There is that startle factor when a little pile of fir needles or debris marches across the bottom of the pond. All spring and summer the bottom is alive with the larval caddisflies (Limnophilus in this case).  The larval cases provide camouflage, shelter and protection for their soft bodies and stability in flowing currents. http://curious.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/caddisfly-architecture/

This might be the most recognized moth larvae in North America.  Almost everyone recognizes the fuzzy, black-at-both-ends caterpillar that you find on the ground in the fall.  It eventually turns into the golden yellow Isabella Tiger Moth.  

Here are some interesting Banded Wooly Bear
 (Pyrrharctia isabella) facts:


- Sedro-Woolley, a town in Washington State is said to be named after the caterpillar. However since the Phillip A. Wolley, a railroad developer moved the Sedro in 1899 and was a major land developer in the area, that story seems unlikely.
-Arctic populations of Wooly Bears can take several years (up to 14!) to grow into moths, and they pass the winters frozen solid. 
-Folklore has it you can predict the severity of the winter by looking at the bands, the wider the copper band, the milder the winter.  In actual fact, there is considerable variation in band width within a group of silbling hatched from the same egg case.
-the hairs of Wooly Bear can cause dermatis in some people.
-at least 8 towns in eastern North America have Wooly Bear festivals in the fall.

I figured after writing out that English name that no further text would be required! It is descriptive. The long neck enables this beetle to reach inside of the shell of a snail and chew away. They also are quite keen on slugs and I have seen them scurrying along the path with a small slug clutched firmly. They will also take out worms and spiders. 

Like many of the ground beetles, Scaphinotus angusticollis is flightless, their wings shortened to uselessness. Although mainly nocturnal, a few do venture out in the daytime from their cover places under rotting logs, leaf litter or moss. There was a PhD these done out of UBC by Suzy Lavallee that studied S. augusticollis's response in body condition and movements to forest harvesting. The differences in responses were correlated to the snails found and down woody debris that could be used for cover in the clear-cut or forested areas. I think that is very cool that ecological studies  studying predator/prey complexes in varying ecosystems can be done at this scale.

This was a species that I was keen to find. It was fitting that this one was caught at the pond by Syd Cannings one hot, sunny afternoon in August. Syd has been a dragonfly collecting partner for many years and taught me a lot of what I know about them. Thanks Syd! 

We haven't found exuvia or larva of this species or seen mating so we aren't sure yet whether it is breeding in the pond or passing through. Pachydiplax longipennis  are generally found in larger ponds or lakes and are very common in southern North America. In B.C. they are in the southwest corner and the infrequently in the Okanagan. 

This year's long dry summer seems to have been favourable for Common Earwigs, they have caused more damage to the plants on the deck than any year I can remember.  The Common Earwig (Forficula auricularia) is another introduced insect from Europe that can become a pest when their numbers are high.  They are remarkably adaptable and eat fruit, foliage, insects, decaying organic matter and flowers.  They can be major predators of aphids.  This photo shows a male, with curved pincers at the rear to the insect.  Females have straighter pincers. The origin of the name is not clear.  Some  say the name originated as an Old English phrase meaning "ear insect" or "ear creature," and there are old accounts of earwigs entering human ears to feed. This is dicredited by modern sources. Others conjecture it's a corruption of the phrase "ear wing," referring to the ear-like shape of the insect's hind set of wings. The pincers can be used to pinch though, although not hard enough to be a real menace.

This large, long, thin black, tan and yellow wasp is a parasitoid of moth and butterfly caterpillars.  This female was cruising low over grassy areas presumably looking for caterpillars when she was photographed.  Wasps in the genus Therion are part of the huge and complex group of wasps known as Ichneumon wasps, all of which are parsitoids.

This geometrid moth seems very variable and in some of the photos that I found, the black stripes are not nearly so distinct. It flies in the autumn and the colours could be mistaken for leaves that have turned. This species of moth, Tetracis jubararia is found in western North America was far east as Saskatchewan.  The larva feed on a variety of deciduous shrubs and trees including willows, alders, birch and dogwood and mimic twigs.  

It is in the fall when Leptoglossus occidentalis wander into the house looking for a place to winter. They are large and quite spectacular with gold glitters, beautiful art deco patterns and their "leafy" legs. Throughout the summer the adults and the nymphs will feed on the seeds of conifers, and will seriously diminish seed production. 

This species has spread from occurring just in western North American to throughout. That spread over the past approximately 50 years is thought to have been aided by commercial pine plantations and Christmas tree and log transport.   They were introduced to Northern Italy in 1999 -or at least that was when they were first noted and since have been recorded in many areas across Europe, including the United Kingdom. It is sometimes good to remind ourselves that pesky introductions have happened in both directions across the waters! 

And there will likely be more crane flies - perhaps sp 1, sp 2 and so on unless I get better at the identifying! There are 171 described species in 53 genera in BC. and worldwide there are over 15,000 described species making it the most speciose family of Diptera ("flies").   I did figure out that this was not one of the introduced species, but potentially Tipula pseudotruncorum or T. dorsimaculata. I'd be thrilled if there was anyone that would like to weigh in with an ID! 

There was an explosion of the Marsh Crane Fly, an introduction from Europe on the coast a number of years ago and the larvae or "leatherjackets" caused a lot of damage to roots of many plants. 

The crane flies fly mainly when it is cooler -dusk around Leaning Oaks and are a food source for many birds, spiders, amphibians and other insects. They always seem a bit clumsy to me and legs  will break off at the slightest bump. I watched this one for sometime wiggle its long rostrum, drinking what specks of water it could find. 

Domestic honey bees, Apis mellifera were introduced to the east coast of North America from Europe in 1622.  Aided by settlers it took a couple of 100 years before they reached the west coast.  Today they are found across the continent with both domestic and feral populations. Because of their importance to the settlers their path has been well documented. We don't know if the ones visiting Leaning Oaks are from hives or a population that has naturalized.  I have seen estimates that up to 80% of all crops in North America are dependent on bee pollination -both native and non-native.  There are many other groups of pollinators in addition to the bees, but they do play an important role in agriculture. 

The flower longhorn beetles feed on nectar and pollen as adults and as larvae will feed on dead or dying wood, the digestion of the cellulose aided by enzymes. They appeared for about three or four days on the pearly everlasting and whether that was their life span or they moved on to other food sources - we don't know.  I believe that this is  Xestoleptura crassipes, one of three of this genus found in B.C..

The end of summer is ushered in by the  erratic flight of dampwood termites just before sunset. This bounty is a source of food for many birds and we have had the pleasure of sitting on the beach watching Bonaparte's Gulls gorging on Zootermopsis angusticollis. 

The winged form is called the alate and when they lose their wings they are de-alate (seriously!). These are sexually reproductive animals that use their wings for dispersal and will drop them upon landing.

The gut of the termite is filled with microbes that are able to covert the fibrous wood material into something that will provide nutrition for the termite.  This process is called acetogenesis. 

I'd like to know if Sympetrum madidum is breeding in the pond or not-I suspect not as I have only seen a few individuals around the property. This one may have come from other nearby ponds or lakes and was just hanging around feeding. 

The veins along the top margin of the wings can be a brilliant red, giving it the English name. The red face also makes it stand out.  This is the largest of the meadowhawks that are found in B.C.. They breed in still waters in the southern half of B.C.

The meadowhawks perch on branches watching all that goes on and darting out to catch unsuspecting prey. The striped meadowhawk or Sympetrum pallipes is common across the southern third of B.C.. It flies through August and September, filling out the later wave of dragonflies in the year. 

We get at least two species of meadowhawks at Leaning Oaks and this is the paler and duller coloured of the two. There are two thoracic stripes that distinguish this species. It also does have "pale feet", or pallipes! 

The sound  of the Crackling Locust was a common summertime noise when I grew up on Salt Spring Island. Dusty gravel road habitats was where you usually saw this large gray grasshopper. Trimerotropis verruculata are most often seen as they rise into the air, making their characteristic noise and then drop to land on the ground and essentially disappearing, almost perfectly camoflaged on a rock, or in the gravel and dirt on the road. The Crackling Locust uses a variety  forest openings .   James Miskelly, a biologist who has spent a lot of time looking at B.C.'s grasshoppers, crickets and katydids tells me that we have three species of Trimerotropis  here on southern Vancouver Island. T. pallidipennis lives on coastal sand ecosystems.  T. fontana is a common species  here on rocky outcrops.  It has very blue hind tibiae, "as opposed to the sort of blue hind tibiae on T. verruculata".  My impression is that this group of grasshoppers  has declined since my childhood, but I will admit to spending a lot less time wandering gravel roads than I used to.  Thanks to James Miskelly for looking at the photos and identifying this specimen. 

Yesterday we were working at filling our woodshed and packing rounds of Douglas-fir down to the woodshed for splitting.  The tree we were working on was felled last week and while we loaded the wheelbarrow we noticed this large wasp buzzing around the log and branches.  It would land on or under the tree and walk with jerky motions.

The insect involved is the Yellow-horned Horntail. The yellow "horns" of the first part of the common name are actually the antennae and the horntail from the second part of the name,  is a growth at the back end of the insect. This appendage is not, as we first assumed, the ovipositor.  That organ is under the wasp.  I have been unable to find any description of what the horn at the back end is used for...it may simply  be designed to be impressive and ward off those that might attack this wasp.

This species of horntail (Urocerus flavicornis) lays eggs in dead or dying trees. This they accomplish by inserting thier ovipositor into the tree some 20 mm. They lay a small number of eggs, pump in a solution containing a wood decaying  fungus and then move on to the next oviposition site.  The larvae hatch out of the eggs in 3-4 weeks, burrowing into the rotting wood and feeding on the fungi digested wood for a number of years.  Just before the larvae pupates, it burrows back to near the surface of the wood.  After pupation, the adult wasp uses its jaws to chew a hole our of the tree to exit.  

If the log has been milled into lumber the larvae are capable of surviving in a structure build from the wood and will emerge even if they have to chew through wallboard or hardwood flooring.  There is even a record of the European equivalent chewing through lead sheathing covering a timber!

This is one of the commonest darners that you will encounter in B.C. (there are 13 in total in case anyone asks*).  Aeshna palmata flies from May until late October and there are even records from November. They frequent a range of habitats, particularly lakes and ponds. The male appendages shown in the middle photograph are the source of the English and scientific name for this species. Look also for the dark stripe on the face and the relatively straight thoracic stripes - these distinguish this guy from the other two "paddle-tails". 

I have collected several Aeshna exuvia, one of which may be this species. Once I am certain I will add that photograph to this account. It is very exciting to find the abandoned exuvia at the edge of the pond as this shows that the pond is actually being used by these critters to breed and it isn't just a feeding stop-over for the short-lived adults. It's and indicator that we have created a wee functional ecosystem that is healthy enough for odonates. And that the bullfrogs haven't eaten them all! 
  
I was bound and determined to not post any dragonflies unless I got some good in flight photos..ha!  Bloody difficult. Even when I knew exactly where this fellow was going to be released, it is a bit of a blur! 

*have I ever mentioned how I caught eight species in one afternoon at one location by myself? Not at Leaning Oaks unfortunately! 

The Pine White will use a variety of conifers as food plants, including Douglas-fir, of which there are many on Leaning Oaks. The females mainly hang out higher in the branches while the males, such as this one, spend time nectaring on flowers. They can have population explosions with severe defoliation of the trees as a result. The last recorded one in B.C. was 1961 where there were "snowdrifts" of Pine Whites along the highway through Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island. There is another anecdote in Guppy and Shepard's Butterflies of BC that describes another outbreak in 1902 (Fletcher) that describes there being vast numbers of butterflies floating around Vancouver Island and thrown up in windrows along the beaches up to an inch or two in depth. I'd like to see photos! Guppy and Shepard surmise that the lack of current outbreaks may be due to the decline old-growth forest on southern Vancouver Island.  

Neophasia menapia peak in August. 

The unsung pollinators; it seems that bees get all the airplay, but as you can see by the pollen grains that flies are also effective pollinators. The Common Green Bottle Fly ( Lucilia sericata) is found in most areas of the world and is common locally.  The colour ranges from a coppery colour to metallic green.

How could this beautiful shiny insect be the source of maggots? Just the sound of that word causes revulsion in many, yet they are used in the treatment of wounds. The maggots are placed on the wound where they feed on the necrotic tissues and bacteria in the infected wound. They also produce antimicrobial enzymes that will aid in cleaning up the infected wound. Starting with a clean source of maggots is apparently important! 

The life cycle and speed of development of the Green Bottle Fly has been intensely studied because of their use in forensics. This fly is usually the first to reach a body and start laying eggs. The stage that the larvae are at when the body is found can reveal a lot about the time of death. It is especially useful if there are details on the temperatures that the corpse was exposed to. Forensic entomology has been used as evidence in many murder trials and makes for fascinating research.

This syrphid or hoverfly was introduced to North America prior to 1874 based on specimens. It has spread from Alaska to Florida and is common throughout the range. They are active pollinators, working over a wide range of plants. They are mimics of the European honey bee. 

The aquatic larvae are called rat-tailed maggots. -  The "tail" works like a siphon and will extend out of the fetid water that it is living in to breathe. They need to feed so there must be some food present. The eggs are laid in contaminated water, sewage or decomposing matter. 

The scientific name is Eristalis tenax.