October 18, 2025 Field Trip
We took our final field trip of the 2025 season to Singing Woods/ Tawny Oaks on Saturday, October 18, 2025. Many thanks to Jose for leading the group. Photos from the excursion can be found on our Facebook page. [That link will open in a new browser tab.] Our next...
Insect of the week (October 20, 2025)
Our insect of the week (for October 20, 2025) is the hornet clearwing, Paranthrene simulans [LEPIDOPTERA: Sesiidae]. It was described by Agustus Grote in 1881. He is best remembered for his work on North American Noctuidae. As you can see from the image, it mimics a...
Insect of the week (October 13, 2025)
Our insect of the week for October 13, 2025 is another mantidfly – Say’s mantidfly, Dicromantispa sayi [NEUROPTERA: Mantispidae], described by the American entomologist Nathan Banks in 1897. As we saw in another Illinois mantidfly last week, the raptorial...
Insect of the week (October 6, 2025)
Our insect of the week for October 6, 2025 is the wasp mantidfly, Climaciella brunnea [NEUROPTERA: Mantispidae], described by the American entomologist Thomas Say in 1824. Note the raptorial forelegs (similar to what we see in mantids). Nice example of convergent...
Peoria approximella (a moth named in New York for Peoria, IL). Photo of Michigan specimen courtesy Jim Vargo (used with permission).