Month: July 2022

2022 ASIW Day 3 – June 15

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Day 3, I visited the Drawing class in the morning and the Solar class in the afternoon. As I did previous days, I spent roughly 2 hours with each class. We searched for insects by walking the paths near the Sun Foundation, sweeping and beating vegetation and observing insects in flight and on plants. Students had the opportunity to participate in another round of insect bingo (the winner in each class gets to select a prize). I separated the insects observed for each class below.

Insect taxa encountered – Drawing Class

This list of insect taxa observed is arranged alphabetically by order and family within each order. These are the families of insects we observed during this class. Each link will take you to a page explaining more about that group of insects.

Totals for the morning – 7 orders, 26 families of insects. This list does not include non-insect arthropods we observed (such as spiders, ticks, centipedes, millipedes and their relatives).

Order Coleoptera (beetles)

Order Diptera (flies)

Order Hemiptera (true bugs)

Order Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps)

Order Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths, skippers)

Order Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies)

Order Orthoptera (grasshoppers and crickets)

Insect taxa encountered – Solar Class

This list of insect taxa observed is arranged alphabetically by order and family within each order. These are the families of insects we observed during this class. Each link will take you to a page explaining more about that group of insects.

Totals for the afternoon – 7 orders, 36 families of insects. This list does not include non-insect arthropods we observed (such as spiders, ticks, centipedes, millipedes and their relatives).

Order Coleoptera (beetles)

Order Diptera (flies)

Order Hemiptera (true bugs)

Order Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps)

Order Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths, skippers)

Order Neuroptera (net-winged insects)

Order Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies)

Order Orthoptera (grasshoppers and crickets)

Insect Insights

2022 ASIW Day 2 – June 14

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Day 2, I visited the Reptile class in the morning and the Wild Adventure class in the afternoon. As I did yesterday, I spent roughly 2 hours with each class. We searched for insects by walking the paths near the Sun Foundation, sweeping and beating vegetation and observing insects in flight and on plants. I separated the insects observed for each class below.

Insect taxa encountered – Reptile Class

This list of insect taxa observed is arranged alphabetically by order and family within each order. These are the families of insects we observed during this class. Each link will take you to a page explaining more about that group of insects.

Totals for the morning – 7 orders, 37 families of insects. This list does not include non-insect arthropods we observed (such as spiders, ticks, centipedes, millipedes and their relatives).

Order Coleoptera (beetles)

Order Diptera (flies)

Order Hemiptera (true bugs)

Order Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps)

Order Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths, skippers)

Order Mecoptera (scorpionflies)

Order Orthoptera (grasshoppers and crickets)

Insect taxa encountered – A Wild Adventure Class

This list of insect taxa observed is arranged alphabetically by order and family within each order. These are the families of insects we observed during this class. Each link will take you to a page explaining more about that group of insects.

Totals for the morning – 9 orders, 32 families of insects. This list does not include non-insect arthropods we observed (such as spiders, ticks, centipedes, millipedes and their relatives). Another impressive day discovering the insect diversity at the Sun Foundation and nearby habitats.

Order Coleoptera (beetles)

Order Diptera (flies)

Order Hemiptera (true bugs)

Order Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps)

Order Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths, skippers)

Order Mantodea (praying mantis)

Order Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies)

Order Orthoptera (grasshoppers and crickets)

Order Phasmatodea (walkingsticks)

Insect Insights

2022 ASIW Day 1 – June 13

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I returned to the ASIW (Art and Science in the Woods) as a visiting instructor this year. It was a pleasure to work with students in so many different classes and share my passion for insects (the little things that run our world). I am most appreciative of the instructors who asked me to join their classes during the week.

Day 1, I visited the Aboriginal Survival Arts Program (ASAP) class in the afternoon. During the first morning, instructors spent time with their classes and covered what would happen during the entire week. I spent roughly 2 hours with the class during the afternoon. Since this was a survival class, I began the afternoon with a discussion of insects as food and we sampled some cooked crickets and meal-worms (at least some students sampled them). We played my version of insect bingo and the first student to observe sufficient diversity won a prize (which was awarded at the end of the day). I have been using this format for a few years to help students remain engaged as we search for insects and try to document the biodiversity of insects found at or near the Sun Foundtion in rural Marshall Co., Illinois.

Insect taxa encountered

I provide this list of insect taxa we encountered. They are arranged alphabetically by order and family within each order. These are the families of insects we observed during this class. Please note that each link to more information will open a new browser window/ tab.

Totals for this afternoon – 6 orders, 33 families of insects. We also observed spiders, chiggers, daddy long legs (Opiliones), ticks, and other arthropods during the afternoon. Not bad for a couple hours of observations.

Order Coleoptera (beetles)

Order Diptera (flies)

Order Hemiptera (true bugs)

Order Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps)

Order Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths, skippers)

Order Orthoptera (grasshoppers and crickets)

Insect Insights