Catalogue of Fauna

Gardening for Wildlife

One of the exciting benefits of gardening with native plants is their ability to attract a wide range of wildlife, especially native species. In fact, we have been able to identify over 1800 unique species of animals utilizing the Gottlieb Native Garden —from ants to bats to birds to lizards.

Below are the numbers of species broken down into specific groups (as of January 2023):

Vertebrates

27        Mammals
10        Reptiles and Amphibians
112      Birds

Insects

13        Springtails and Two-pronged Bristletails
2          Silverfish
10        Dragonflies and Damselflies
15        Grasshoppers, Crickets and Katydids
1          Walkingsticks
2          Webspinners
1          Mayflies
3          Cockroaches
239      True Bugs
1          Twisted-wing Insects
14        Thrips
46        Book, Bark and Jumping Plant Lice
197      Beetles
20        Lacewings, Mantispids, Antlions and Snakeflies
243      Bees, Ants, Wasps and Sawflies
4          Caddisflies
520      Moths and Butterflies
1          Fleas
193      Flies

Arachnids

1          Scorpions
101      Spiders
25        Mites and Ticks

Myriapods

16        Centipedes, Millipedes and Symphylans

Crustaceans

2          Woodlice

Gastropods 

6          Snails and Slugs

Segmented Worms

2          worms

iNaturalist

I post the majority of arthropods I find in the garden to iNaturalist. Below are the most recent additions - each one is clickable for more information.

Methodology

Various methods are used for assembling data on animals in the garden, including observation, collecting and photographing with both hand-held and remote cameras. Some animals are simple to identify down to species level. These would include mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. Arthropods can be a different story. We do our best to identify insects, arachnids and similar animals to species level, but sometimes have to settle with simply placing them in a tribe or family.