Category: Taxon Discussions
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BC checklists – discrepancies
Last week (late March 2024) Doug Macaulay published a new checklist for the lepidoptera of BC, totalling 2901 species. In contrast, our curated BC Leps checklist only contains 2841, a full 60 species fewer. So wherein lies the difference? Excitement! Drama! For people who aren’t familiar, the BC Leps site list is the result of specific, knowledgable…
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Egira simplex/crucialis
Continuing with the subject of early year moths, the Egira genus shares the same Orthosiini tribe as Orthosia. I’ve often struggled to tell simplex and crucialis apart for specific individuals. Egira crucialis Egira simplex Both are spring moths, showing up around the same time, flying Mar-June. So what traits are diagnostic? Perhaps 9 times out…
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Orthosia
Orthosia are a common genus of noctuid found worldwide with over 50 species, 9 of which have been recorded here in BC. They’re one of the earliest noctuids I see here on Bowen Island each year, and after the moth-bereft winter months it’s always a joy to see them again. This year (2024) was no…
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Ethmia
This’ll probably be one of the final posts for a while. I’m heading to West Africa in under 3 weeks and I need to spend my time swotting up on the birds – and fixing the house! Like a lot of North America, we got hit by an intense cold wave which for us meant…
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Carposinidae
Just a very quick post. With the cold, we got hit by a prolonged power outage last week followed by several long days without water. Still waiting on the temperature to go up a bit before our water returns and I get a desperately, dearly needed shower, but until then we’re making do. Moth research…
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Macroglossinae
This is last of 3 posts on the subfamilies of the BC Sphingidae, the sphinx moths. There are 11 species in this subfamily in two tribes. Like my other posts on the Sphingidae, this’ll be a little light on photographs for now. I’ve only seen 4 members of this group. Dilophonotini The Hemaris are a…
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Sesiidae (Clearwing moths)
Other than that awful picture above, I’m really not doing well with the clearwings. Tackling these in reverse order: #3, I could give you handful of examples of getting a glimpse of a clearwing, then having it sod off and land behind a tree somewhere to have a cigarette and laugh at me. Last year…
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Sphinginae
The previous post tackled the Smerinthinae, a subfamily of the Sphingidae. This post looks at another: the Sphinginae. There are 9 species reported here in BC, though Agrius cingulata and Lapara bombycoides are unlikely to be seen – see below. I’ve only seen 4 species at this point, so this post will have a few…
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Smerinthinae
Let’s take a look at a subfamily of the Sphingidae (sphinx moths), the Smerinthinae. There are 6 species in the province, but iNat has a tantalizing 7th that was reported, incongruously out of range, somewhere in the Cariboo. Assuming the identification is correct it’s probably safe to say it arrived via anthropocentric means. But the…
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Lasiocampidae
Alrighty! Let’s take a look at another not-so-well-represented lepidoptera family in BC. Reviewing taxons like this helps stave off the fact that the only moths outside the last few weeks are sodding Operophtera. Like, seriously: no other species whatsoever. Zilch. This has been a bleak Christmas. I need a flight to the tropics, stat. The…
BC Moths 