Sunday, December 22, 2019

Pieris angelika


June 22 2019
Cracker creek area

C. Guppy wrote this about a white i posted on inaturalist:Although the photos are very distant and not sharp, the second photo shows the upper forewing wing pattern characteristic of a female P. marginalis. Southern Yukon has 3 species of Pieris - P. angelika, P. marginalis, and P. oleraciea. P. oleracea would have almost no wing pattern, so that eliminates that species. P. angelika females have quite extensive black upper forewing pattern (unlike the photo), and P. marginalis females have grey upper forewing pattern (range from relatively little pattern (as in this case) to extensive grey pattern.


Yellowjackets


2018 was a good year for Yellowjackets, 2019 not so much.
I post my observations on inaturalist.ca

Today i did get some helpful information that i might want to look for again.

Yes, for the genus it is the shape of the head, i.e. the length of space between eyes and mandibles: https://cjai.biologicalsurvey.ca/bmc_05/bmc05images/keys/b11-3_4.jpg 
https://cjai.biologicalsurvey.ca/bmc_05/key_vespinae.html 
This is, of course, not visible here but most species can also be recognized by their abdominal patterns: 
V. alascensis (formerly vulgaris): https://cjai.biologicalsurvey.ca/bmc_05 
/98v_vulgaris.html 
https://cjai.biologicalsurvey.ca/bmc_05/85d_norvegicoides.html