June 20, 2026 (Volo Bog)
June 20, 2026 – Our June field trip included a visit to Volo Bog (near McHenry, Illinois). Since this was roughly a 3 hour drive from central Illinois, some of us elected to spend Friday night at a hotel. We had 6 members of our group participate. We spent a fir...
Insect of the week (June 22, 2026)
Our insect of the week for June 22, 2026 is the Black Swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes. It was described by Fabricius in 1775. He was a Danish zoologist and a student of Carl Linnaeus. Many consider Fabricius one of the most important entomologists of the 18th century....
Insect of the week (June 15, 2026)
Our insect of the week for June 15, 2026 is the Pipe-Vine Swallowtail, Battus philenor. It was described by Linné in 1771. As many know, Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish biologist who formalized biological nomenclature. He was enobled in 1761 and is referred to as Carl von...
Insect of the week (June 8, 2026)
Our insect of the week (for June 8, 2026) is one more fossil from Pit 11 near Braidwood, Illinois in my collection. I’m just trying to give a hint of the diversity of insects which were alive during the Carboniferous in what we now call Illinois. I will delve...
Insect of the week (June 1, 2026)
Our insect of the week once again focuses on the ancient insects which once lived in what we now call Illinois. During their short lives (over 300 million years ago), our region was located in tropical climes. The specimen in these photographs in a fossil found in a...
Peoria approximella (a moth named in New York for Peoria, IL). Photo of Michigan specimen courtesy Jim Vargo (used with permission).