Alan Yoshioka, PhD
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thesheepcat.bsky.social
Alan Yoshioka, PhD
@thesheepcat.bsky.social
400 followers 410 following 720 posts
Come for the bugs and flowers and occasional topical verse; stay for a vision of human flourishing: faith and reason, dialogue, democracy. “Truth and love need each other.” Byzantinish Catholic,☦️ widower, Japanese Canadian,🌸🍁 medical editor.
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thesheepcat.bsky.social
A wee comb-footed spider (Theridiinae) tucked away behind a curtain of droplets dreamily suspended from a fennel umbel.🕷️🕸️
Macro photo of yellow radial flowerheads interspersed with tiny spherical droplets of water, which catch the light. At upper centre is a small spider with a round abdomen, cream-coloured with dark orange markings, and orange legs.
November 16, 2025 at 7:10 AM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
And here we go, for the first time in a while! Fennel, I think.
#FlowerFridayFamily
Macro photo of a starburst-like flowerhead with tiny bright yellow florets, many of them adorned with glistening spherical water droplets, against a blurred green background.
November 16, 2025 at 6:21 AM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
I suppose it's a good thing for us humans that this fearsome-looking dragon-like thing is only about 6 mm long.

It's the larva of a brown lacewing. If it makes it to adulthood, it'll be really pretty. Also, lacewings prey upon aphids and other pests.
#inverts
Macro photo of a long, slender reddish-brown insect with a curved beak-like front end that looks capable of tearing prey apart. Close-up photo, apparently of a molt of a brown insect with translucent lacy wings. The blurred background is mostly light green lichen on an irregular light brown surface.
November 4, 2025 at 5:30 PM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
2/2. What the critters look like IRL. A long-jawed orbweaver, a whirligig mite, another prostig mite, and an earwig. #inverts
Photo, in ventral view, of a spider with very long and thin front legs. Its abdomen is round and has a complex pattern in white, yellow, dark brown, and black, including a wide black stripe. A somewhat irregular radial pattern surrounds an oval ring at the centre of its web. The background is black. Macro photo of an eight-legged creature whose body, aside from white hairs and tiny dark sensory organs, is almost entirely reddish orange. It stands, legs spread radially, on a speckled brown surface. Macro photo of an eight-legged creature, which under flash illumination appears to glow with a cool light. There are many hairs on its legs and body. Its back end is tinged yellow. It stands on a rough dark brown surface beside a smooth brown object, perhaps a seed, which is slightly larger than it. Macro photo, in dorsal view, of a 6-legged critter oriented to the left on a smooth light brown surface. The insect's body and head are glossy. The head and abdomen are red; the legs are light orange-brown. At the back, truncated at the edge of the photo, are two orange crescent-shaped appendages.
October 31, 2025 at 6:19 PM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
New and improved pics for #Halloween.
1/2. A long-jawed orbweaver (Metellina sp., I believe), a whirligig mite (Anystis sp.), another prostig mite (family Rhagidiidae), and a Western earwig (Forficula dentata).
#arachtober 🐡
Photo of an intricately carved jack-o'-lantern showing a spider with very long front legs. Photo of an intricately carved jack-o'-lantern showing a mite. Eight legs surround a round central part called the idiosoma. It has many hairs. Caveats: Two dots for sensory organs are shown too large, giving the critter the aspect of a cartoon octopus. Oh, well! The front part, called the gnathosoma, from which the two palps extend downwards, is not shown clearly. Photo of an intricately carved jack-o'-lantern showing an eight-legged creature oriented towards the left. Photo of a jack-o'-lantern showing a long-bodied insect with distinctive appendages curved inwards at the back. Caveat: The head is shown too large.
October 31, 2025 at 6:19 PM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
I'm pretty much ready for #Halloween.
L to R: whirligig mite (Anystis sp.), another prostig mite (family Rhagidiidae), and Western earwig (Forficula dentata). The pièce de résistance, a long-jawed orbweaver jack-o'-lantern (not shown), was completed this afternoon.
#arachtober 🐡
Photo of three intricately carved jack-o'-lanterns. The legs of the arachnid at left are nearly radially symmetric; the arachnid in the middle has long forelegs and bright bands across its body; the insect at right has long, segmented antennae and converging arcs (barely visible from this angle) at the back. The background is leaf-covered lawn, very dark.
October 30, 2025 at 11:39 PM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
Tiger fly (Coenosia sp.) taking off from my neighbour's fence yesterday. Vancouver, BC.
#inverts 📸🪰
A close-up flash photo freezes the motion of a dark gray fly just above the light gray surface it has sprung up from. Its legs are all extended, and its wings are spread at an angle. Large, dark red eyes dominate its head. It has black bands along its thorax and black patches on its abdomen. It casts a recognizably fly-shaped shadow.
October 30, 2025 at 4:07 PM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
Hilarious little video by Instagram reel creator spaghettysean about how to take good photos of an earthworm so someone can tell which of more than 6000 species it might be.
#inaturalist #inverts 📷🪱
www.instagram.com/p/DQUSJjMDOmN/
Screenshot from Instagram: At left, a woman in a white lab coat stands beside a whiteboard on which is a labelled drawing of a worm. The superimposed transcript of the video says, "a worm." At right, text posted by spaghettysean explains, "Ad If you’re an earthworm in the midst of an identification crisis, this is for you. (If you’re not, well ... now you know a bit more about identifying earthworms.)" @inaturalistorg is tagged. Several users react, amused. 1,282 likes 1 day ago. Photo of a white woman in a homemade earthworm costume. She wears a light brown sweater. A light brown stocking on the top of her head gives it a rounded point. Dark disks cover her eyes. Her expression is puzzled and surprised. Caption: "The what?"
October 29, 2025 at 3:32 PM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
The F-winged barklice (Graphopsocus cruciatus) were out in force yesterday. I saw at least three on my neighbour's fence.
#inverts
Macro photo of a bug-eyed insect perched head-downwards on a nubbly light brown vertical surface. On its long ovalish wing is a darker brown F, from which it gets its name. The background and foreground are quite blurred.
October 28, 2025 at 3:19 PM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
Not as spectacular as the swallows of Capistrano or anything, but the Ptenothrix (Ptenothrixen? 🙃) have returned to Marpole, Vancouver!😍
#inverts
www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Macro photo of a creature with an ovoid body, cream with a complex pattern in dark orange and dark red, including a carrot shape at the back. It walks away from the camera on a wet, nubbly, gray surface. Macro photo, in side view, of a six-legged creature with an ovoid body and small roundish head. It has a complex pattern in maroon, olive green, and cream. It stands or walks on a gray surface. Macro photo, in side view, of a six-legged creature with a cream-coloured ovoid body and small roundish head. It has a complex pattern in olive green and maroon. It stands or walks on a sandy brown surface..
October 25, 2025 at 2:51 AM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
A Chicagoan formed in Peru
And an Augustinian too …
Let Altieri explain
Roman matters arcane,
Pope Leo, and what he's to do.
#limericks #Catholic
Selfie of a smiling middle-aged man beside a wide monitor displaying a book cover with Pope Leo XIV in white vestments. On the wall behind it are icons and photos.
October 13, 2025 at 6:34 PM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
Theresa's birthday today would be a fitting day to read the piece in my pinned post, a book review I wrote five years ago, partly in tribute to her.
Photo of a grave marker, bronze on black with gray granite base, surrounded by mostly dry grass. A bouquet of red roses and other red flowers stands in a vase at upper right. Sunlight highlights the date Oct. 5, 1971. Yoshioka / Theresa / Oct. 5, 1971 ☦️ Jan. 10, 2020 In an ornamental script font, the funeral Kondak is quoted.
October 6, 2025 at 4:27 AM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
A female variable duskyface fly (Melanostoma mellinum). Get a load of the green haltere! That's the little ball beside the hind leg, a vestige of ancestral hindwings.
#inverts
www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Macro photo of a fly with a glossy dark thorax, long translucent wings, and very large dark red compound eyes. It perches on a yellow flower bud.
September 25, 2025 at 5:26 PM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
A Western calligrapher (Toxomerus occidentalis) checks out one of the heavy plastic bags that Vancouver residents use for paper recycling.
#inverts #shadows
www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Macro photo in dorsal view of a fly with a wasp-like yellow-and-black patterned abdomen and dark red eyes that take up most of its round head. The fly perches upon a smooth-with-dents solid yellow surface, where its iridescent, transparent wings cast a shadow with recognizable veins.
September 25, 2025 at 2:38 PM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
White-faced meadowhawk, a dragonfly native to British Columbia, on a thimbleberry leaf at the Pitt-Addington Marsh Wildlife Management Area. A first for me. #inverts
www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Macro photo, in frontal view, of a dragonfly with a crimson red thorax; a long, narrow red and black abdomen; a round head dominated by brown compound eyes and white face; spindly dark brown legs; and two pairs of transparent wings marked by very fine dark veins. Strong shadows emphasize the texture of veins on the yellow-green leaf on which the dragonfly perches.
September 24, 2025 at 9:50 PM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
Well, now! I've had some other things on my mind lately, and it's not really peak season for flowers here at the end of an unusually dry summer, but here we have … 🥁… Japanese anemone, tickseed (Coreopsis) with a common Eastern bumble bee, Mexican orange (Choisya), and hibiscus. #FlowerFridayFamily
Close-up photo of a flower with five hot pink oval petals around a nubbly yellow-green centre with a ring of bright yellow stamens. The stamens cast sharp shadows under bright sunlight. In the background is a blurred bud against blurred neutral gray. Macro photo of a bright yellow frilly flower under bright sunlight, visited by a bumble bee with dark banded rear end, very fuzzy yellow thorax, and transparent wings with dark veins. The background is blurred vegetative matter. Close-up photo of two white flowers under bright sunlight against a black background with some green foliage. Each flower has five white wrinkly oval petals surrounding a white and green centre with small yellow anthers. Close-up photo of a flower with a light purple wavy petal, deep red near the centre, surrounding a white column with white anthers. There is green foliage in the background.
September 21, 2025 at 6:18 AM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
Yesterday's observation of a lace bug, any lace bug, is a life first for me. This thing, Stephanitis takeyai, is apparently a pest on andromedas, but it sure is pretty! #nature #inverts 📸🐛
www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Macro photo of an insect, head downwards, on the tip of a green ivy leaf. Its wings outline a racetrack shape resembling a stained glass window: between dark veins are "cells," some of which are iridescent or transparent. The nearly spherical head is dark and opaque but has a similarly tiled surface. The background is blurred green.
September 8, 2025 at 2:54 PM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
At first I didn't understand what was going on, that the stink bug was already firmly trapped. The spider seemed to be jabbing ineffectually at the bug, as if only to harass it. But it makes more sense once you see the spider silk.🕷️#naturephotography #inverts
www.inaturalist.org/observations...
September 8, 2025 at 8:29 AM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
It gives me tremendous satisfaction that, though this exchange with a vaccine-skeptical critic of mine on Twitter 4 years ago got off to a quite unpromising start, he and I eventually reached a degree of mutual understanding. Engagement – judiciously carried out – is not only possible but necessary.
Screenshot of a Twitter exchange beginning with a tweet time-stamped 7:19 PM Sep 4, 2021: At the top of the screen, the original tweet is cropped, leaving only this: "'broader moral obligations,' writes Alan Yoshioka." A photo preview from the article the original tweet links to shows a blond woman, her back to the camera, holding up a hand-lettered "NO MANDATORY VACCINE" sign. "Conscience rights don't stand alone" is shown as the title of the opinion piece at bccatholic.ca. A Twitter user, whose name is redacted, writes, "Alan Yoshioka makes his argument devoid of any consideration given to people who feel the vaccine is simply a trojan horse to bring in the idea of the vaccine passport and permission by the state to operate in society. I do not worship Claus Schwubb I worship Jesus."
September 5, 2025 at 1:23 AM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
Though the photographer-naturalist usually takes shelter indoors, his foraging behaviour ranges across intentionally diverse habitats. Here he searches for invertebrates in the intertidal zone at Vesuvius Beach, Salt Spring Island, BC.
Photo of a man squatting at the seaside with his back to the camera, at twilight. He wears a striped short-sleeved shirt untucked and carries a camera bag over his left shoulder. A camera held by its strap is itself not in view. He is gazing intently at something beneath him on a pebbly beach. In the background are conifers, sailboats, and distant mountains under a colourful sky, all reflected in placid water.
September 3, 2025 at 4:31 PM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
A false widow spider has immobilized a fall webworm caterpillar.
#macrophotography #inverts #predation
More pics of each at #iNaturalist:
www.inaturalist.org/observations...
www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Macro photo of a spider with a bulbous glossy brown abdomen and reddish brown legs crawling upon a substantially larger brown caterpillar with orange spots, from which emerge clusters of long, light-coloured bristles. The caterpillar is suspended from and bound by threads of spider silk. Blurred in the background is a diagonal lattice.
September 3, 2025 at 7:55 AM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
2/2. Seen from the side, the shield bug is awfully pretty, if not quite so dramatic. #inverts
www.inaturalist.org/observations...
Close-up photo of a golden bug with tiny brown pores and bright red swooshes on its hunched-over, shield-shaped back. It has long, reddish-brown antennae and small, dark brown compound eyes. It faces left on the tip of a green leaf with hairy margins. The background is black.
August 9, 2025 at 11:57 PM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
1/2. Staring contest! A shield bug (Elasmostethus sp., I believe) in Taylor Creek Park, Toronto. #inverts #macrophotography #iNaturalist
Macro photo of a bug directly facing the camera. Its shield-shaped body is mostly golden (with bright red patches not shown here); the upper surface has tiny brown pores. Long, narrow antennae, which have five segments, curl outward from just in front of the small round eyes. There appears to be a long dark proboscis. Bulging legs are splayed outward at the "knees." Shallow depth of field emphasizes the bug's head, antennae, front legs, and the fuzzy tip of a green leaf on which it is standing. The background is blurred greenery.
August 9, 2025 at 11:57 PM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
Psalm 12:3-4. Can I get an amen?
Screenshot of text: Let the Lord condemn all lying lips, all boastful tongues. They say “Our tongues will make us great, our lips are ours, we have no master.”
July 29, 2025 at 3:27 PM
thesheepcat.bsky.social
Goodness, it's Friday already!
Rudbeckia, candytuft, hydrangea, and aster with bumble bee (common Eastern, I think). #FlowerFridayFamily #gardenphotography
Close-up of a bright yellow-orange flowerhead with a dark brown centre, under bright sunlight. Close-up of small light purple flowers surrounded by light green disks, against a black background. Close-up photo of a dense mat of bluish flowers and buds. In the foreground are tiny flowers each surrounded by four pastel purple bracts. The background is green foliage. Close-up photo of a cluster of flowerheads with purple ray flowers. In the centre of the photo is a bumble bee with golden and black markings and translucent wings.
July 25, 2025 at 7:32 AM