Some Confusing Diurnal Moths...

Day-flying moths are relatively uncommon—the vast majority of moths are nocturnal—but some diurnal moths may be commonly confused with other similar-appearing day-flyers. For example, this is a white-spotted sable, Anania funebris, not the more famous—and frequently illustrated in field guides—eight-spotted forester, Alypia octomaculata. The differences are subtle: the sable has 2 large and 1 small white spot on each forewing while the forester has only 2 large yellow or cream-coloured spots on each of its forewings, and the forester has bright orange fringes on the fore- and mid-legs that the sable lacks. Photographed near Apple River, NS, on June 20, 2015.

Similarly, this cranberry spanworm, Ematurga amitaria, can be easily confused with the black-banded orange, Epelis truncataria. The differences between these two are even more subtle than between the sable and forester but good field marks include the heaviness of the black bands (thinner and more jagged in the spanworm), the wing fringes (checkered in the spanworm) and the overall amount of white (less white on most black-banded oranges). Photographed near Apple River, NS, on June 20, 2015.

Finally, this is a sharp-lined powder moth, Eufidonia discospilata, not the frequently seen bluish spring moth, Lomographa semiclarata. Both give an overwhelming impression of white-blue that can be easily confused with azure butterflies (Celastrina sp.) but the powder moth is much darker, especially on the upper hindwing, has an easily discernible trio of spots on the upper forewings that are lacking on the spring moth, and the spring moth likes to hold its wings up like flags, rarely flat and parallel to the ground like the powder moth. Also photographed near Apple River, NS, on June 20, 2015. Intriguingly, all three of these confusing diurnal moths were found within about 30 metres (100 feet) of each other.

A Flurry of Flower Flies...

Flower flies or syrphids (or sometimes hoverflies) from the family Syrphidae have quite a hold on me. There are more than 525 species known from the Maritime provinces so there's a lot there to grab hold of (!) and, since they're largely unknown to me—while I know the relatively few species of butterflies well—there's a certain excitement in finding and identifying them. This one, photographed June 12, 2015, south of Dollar Lake, NS, while nectaring at bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) flowers, is Blera confusa. Presumably the specific epithet is because they're often confused for drone flies, Eristalis arbustorum.

These two female flower flies are Cheilosia bardus (formerly C. albitarsus). I doubt that two males would peacefully coexist on the same flower! They're most commonly found, as photographed here on June 11, 2015 at Roaches Pond in Spryfield, NS, on flowers of buttercups, Ranunculus sp., and the association is so strong that a sister species is actually called C. ranunculi.

I was quite excited to find and photograph this unusual and uncommon wasp-mimic flower fly, Doros aequalis, on June 18, 2015, at Roaches Pond in Spryfield, NS. At first I thought it was the common—although it flies much later in the summer—Spilomyia sayi, but it lacked the patterned eyes of that species and had subtly different body markings.

This flower fly, Meligramma trianguliferum (note the triangular-shaped abdominal markings), is circumpolar so can be found in many places in the Northern hemisphere. Photographed in the Pockwock watershed on June 15, 2015. It's quite a bit smaller than the above three species but not quite as tiny as the next one...

Finally, this is the diminutive female Toxomerus marginatus. Less than 5 mm (about 3/16") long, these tiny flower flies are true hover flies capable of seemingly hovering in place forever. But everything has to rest sometime and this one is taking its ease on a slender blade of grass along the MacIntosh Run in Spryfield, NS, on June 18, 2015.

Meet...The Beetles! 

Well, some of them anyway...the beetles (Coleoptera) are the largest cohesive group of organisms on the planet so I won't be illustrating all of them! The Chrysomelidae, or leaf beetles, are one of the larger groups that, like this willow leaf beetle, Calligrapha suturella, eat plant parts and tissues as larvae and sometimes as reproductive adults. Photographed at Roaches Pond, Spryfield, NS on June 15, 2015.

This is an aquatic leaf beetle, Donacia sp. The aquatic leaf beetles are only aquatic in their immature stages, usually as stem or root borers of underwater vegetation. They are impossible to identify from photographs. Photographed at Roaches Pond, Spryfield, NS on June 11, 2015.

Another leaf beetle, Sumitrosis inaequalis is the reproductive form of a leaf miner. The larvae, like the aquatic leaf beetles, are specific to certain plants and "mine" the leaves, living and feeding entirely within a plant leaf. This one likely feeds on goldenrod or aster leaves. Photographed along the MacIntosh Run, Spryfield, NS on June 15, 2015.

While there are many beetles that feed on plants, there are also many, such as the Coccinelidae or lady beetles, that prey on other insects. This is an eye-spotted lady beetle, Anatis mali. Like most lady beetles, this large native beetle preys on aphids. Photographed at Roaches Pond, Spryfield, NS on June 18, 2015.

The Carabidae, or ground beetles, are well represented by this large predator, Pterostichus adoxus. Finding and photographing (and identifying!) these fast moving ground beeltes is always a challenge but very satisfying. This one was photographed near Apple River, NS on June 20, 2015.

Location, Location, Location!

On June 10, 2015, while walking the brief portion of the trail that joins Roaches Pond park with the paved trail along the McIntosh Run, I happened upon some of my first dragonflies of the season. What was interesting about this encounter was that I found three different species sharing the same dead brush along the sunny east side of the trail. The first, which I think is a teneral belted whiteface, Leucorrhinia proxima, attracted me by being disturbed as I approached the spot along the trail. It's movement, in turn, disturbed a second dragonfly...

...which subsequently landed on a sapling beside the dead brush. This is a "common" baskettail, Epitheca cynosura. A side note: I dislike—intensely—the use of abundance measures such as "common" in the colloquial (there's my dislike of that word "common" again) names of organisms...it serves no useful purpose as a descriptor. Now that I've got that off my chest, once my eyes were opened to the presence of these two species of dragonflies, I promptly noticed a third species there represented by...

...not one, but two, freshly emerged individuals of the springtime darner, Basiaeschna janata. The most intriguing thing, besides finding these three species together in the same spot at the same time? This spot along the trail is nowhere near water and is about equidistant from both the pond and the run. Still, as we all know, and as these dragonflies had obviously figured out, life is better on the sunny side—it's all about location, location, location!

An Infrequent Event: Orchid Cactus Flower! 

My orchid cactus, an Epiphyllum sp. hybrid originally acquired as a leaf/stem from a plant in the York University greenhouse in the early 90s, bloomed this year. This is a decidedly uncommon event because twice—first our move to Texas in '97 and then our move to Nova Scotia in '07—it has been reduced to that original leaf/stem! My current cultivation regime is also less than ideal. The plant bloomed frequently when I had it in a greenhouse in Texas but getting one of these epiphytes to bloom on a windowsill is much (much!) harder. The flowers of Epiphyllum are "dinner plate" size and this one didn't disappoint, I measured it at slightly more than 20 cm (8") in diameter.

Six-Spotted Tiger Beetle... 

I always look forward to encountering six-spotted tiger beetles, Cicindela sexguttata, along woodland paths in the early spring. They're tough to get close to but I managed to get this shot on May 25, 2015, near Mt. Uniacke.

A Couple of Uncommon Early Spring Wildflowers...

I've been trying to get good photos of the red (or purple, if you prefer) trilliums, Trillium erectum, here in Nova Scotia, looking to replace my old Ontario slide film photos with digital shots, for a few years now. But I was always too late and the flowers were in pretty bad shape, definitely not what could be called photogenic. But this year I caught them, in Elderkin Ravine in Kentville on May 19, 2015, at the height of bloom in about as perfect condition as possible.

This is another early spring bloomer that I've been trying to catch in flower. I've frequently seen them in fruit but this is the first time, also May 19, 2015 at Elderkin Ravine in Kentville, that I've found the flowers. Most commonly known as February Daphne (although that would be April/May here in Nova Scotia, which might explain why spurge laurel is its colloquial name here), Daphne mezereum, is a non-native shrub that is highly poisonous.

It's Elfin Season Again...

One of the joys of spring is that Elfins are in season! These little Lycaenid butterflies only have a single generation per year so you gotta get out and see them while you can. Nova Scotia has five (possibly six, see note below) species and I've already seen and photographed three of them, including a "lifer" (a new species that I haven't seen before), so far this year. This one is an Eastern Pine Elfin, Callophrys niphon, photographed at Roaches Pond in Spryfield on May 15, 2015. Note that there is a chance, albeit a small one, that NS may also have a sixth Elfin species, the Western Pine Elfin, Callophrys eryphon, since they are known in New Brunswick...Cumberland & Colchester Co. butterfly watchers should get out and look!

The second species I've encountered this year is the most common (both most numerous and most widespread) species, the Brown Elfin, Callophrys augustinus, photographed near Mt, Uniacke on May 16, 2015. Looking at this photo of a fresh specimen you might wonder why it's not called the "purple" or the "violet" Elfin? Unfortunately those stunning violet scales are soon lost and for most of their flight period they are generally just another LBJ (a little brown job).

Finally, my lifer, a fresh Hoary Elfin, Callophrys polios, photographed near Mt, Uniacke on May 16, 2015. I don't know why it has taken so long for me to finally see and photograph one of these but I'd never seen one before this one. This particular butterfly was what I call "partially cooperative," meaning that it hung around and allowed me to repeatedly get "portrait close" but it kept landing in places where it was shaded or partly obscured by grass or twigs. The consequence of shooting a shaded, dark-coloured butterfly is "blown-out" background highlights! Hopefully I'll find some more soon and get some opportunities for better photos (though maybe I should just consider myself lucky and be thankful?).

Some Stupendous Spring Spiders...

Spring has finally sprung in Nova Scotia! After a l-o-n-g cold and very (very!) snowy winter, this insect (and other macro nature) photographer was overjoyed to finally get out and get some photos. Some of the first "insects" that I've encountered have been some new, and I don't hesitate to say stupendous, spiders. This little Salticid or jumping spider, Habronattus decorus, barely 5mm or so long (less than 1/4") with its bold blue-white and cinnamon colouration, was particularly common as it hunted around the early blooming mayflowers (Epigaea repens). Photographed at Roaches Pond on May 10, 2015.

As far as I can recall this is the very first "running crab spider" that I've ever encountered. I found a number of these dark Tmarus angulatus spiders sunning themselves on alder and birch saplings near Mt. Uniacke on May 5, 2015. A week later they were nowhere to be found...

Finally, the pièce de résistance of my spring spider surprises is my first Nova Scotia encounter with a lichenmarked orbweaver, Araneus bicentenarius. These spiders grow to monumental proportions in the southern part of their range and it is not uncommon to find specimens that are 5 cm (2") or more from chelicerae to spinnerets, with webs that are 6 metres (20 feet) or more across. This one, photographed May 16, 2015 in the Pockwock watershed near Mt. Uniacke, was about 13mm (1/2") long, a respectable size for an early spring orbweaver. I do have to admit that I never really appreciated the "lichenmarked" colloquial name until I saw this one (as you can no doubt see yourself).

One Big Honking Sawfly!  

This has been a good year for finding some unusual bugs here in Nova Scotia. As one example, this year I encountered and photographed both male and female, and for the second time, the larva (shown here, photographed at the Pockwock Watershed lands on September 28th) of the Elm Sawfly, Cimbex americana. To be succinct, this is one big honking sawfly!

This is the adult male Elm Sawfly, photographed at McIntosh Run in Spryfield on July 10th. These large relatives of bees, wasps and ants, are about the same size as large bumble bees, and when one flies past your head, you know it.

Here's the adult female Elm Sawfly, photographed on a cool, cloudy day at Roaches Pond in Spryfield on July 29th. The abdomen can also be black or brick red/orange but the legs and antennae are always bright yellow.

The first time I encountered the larva of the Elm Sawfly was at Dollar Lake on August 8th, 2012. These large caterpillar-like larvae are about 50 mm or 2 in. long, have obvious simple eyes (ocelli), three "true" legs and six or more prolegs—moth and butterfly caterpillars have 5 or fewer prolegs and multiple ocelli that are usually not at all obvious.

Like my most recent encounter with Elm Sawfly larvae, this one is feeding on willow, though why it would choose to feed on the twig rather than the leaf is a mystery. The spiral body shape necessary to feed on the twig puzzled me for quite some time before I finally figured out it was a sawfly larva and not a caterpillar.

Nova Scotia Coppers...Part 2 

In Part 1 (see Nova Scotia Coppers...Part 1), I illustrated the adults of the Bronze (Lycaena hyllus) and Salt Marsh (Lycaena dospassosi) Coppers, two of the five species of Coppers that occur in Nova Scotia. I had planned on following up that post relatively quickly but, much to my surprise, I have not encountered the American Copper, Lycaena phlaeas, this year in any of the four locations where I found them last year. This photo, taken August 25, 2013, north of Debert, shows the ventral or underside of the wings. Males and females are identical.

This photo, taken on September 10, 2013, at the same location as the photo above, shows the dorsal or upperside of the wings. Note the tiny nub-like "tails" in this fresh specimen; older, faded specimens have usually lost their tails. American Coppers look very similar to female Bronze Coppers, except that they're quite a bit smaller and, when fresh, have those distinctive little tails.

The fourth species of Copper in Nova Scotia is the smallest one, the Bog Copper, Lycaena epixanthe. A dime would completely cover the butterfly shown here. As the colloquial name suggests, this Copper is found in bogs where its caterpillar hostplant, Cranberry (Vaccinium sp.), grows. This photo, taken July 7th this year south of Dollar Lake, shows the ventral or underside of the wings.

Male Bog Coppers have a purple wash to the dorsal (upperside) of the wings and have reduced dorsal spotting compared to the female (see photo below). Photo taken south of Dollar Lake on July 16th.

Female Bog Coppers have more spotting than their males and largely lack the purple wash to the dorsal (upperside) of the wings. This female was photographed northeast of Truro on July 23rd. Note that both sexes have some light orange spotting visible on the upperside of the hindwings near the tip of the abdomen which the similar but larger Salt Marsh Copper (Lycaena dospassosi) lacks. The fifth Copper species, which I have yet to encounter in Nova Scotia, the Dorcas Copper (Lycaena dorcas), is a relatively recent discovery and is only known from Inverness County on Cape Breton Island. Maybe next year...!

Autumn Odonates: Not Just Hanging Around... 

I've found a few mating pairs of dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata) over the past week or so. Some, like this mating pair of Canada Darners, Aeshna canadensis, male above and female below, photographed in wheel on September 17 at Roaches Pond in Spryfield, are simply more common in the fall because they're multi-brooded. Populations generally get larger through the season in species that have more than one generation per year.

Other species, like this mating pair of Spotted Spreadwing Damselflies, Lestes congener, also in wheel, again male above and female below, and also photographed at Roaches Pond on September 17, are "autumn specialists" that only have a single generation per year and do not emerge until this time of year. Despite that it means that the season is winding down, it's always nice to see these rather plain damsels.

"It's Mine and You Can't Have It!" 

Another of my favorite Salticids, the jumping spiders group of the Arachnids, this Bronze Jumper, Eris militaris, photographed September 4th at the Pockwock Watershed Lands, stared me down and refused to yield its wasp prey to the intrusive giant with the big camera lens. Those eyes get me every time!

A Rare and Unusual Spider for Nova Scotia? 

This is a spider that I never, in my wildest imagination, expected to encounter in Nova Scotia. The Orchard Orbweaver, Leucauge venusta, is a long-bodied, long-jawed orb weaving spider that I found relatively frequently in Texas but never suspected could be found this far north. This is the first one, photographed September 4th in the Pockwock Watershed Lands, that I've seen in 8 years of nature-watching and photography in Nova Scotia. Is it rare here, or just seldom encountered?

 

Added note: I may have at least partially answered my own question. I found and photographed another individual of this species at Roaches Pond in Spryfield on September 17th. Maybe I'm just paying more attention to spiders this year?

Better Late Than Never... 

Migratory Vanessids, like this Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta (photographed south of Dollar Lake on September 5th), have been scarce in central Nova Scotia for the past two years. After the amazing migrant year of 2012—when all three of the Nova Scotia Vanessa species were numerous and everywhere—it was a noticeable loss. I never encountered Red Admirals at all last year and hadn't seen one this year until late August. Even breeding residents like the American Lady, V. virginiensis, have been rare. While I did see a couple of those last year, they were absent from my usual haunts this year until the beginning of August. I'm happy to say, however, that both species seem to be everywhere I've gone in the past two weeks...better late than never! I've not seen a migrant Painted Lady, V. cardui, since 2012 (though I know of one that was reported in southeast Nova Scotia early this spring). I've missed them all.

An Unpleasant Discovery... 

I was disheartened to find a "scourge" species of beetle, the Japanese Beetle (Popillia japonica), on my rounds of Roaches Pond in Spryfield on the last day of August. These fairly large scarab beetles are instantly recognizable because no other beetle in North America has those five tufts of white hairs on the sides of the abdomen. The root-boring larvae and the leaf-eating adult beetles are known to eat more than 300 species of plants, many of them crops or garden ornamentals, and I became very familiar with the devastation that these beetles can inflict after visiting a colleague in Kentucky and witnessing the hordes of beetles on his large population of Maypops, Passiflora incarnata. A scourge indeed.

Worried that I was about to report this nasty intruder in Nova Scotia for the first time, I contacted Andrew Hebda, Curator of Zoology at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, and he set my mind at un-ease: turns out this beetle has been known in Nova Scotia since the mid-1930s (and has been pronounced extirpated numerous times since then!). It wouldn't be so bad if this Japanese Beetle only ate Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia (Polygonum) japonica) but, sadly, this is not the case. Is it just me, or does the beetle in the above photo seem to be saying, "I'm baa-ack!"?

And Now for Something Completely Different... 

This might look like an aerial view of a new subdivision but it's actually a leaf mine in a seedling big-tooth poplar, Populus grandidentata, leaf. Besides the apparent architectural similarity, what I find fascinating about this photo is that you can follow the entire larval life history of this insect, be it a fly, a moth (most likely) or a sawfly. Starting at just about the middle of the right hand side of the photo you can see where the life-track begins. Shortly after hatching the larva moulted then you can follow it's gustatory journey up to the top right corner of the photo where, constrained by the leaf veins, it has to turn left and shortly afterwards moults again. You can see it's entire journey, through four moults, each successively longer than the last as the larva grows, to the present time (at least to the time I took the photo at Roaches Pond on August 14th), to where the caterpillar has eaten itself into a corner near the lower left of the photo. Don't you just hate when that happens?

Two Blue Flower (or Hover) Fly Species! 

Just less than a week ago I posted about Some Large Flower (or Hover) Flies, ending with the pièce de résistance, a large blue flower (hover) fly identified as Megasyrphus laxus. The photo above is not one of my best but it is from the same encounter with the fly on the McIntosh Run in Spryfield on August 19th illustrated in the previous post. Note the abdominal pattern, especially that the blue abdominal spots wrap around the sides and meet the midline, that the hindmost two spots meet in the center, and the light non-blue line separating the terminal black segments. Denis Doucet from New Brunswick wondered how late in the season these flies could be found and I thought I could provide him with an answer. I had photographed some blue flower (hover) flies in early October 2013, except...

...the ones that I photographed on October 11, 2013 at Roaches Pond in Spryfield are NOT Megasyrphus laxus! It turns out that ALL of the photos of blue flower (hover) flies I photographed last year, at three different locations between mid-August and October 2013, are of Didea alneti, a completely different species. Note again the pattern of blue spots on the abdomen. The spots on D. alneti do not reach the midline at the side of the abdomen, the hindmost spots do not meet in the center, the pale line separating the last abdominal segments is missing, AND the foremost and hindmost blue spots are a completely different shape. Nova Scotia has two different species of blue flower flies! Cool, huh?

 

Added Note: Andrew Young from the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes (CANACOLL) has confirmed that this second blue Syrphid is Didea alneti and not Megasyrphus laxus. Second Added Note: The photo above is of a male D. alneti. My earlier encounters with this species in 2013 were both of females (difference is that the hindmost spots DO appear to meet in females but not in males, see this reference with the illustrations.)

You Talkin' to Me? You Talkin' to Me? 

Another jumping spider has stared me down! This one is Phidippus purpuratus and I photographed her north of Debert on August 25th. I always feel like the perp staring back at Harry Callaghan when he asks, "You've gotta ask yourself a question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?" when I get to macro range (about 45 cm or 18" with my setup) with these spiders. But for some reason this one made me feel more like the reflection of Travis Bickle in Taxi. "You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talking... you talking to me?" Then again, maybe I've just got some kind of persecution complex...

Some Large Flower (or Hover) Flies... 

This large flower (or hover) fly, Sericomyia lata, has quickly become one of my favorites. About 20 mm (3/4") long, it's not as common as some of its relatives in the same genus but is memorable for its large size and its unusual, that is not-striped, abdominal pattern. Most of the genus are mimics of bees and wasps. Photographed at Roaches Pond on August 16th.

One of the better wasp mimics in the flower (hover) flies is the relatively common Spilomyia sayi. They have a habit of swishing their wings, I believe that's the technical term, from side to side as they move about on flowers in imitation of the raising/lowering of the wings of the typically black and yellow wasps that they mimic. This is a mating pair photographed south of Dollar Lake on August 20th.

The eyes of species in the genus Spilomyia can be incredibly patterned. This is the relatively rare, at least in comparison to S. sayi, Spilomyia fusca, also photographed south of Dollar Lake on August 20th. The tip of the abdomen, not visible here, is banded with white stripes that make this fly an excellent mimic of a bald-faced hornet, Dolichovespula maculata (though the hornet does not have eyes like this!).

The pièce de résistance for me is this unusually coloured blue flower (hover) fly. I first "discovered" and photographed this fly at three different locations last year and identified it, using Bugguide, as Didea alneti, the only blue flower (hover) fly in the guide. However a recent discussion on the Birding New Brunswick site suggests that it is actually in the genus Megasyrphus (although I can find no record or evidence of a M. latus, the suggested species on that discussion). So, again in conjunction with Bugguide, I believe it's either a blue variant of M. laxus (M. latus may have been a simple typo) or quite possibly an entirely new species of Megasyrphus. I've found this fly this year in four different locations but this photo is from the McIntosh Run in Spryfield on August 19th.

 

Added Note: Andrew Young of the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes has confirmed that this is Megasyrphus laxus (and notes that the unusual blue colour may be diet related and that it fades to yellow after death). Another Added Note: Turns out I was wrong...the blue flower flies I photographed at three locations in 2013 were all Didea alneti so all four locations where I found Megasyrphus laxus this year were new. See Two Blue Flower (or Hover) Fly Species! for the complete story...