CoffinPoint.ca 

N 48°59'   W 123°45'

Living moths of Vancouver Island 


Coffin Point lies in Stuart Channel at the mouth of Ladysmith Harbour on Vancouver Island (B.C., Canada). Coffin Point and Coffin Island are so called for the traditional funerary practices of the local native tribe (the Stz'uminus First Nation). Many of the small rocky islets scattered through the Gulf Islands are still used for traditional burials even today by members of the local First Nations.

There are some 2800+ species of moth to be found in the province. To date I have posted here somewhere in the neighbourhood of 400 identified species (although some IDs are more certain than others).

Since 2013 I have been photographing the moths, spiders, and other nightlife near Coffin Point. At some point I intend to add some of these other creatures. Some images displayed here will be from elsewhere, but none as yet from outside the mid-island area (Duncan, Ladysmith, Nanaimo, Lantzville).

There are the occasional update, but generally the taxonomy follows Pohl et al; 2018: Annotated checklist of the moths and butterflies of Canada and Alaska.

Some species have been indexed under several names. In most cases this reflects an alternate name used by one or more sources listed for that species. The reasons for this range from differences in the spelling of a name to taxonomic changes not yet, or not universally accepted. For some species that cannot be distinguished from each other by eye, alternatives have usually been noted in some manner on the species page.

2023-02-04
Updated. Species posted now number in the neighbourhood of 450 in fourty-two families. Some cosmetic changes have been made and many images re-processed, new species added, some removed, others corrected, and undoubtedly new errors are included as well.


Browse



Start here and follow the "Next" and "Prev" links at the top right of every page.
T.O.C.



Arranged in taxonomic rank as ordered by Pohl et al, 2016.
Index of Families



A list of the families represented here.
Alphabetic Index



Sorted alphabetically by genus and species.
Hodges Index



Sorted by Hodges number.
Phylogenetic Index



Sorted by phylogenetic number.
About the pages



Notes about the data found in the various fields on the species accounts.
National Moth Week




Daily record of observations during "National Moth Week" from 2013 - 2021.



All queries, errors, and especially suggestions regarding misidentifications should be directed to:

   paul.westell@coffinpoint.ca

This website and all content herein are the property of and copyright Paul Westell. All photos were taken by Paul Westell unless otherwise credited.