I recently came across this shot from some science text. Wish I could give more info, but that’s all I got.
Never alone, indeed!
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For a short list of candidates, maybe worth searching for domesticus and house in the iNat taxa? With the holidays coming up, who knows who will observe this reindeer at home, for example.
Most common species I find in my house are japanese burrowing crickets, house centipedes, and spiders… so many spiders… Mostly cellar spiders but also false widows and others. The apex predator would have to be the grass spiders that find their way in during the summer months They form their own complex ecosystems in the basement and garage. If I find a spider I try to move it to one of those places so that they can set up their web there and handle the pests. I check their webs often and they are littered with gnats, mosquitoes, and moths.
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Found a bunch of houseplant soil contaminated with (likely nonnative) Lepidocyrtus. Under some lighting conditions they would display an electric purple sheen.
I was rather annoyed that none of those lighting conditions ever seemed to be available whenever I pulled out my camera.
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I’ve made 65 observations of 30 species in and around my house. Most were insects, but there was also the rat in my boot, a deer mouse my cat let loose in the house, and the most terrifying spider I’ve ever seen!
As for the more common species, bathroom spiders (Pholcus phalangioides) and Montana Six-plume Moths (Alucita montana) keep turning up all through the house.
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This yellow v moth has been living in my bedroom for months now; I uploaded an observation of it in early August after seeing it every day for at least two months, and today’s observation is, I believe, the same individual.
Yellow V Moth (Oinophila v-flava) on October 25, 2022 at 09:22 AM by Jason Hernandez.
From what I have read of this species, it is found mostly indoors.
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The origins of the Never Home Alone project (rapidly approaching 40,000 observations) is this paper. Interesting read, hope you’ll take a minute to click: Arthropods of the great indoors: characterizing diversity inside urban and suburban homes [PeerJ]
I recently recorded my 15th indoor spider species (Philoponella oweni) and wanted to revive this thread
In January, I collected some dead animals and cobwebs for inspection under a microscope. This was one of the good surprises: Genus Clubiona (Leafcurling Sac Spiders) · iNaturalist
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https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/150108001 Spider
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/148952089 Spider
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/145762043 Crane fly (carried in on hummer feeder)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/141623311 Mosquito (also carried in on hummer feeder)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/136873783 Harvestmen
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/107846920 unknown moth
BTW, only the second observation is at research grade, so if any of you would care to share your expertise by bumping them up (assuming the photo is good enough, which is a big assumption since I am still learning how to take good photos) I would appreciate it. Or even giving suggestions on how to improve my photos would be appreciated.
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I have found around a dozen species in my apartment, although about half of them are visitors straying in from outside rather than residents, and most of the rest are the usual assortment of synanthropic spiders, gnats, etc.
The Hypoponera living in one of my indoor flower pots certainly qualifies as inconspicuous, I think. I never thought I would get excited about finding ants in my apartment, but I found this one oddly fascinating. In any case, they seem to be quite considerate flatmates, staying in their pot and hunting small arthropods in the soil rather than going on carb-seeking foraging missions to the kitchen.
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6 years ago I got up one morning, walked over to my desk, picked up my laptop, and there was a Green Anole under it just chilling. Wasn’t even winter time. That was probably the most random animal encounter I’ve ever had but when I told my mom she just laughed and said “Yeah, that would happen to you.”
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Just last night I was heading up from my basement family room, turning off lights and such – and just before I hit the stairs, I saw something marching across the floor. This:
Raglius alboacuminatus (White-spotted Groundbug). That’s just the 11th iNat observation in the province (Ontario) and the 47th in all of Canada.
Pretty little thing too. Great way to ‘pre-launch’ my coming bug season.
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Heard some scratching coming from the attic and convinced myself that a specter had moved in. A couple weeks later I was by my driveway and watched as a squirrel scaled my gutter and disappear through a small opening in the side. Eventually had to evict him because he refused to pay his rent on time.
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Once, my mom accidentally brought home a harvestman (Opiliones) which apparently crawled up on her backpack and just stayed there. We went back and released it in the forest.
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The rent may be still in the attic. It may look like an acorn stash to you……
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Or a lovely little nest of torn-up insulation.
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