Steve Wells
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lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
Steve Wells
@lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
44 followers 92 following 44 posts
Trying to find and identify all of the species living in our yard in Moscow, Idaho.

https://lifeonaquarteracre.com/
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lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
It looks like the male was trying to mate with a dead female, since she is still there in the same position this morning. Maybe that's why the male was taking so long to get the job done.
The white female goldenrod crab spider the day after her apparent mating with the male. Since she hasn't moved since the encounter, she was probably dead when the male tried to mate with her.
July 2, 2025 at 3:20 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
I went out an hour or so later and they were still at it. Or maybe the male is just relaxing for a while
Goldenrod crab spiders. Male is several times smaller than the female. The male is mostly reddish-brown, with the yellow stripes on its abdomen. The female is white.
July 1, 2025 at 11:35 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
While I watched and photographed a couple of goldenrod crab spiders mating, a nearby male dropped onto my finger.
Male goldenrod crab spider. Its body is mostly reddish brown with some yellow on its abdomen. Male godenrod crab spider landed on my finger while I was taking pictures of a nearby mating pair.
July 1, 2025 at 10:45 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
This afternoon I saw goldenrod crab spiders mating on ocean spray flowers. This may be the same female that I saw eating the mining bee a few hours before. The two stayed together for at least 15 minutes while I took their pictures.
Goldenrod crab spiders mating on white ocean spray flowers. The female is white and is several times larger than the male, who is reddish brown with yellow stripes on its abdomen.
July 1, 2025 at 10:39 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
As I walked on to the porch this morning, I saw this scene on ocean spray flowers: a female golden rod crab spider with her mining bee prey.
A female goldenrod crab spider with its mining bee prey. The spider is white with two pink spots on its abdomen and the bee has a dark-colored body with clear wings. The flowers are from an ocean spray bush.
July 1, 2025 at 10:30 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
A Common Digger Bee (Anthophora) that I caught on our golden currant this morning. I cooled her down in the fridge, took photos, and let her get back to business.
A furry little gray and white bee in the genus Anthophora that visited our yellow golden currant flowers this morning.
April 18, 2025 at 7:28 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
A few things I saw on the side of the shed this morning.

A pair of cutworm flies (Gonia sp.), a sawfly (Dolerus sp.), and an Early Tachinid Fly (Epalpus signifer).
Two black Cutworm Flies (Tachinidae: Gonia sp.) mating on the side of the shed. They are called cutworm flies since they are parasitoids of cutworm caterpillars. A black sawfly in the genus Dolerus. An Early Tachinid fly (Epalpus signifer) on the side of the shed. They are always one of the fist flies that I see in the spring. They are parasitoids of the owlet moths in the genus Lithophane.
April 4, 2025 at 8:19 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
I saw the first bee in the yard today.
A male mason bee checking out the holes in a spruce stump. Looks like a blue orchard bee to me (Osmia lignaria), but I'm not sure.
www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Dorsal view of a male mason bee, ~ 10 mm. Mostly blue with a lot of light brown hair on the thorax and a spiffy white mustache. Front view of a male mason bee (Osmia sp.), ~ 10 mm. Mostly blue with a lot of light brown hair on the thorax and a spiffy white mustache.
March 26, 2025 at 3:26 AM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
Here's another photo of it on the garage wall.
The bagworm climbing on the garage wall. It's case seems to be covered with sand, twigs, and other debris. The case is about 8 mm.
March 24, 2025 at 11:14 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
It must finally be spring!

I saw a bagworm (Psychidae: Dahlica sp.) climbing up the side of the garage today. The larvae are encased in a silk lining that is covered with sand and other debris.
Sand-covered larvae that was crawling up the side of the garage today. It's about 1 cm long.
March 24, 2025 at 10:27 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
A quote for #DarwinDay:

"I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae [a family of parasitoid wasps] with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars." - Letter to Asa Gray, May 22, 1860
A Darwin Wasp (Xorides californicus) ovipositing on a spruce stump in our yard. The wasp's body is black, except for the head and parts of the legs which are brown, and with white bands on the antennae.
February 12, 2025 at 2:55 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
I had a bit more luck on my bird walk today. As soon as I left the house I got a good view of a Cooper's Hawk.
A Cooper's Hawk (Astur cooperii) watching the world below. Mottled white and rufous breast, Long, grey tail with three dark bands. Black cap and red eye.
January 14, 2025 at 11:36 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
Went to one of my favorite nearby birding spots this afternoon. I walked for an hour or so and saw not a single bird.
So this memorial there seemed especially appropriate.
A memorial at Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute (PCEI) "Avian Apocalypse: A memorial to the 3 billion birds lost so far as a result of human-caused climate change." Artist: Carol Bradford, 2024 Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute (PCEI) "A memorial to the 3 billion birds lost so far as a result of human-caused climate change." Artist: Carol Bradford, 2024
January 13, 2025 at 10:51 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
Interesting PNAS article on the overall biomass of life on earth.

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Plants have a biomass of 450 gigatons of carbon.
Animals 2 Gt C.

Humans and their livestock have more than ten times the biomass of all wild mammals and birds combined.
Voronoi diagram of the biomass of animal taxa. Arthropods and fish have the greatest total biomass. Humans and their livestock have more than ten times the biomass of all wild animals and birds combined.
January 2, 2025 at 5:42 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
I found this ground #spider on our dining room table a couple days ago. It looks like Sergiolus montanus, but I'd have to microscopically examine its genitalia to know for sure.
Body length 4.5 mm.
A ground spider in the genus Sergiolus. Found on dining room table. It's about 4.5 mm in length. It's body is dark brown with white markings on the abdomen.
December 30, 2024 at 8:48 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
I found this on the bark of our honey locust tree. It looks like it might be a Hoary Rosette Lichen (Physcia aipolia) - but I'm far from sure about that. The thallus is about 15 mm in diameter.
www.inaturalist.org/observations...
#lichen
A light grey lichen with white spots and light brown apothecia. The thallus is about 15 mm in diameter. It was growing on the bark of a honey locust tree in the front yard.
December 22, 2024 at 8:33 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
There aren't many insects around this time of year, but I found this one inside the house on a curtain. It looks like a Codling Moth (Cydia pomonella) to me - which we have plenty of in the summer. But what is an adult doing around here in the winter?
I found this small moth in the inside of our house on a window curtain. It is a mottled gray in color with a large dark spot at the end of the wing. It looks like a codling moth (Cydia pomonella) to me, but I'm not sure.
December 13, 2024 at 6:49 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
Here are the two that I've seen so far in the yard.
A small black bee in the genus Panurginus on a light yellow flower (Drymocallis sp.). 27 May 2018. A small black bee in the genus Panurginus visiting a light yellow flower (Drymocallis sp.). 20 Jun 2024
December 7, 2024 at 3:33 AM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
Here are some (mostly) black flies that have visited our yard.
#BlackFlyDay
A thick-headed fly (Conopidae) in the genus Thecophora on oregano flowers. A Western Wasp Fly (Ceriana tridens) in the family Syrphidae on parsley flowers. The fly is mostly black with yellow stripes - and very cool pointed antennae. A Woodpecker Fly in the genus Medetera standing upright on a spruce stump. It seems to have longer legs in front, so it almost looks like it's standing on its hind legs. And it has spiffy white whiskers under its eyes. A Peacock Fly (Callopistromyia annulipes) in the family Ulidiidae landed on our front porch and did its wings-up dance. It has an intricately patterned wings and is cut as a bug.
November 29, 2024 at 9:59 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
Yeah, sawflies are cool insects. Here's on I found in my yard.
I found this guy by sweeping with a net in the grass in our yard. It's a Club-horned Sawfly (Abia americana). It is a dark-colored fly with clubbed antenna.
November 29, 2024 at 1:00 AM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
Here is a closeup of the apothecia.
Closeup of apothecia. The rims are yellow like the thallus, and the discs are orange. The diameter of the discs is about 1 mm.
November 28, 2024 at 11:55 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
This lichen is growing on the twigs of our apple trees. I'm thinking it might be in the sunburst lichen family (Xanthorioideae).
#lichens

www.inaturalist.org/observations...
A lichen with a yellow thallus orange apothecia discs. It is growing on a twig from an apple tree.
November 28, 2024 at 10:58 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
I found this little guy in the bathtub this evening.
Anyone recognize the family?
Body length ~ 6 mm.
#spiders
www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Small spider (~6 mm) found in the bathtub. Brown in color overall, with darker brown stripes on cephalothorax. Close up of head showing size and position of eyes. There is a row of four small eyes (anterior lateral and anterior median eyes), above them are to large eyes (posterior median eyes) and above and back are another two eyes (Posterior lateral eyes). The eye pattern makes me think it might be a wolf spider in the family Lycopsidae.
November 28, 2024 at 1:57 AM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
I found this lichen growing on the horizontal surface of a concrete block. It's about 3.5 cm in diameter.

It looks like a rim lichen to me in the family Lecanoraceae. I've posted it on iNat but so far haven't got any IDs.

Does anyone recognize it?

www.inaturalist.org/observations...
A rim lichen (I think) growing on the horizontal surface of a concrete block in our front garden. It is gray in color and nearly circular with a diameter of 35 cm. In the center of the thallus are many darker gray apothecia with lecanorine margins the same color and texture as the thallus.
November 26, 2024 at 5:16 PM
lifeonaquarteracre.bsky.social
Okay. Here it is.
I made a "bug snug" in the yard for insects to overwinter - and to give them a place to nest in the spring. It is made of three poles tied together and bound at the top. Then the branches and leaves are stacked inside.
November 23, 2024 at 10:58 PM