The Backyard Arthropod Project

The Fly

The first picture I posted in the arthropod project was a blurry image of what was, probably, a housefly. Here is a much better picture, which even shows the wing veins, which make it possible for me to say that it is, probably, a housefly [1]

Well, obviously, since it was in the house, making a nuisance of itself, then of *course* it was a housefly. The only question is whether it is the “real” housefly, Musca domestica, or just some related fly that got into the house. I think it is the real thing, based on comparing some diagrams of wing venation that Bug Guide connected to, so we’ll go with it. Supposedly you can tell if it is male or female depending on the space between the eyes, but there are surprisingly few pictures of houseflies on Bug Guide[2], and I don’t really have much to compare it to.

Continue reading ‘Housefly and Pitcher Plant’ »

Come in to my parlor
said the spider

to the fly

Continue reading ‘European House Spider, Cluster Fly’ »

So, what is this all about anyway? Here’s the deal: We own 9 acres of property, and I’m going to try to document every macroscopic arthropod I can find on it. This includes insects, spiders, other arachnids, crustaceans, and pretty much anything I find that has an exoskeleton. The plan is to post at least one species every week, with photographs and a description both of how I found it and what I think it is. I expect this project to take some years, especially if I can manage to photograph all the eensy little guys that live in the leaf litter. So, in the spirit of having to start somewhere, let’s begin with this one:

Continue reading ‘The Backyard Arthropod Project’ »