes well, we shall post the butterfly sightings and photographs that we have received this year.  After that, I hope things will be back to normal.

   Send photographs or reports of sightings to    tatumjb352 at gmail dot com     (photographs preferably as attachments). To view the postings on this site, type   invertsight.com   at the top of your screen.

Camel Cricket
Pristoceuthophilus celatus (Orth.: Rhaphidophoridae) 

Ian Cooper

Bristly Millepede
Polyxenes sp. ( Diplopoda – Polydesmida:  Polydesmidae)
  Ian Cooper

Running crab spider Philodromus sp.(Ara.: Philodromidae)
  Ian Cooper

Callobius pictus (Ara.: Amaurobiidae)   Ian Cooper

Callobius pictus (Ara.: Amaurobiidae)   Ian Cooper

Carabus nemoralis  (Col.: Carabidae) Ian Cooper

Limax maximus  (Pul.: Limacidae)  Ian Cooper

2025 April 12

   We are continuing with the backlog, first posting nonlepidopterous invertebrates, limiting labelling to the names of the organism and the photographer.  These will be followed, later, with moths, and then butterflies, and we hope, after the backlog has been cleared, to return to normal.

Soldier beetle larva – (Col.: Cantharidae)   Ian Cooper

Deinopteroloma subcostatum  (Col.: Staphylinidae)   Ian Cooper

Pacific Sideband Snail – Monadenia fidelis (Pul.: Xanthonychidae)   Ian Cooper

Female Linyphiid spider, possibly Neriene sp. (Ara.: Linyphiidae)   Ian Cooper

Male linyphiid spider, possibly Neriene sp. (Ara.: Linyphiidae)  
Ian Cooper

Non-biting midge (possibly Chironomus sp.)  (Dip.: Chironomidae)  Ian Cooper

Pedetontus saltator (Microcoryphia: Machilidae) 
Ian Cooper

Deroceras reticulatum  (Pul.: Agriolimacidae)  Ian Cooper

Saint Mark’s Fly (Dip.: Bibionidae)  Aziza Cooper

Hover fly  (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Aziza Cooper

Omus dejeanii  (Col.:  Carabidae – Cicindelinae) Aziza Cooper

2025 April 11

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  There have been no fresh postings to Invert Alert for several weeks.  One of the problems relates to a problem in the current re-organization of the VNHS Website, which results in my not being able to edit or add to Invert Alert.  It does not appear that there is likely soon to be any solution to the problem.  Therefore, Charles Martin is attempting to open another “blog” for me, to be called Invertebrate Sightings Victoria, or, for short, Invertsight, of which this is the first such posting.  It will not be part of the VNHS Website, and hence will presumably not be affected by the current re-organization of that site.

   There is a large backlog of images and sightings that have been sent to me in recent weeks, and, until these have been cleared up, for most of them I shall label the photographs with only the name of the organism and the name of the photographer, with no further details.  Once the backlog is over, I expect Invertsight will look very much like Invert Alert did. There will doubtless be a few glitches in the first few postings.

   In order to submit photographs or records of sightings, just send them in the usual way to me at tatumjb at gmail dot com, using the usual symbols for “at” and “dot”  (not used here for security reasons).  If you just want to look at the site, type     “invertsight.com”  at the top of the screen.

  Here, below, is the first batch of photographs.  If all goes well, more of the backlog will follow in the next few days, after which Invertsight should begin to look just like Invert Alert did.  Butterflies will be last – in a few days – with a bit more information than just the name of the photographer.

Ctenolepisma longicaudata (Zyg.: Lepismatidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Antrodiaetus (Ara. – Mygalomorpha  –  Antrodiaetidae)  Ian Cooper

Scylonotus sp.  (Diplopoda – Polydesmidae)  Ian Cooper

Dyslobus decoratus  (Col.: Curculionidae)  Ian Cooper

Limax maximus  (Pul.: Limacidae)  Ian Cooper

Pimoa altioculata  (Ara.: Pimoidae)  Ian Cooper

Pimoa altioculata  (Ara.: Pimoidae)  Ian Cooper

Pimoa altioculata  (Ara.: Pimoidae)  Ian Cooper