2025 August 11

   Jeff Gaskin writes:  Today, August 11th, there were two Lorquin’s Admirals in Esquimalt Gorge Park.

    Back on August 4th, I saw my one and only Pine White at Pedder Bay with Kirsten Mills.  I find Pine Whites to be very scarce this year even in Metchosin.

2025 August 10

   Gordon Hart writes from Highlands:   On August 8, we had a fresh Mourning Cloak on some over-ripe yellow plums and also two Lorquin’s Admirals in pursuit of one another. On August 9, the two Lorquin’s were still here, and a Pine White which landed too high up in a tree for a photo.

  Ian Cooper writes:  Here is another selection from my August 9  photoshoot. All of these photos were taken in View Royal near the 9 km marker before dawn.

Limax maximus (Pul.: Limacidae)  Ian Cooper 

Camel Cricket Pristoceuthophilus celatus 
(Orth.: Rhaphidophoridae)  
Ian Cooper

Folding-door spider  Antrodiaetus pacificus 
(Ara. – Myg.:  Antrodiaetidae)  
Ian Cooper

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

Brown lacewing (Neu.: Hemerobiidae)  Ian Cooper

2025 August 9

   Two geometrid moths to start with.  These were at the entrance to the Swan Lake Nature House this morning.  Thanks to Margaret Gibson for photographing them, and to Libby Avis for identifying them.

Perizoma curvilinea  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Margaret Gibson

Perizoma curvilinea  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Margaret Gibson

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I visited the Goldstream Park Nature House this afternoon.  There were no moths. Nor, in the surrounding area, were there any butterflies.  Please report any butterflies seen anywhere.

  Ian Cooper writes:   Here are some of the results from my predawn/early morning photo shoot in #View Royal (GG Trail), ^Esquimalt and ^Vic West. (E&N Trail)

^Banded Garden Snail Cepaea nemoralis (Pul.: Helicidae)  
Ian Cooper

Female Eratigena duellica  (Ara: Agelenidae) Ian Cooper

#Cybaeus signifer (Ara.: Cybaeidae)   Ian Cooper

#Jumping Bristletail  Pedetontus sp. (Archaeognatha: Machilidae)   Ian Cooper

#Twenty-spotted Lady Beetle  Psyllobora vigintimaculata 
(Col.: Coccinellidae)
  Ian Cooper

^Drumming Katydid  Meconema thalassinum (Orth.: Tettigoniidae)   Ian Cooper

^Yellow-faced Bumble Bee  Bombus vosnesenskii (Hym.: Apidae)   Ian Cooper

2025 August 8

   There seem to be few butterflies around at the moment, other than Cabbage Whites.  Gordon Hart visited Maber Flats this morning and reported no butterflies other than Cabbage Whites, so please report any butterflies that you see.  There are dragonflies, however, and Gordon got this splendid shot of a Blue-eyed Darner.

Male Blue-eyed Darner  Rhionaeschna multicolor  (Odo.: Aeshnidae)    Gordon Hart

   Below is the pupa formed by Jochen Möhr’s caterpillar (shown on July 29) of an Eyed Hawk Moth (the Ophthalmic kind, you know), being admired by His Majesty.  The coin is a quarter, by the way, not a dime.

Smerinthus ophthalmica  (Lep.: Sphingidae)    Jeremy Tatum

2025 August 7 afternoon

  Two noctuid moths to start with.  The first was photographed by Val George on August 6 on the wall of the Nature House at Swan Lake.  The second was on the wall of Jeremy Tatum’s Saanich apartment this morning.  Val identified his moth as Dichagyris variabilis, but Jeremy had to seek the help of Libby Avis, whom he thanks for identifying his moth as Oligia divesta.  Libby says she saw a couple of these in Port Alberni this week.

Dichagyris variabilis  (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Val George   

 

Oligia divesta (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Next is a selection of photographs by Ian Cooper taken between Aug 1 – 5, 2025.  Most are from the Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal, except the bumble bee, which was photographed by the side of the E&N Trail.

Female crane fly  Tipula pubera  (Dip.: Tipulidae)  Ian Cooper

Male crane flyTipula pubera (Dip.: Tipulidae)  Ian Cooper

Female Long-jawed Orb Weaver  Metellina sp. (Ara.: Tetragnathidae)  Ian Cooper

Male Callobius pictus (Ara.: Amaurobiidae)  Ian Cooper

Chocolate Arion  Arion rufus (Pul.: Arionidae)  Ian Cooper

Yellow-faced Bumble Bee  Bombus vosnesenskii (Hym.: Apidae)  Ian Cooper

2025 August 6 evening

   Here are pictures of a male and female Anyphaena spider photographed yesterday morning in View Royal by the GG
trail.

Male Anyphaena aperta (Ara.: Anyphaenidae)  Ian Cooper

Female Anyphaena aperta (Ara.: Anyphaenidae)  Ian Cooper

2025 August 6 morning

   This spider was photographed by Ian Cooper on August 01 at Colquitz River Park.

Enoplognatha ovata (Ara.: Theridiidae)  Ian Cooper

Here are some photographs from Ian Cooper’s pre-dawn shoot yesterday morning along the Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal:

Chocolate Arion slugs  Arion rufus (Pul.: Arionidae) in copula.
 Ian Cooper

Red Carpenter Ant  Camponotus vicinus (Hym.: Formicidae)
Ian Cooper

Folding door spider Antrodiaetus pacificus 
(Ara. – Myg: Antrodiaetidae)  
Ian Cooper

Plectrura spinicauda (Col.: Cerambycidae)  Ian Cooper

Graphocephala fennahi  (Hem.: Cicadellidae)  Ian Cooper

2025 August 4 evening

   Here are some pictures of invertebrates obtained by Ian Cooper along the Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal on the evening of August 2.

   The first is a micro moth.  It has lost a lot of scales and the pattern is rather worn to the extent that accurate identification may not be possible.  That said, it does resemble to some extent some species in the Family Blastobasidae, such as Blastoblasis rebeli and Calosima munroei.

Micro moth (Lep.:  Possibly Family Blastobasidae)  Ian Cooper

Female Crane Fly ovipositing. 
Probably Tipula pubera (Dip.: Tipulidae) 
Ian Cooper

Unidentified ichneumonoid wasp
 (Hym.: Superfamily Ichneumonoidea)
  Ian Cooper

Assassin bug (Hym.: Reduviidae –
probably Thread-legged Bug – Emesinae)
  Ian Cooper

Male Sierra Dome Spider  Neriene litigiosa  (Ara.: Linyphiidae)
  Ian Cooper

Cybaeus signifer (Ara.: Cybaeidae)   Ian Cooper

2025 August 4 morning

   On August 2, Val George went to Nanaimo River Road and saw:

    I Sylvan Hairstreak
   2 Common Woodnymphs
   1 Hydaspe Fritillary
   1 Lorquin’s Admiral
   3 Cabbage Whites
    Several dozen Woodland Skippers

Here are a few more insects seen during yesterday’s VNHS Butterfly Walk at Swan Lake.

As predicted, Dr Rob Cannings was indeed happy to see the thoracic stripes on this dragonfly, which he kindly identified for us as a female of the andromorph (looks a bit male-ish) form of a Blue-eyed Darner.

Female Blue-eyed Darner Rhionaeschna multicolor
(Odo.: Aeshnidae) 
Aziza Cooper

Larva of Asian Labybeetle Harmonia axyridis (Col.: Coccinellidae)  Aziza Cooper

Asian Labybeetle Harmonia axyridis (Col.: Coccinellidae)
  Aziza Cooper

Probably Asian Labybeetle Harmonia axyridis (Col.: Coccinellidae)  Aziza Cooper

Vespula germanica  (Hym.: Vespidae) in difficulties   Aziza Cooper

Chaetopsis fulvifrons (Dip.: Ulidiidae)  Aziza Cooper

Blue Dasher  Pachydiplax longipennis  (Odo.: Libellulidae)
   Aziza Cooper

2025 August 3 evening

  Here are some photographs from Ian Cooper’s evening photo shoot along the ^E&N trail and the #Galloping Goose Trail in View Royal on August 2.

Callizzia amorata (Lep.: Uraniidae – Epipleminae)   Ian Cooper

   The former Family Epiplemidae of some authors (to which this moth belongs) has now been absorbed as the Subfamily Epipleminae in the Family Uraniidae.  This may surprise some viewers who may be familiar with the moth Urania fulgens of the uraniid Subfamily Uraniinae, but there are reasons for it.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  You might like to see what Urania fulgens looks like.  Try https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/142950-Urania-fulgens

^Banded Garden Snail – Cepaea nemoralis (Pul.: Helicidae)
  Ian Cooper

^Goldenrod Crab Spider  Misumena vatia (Ara.: Thomisidae) 
 Ian Cooper

^Goldenrod Crab Spider  Misumena vatia (Ara.: Thomisidae)
 with prey  
 Ian Cooper

#Female Eratigena duellica  (Ara: Agelenidae)   Ian Cooper

#Pacific Foldingdoor Spider – Antrodiaetus pacificus 
(Ara.- Myg.: Antrodiaetidae)
  Ian Cooper

   Ian writes:  A male Folding-door spider, Antrodiaetus pacificus, out searching for a female to mate with. These robust spiders are relatives of tarantulas and usually remain at their burrow’s entrance laying in wait to ambush passing prey. During mating season, males leave their burrows to seek out receptive females. This sighting of a wandering male on August 2 is the earliest I’ve seen one out.

   Aziza Cooper writes: 

Today, August 3, six people went to Swan Lake for our monthly Butterfly Walk. The weather was calm and mostly overcast. We found two butterflies – one Lorquin’s Admiral and one Woodland Skipper. We also found a moth, dragonflies, damselflies and many other invertebrates, as well as birds, frogs and plants. A very pleasant afternoon!

Cyclophora dataria  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Aziza Cooper

Woodland Skipper  Ochlodes sylvanoides  (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Aziza Cooper

Pacific Forktail  Ischnura cervula  (Odo.: Coenagrionidae) 
Aziza Cooper

Blue Dasher  Pachydiplax longipennis  (Odo.: Libellulidae) 
Aziza Cooper

There will be more on today’s Butterfly Walk tomorrow.

Aziza tells us that this large spider was found today in Uplands Park.  See Ian Cooper’s note on this species above.  Jeremy Tatum adds that it is probably not a good idea to handle this species.  I don’t think it is deadly dangerous, but it may have a not particularly pleasant bite.

#Pacific Foldingdoor Spider – Antrodiaetus pacificus 
(Ara.- Myg.: Antrodiaetidae)
Aziza Cooper