2022 Insect Reflections

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This was another great year to observe insects in the vicinity of the Sun Foundation. Many, many thanks to the Ericksen family (especially Bob and Joan) for sharing their enthusiasm for the natural world with so many others. Also, many thanks to the instructors and teaching assistants for inviting me into their classes to discuss the world of insects (and to take the time to examine what can be found at the Sun Foundation). This remains the basis of my citizen scientist project to better document the insects found in central Illinois.

Here is a recap of all the orders and families encountered during one week in June, 2022. I find this to be an amazing list. Keep in mid we are only looking at orders and families of insects. Think if we could identify all to the species level.

Here are the taxon totals for the week (not bad for a few hours of observations each day):

  • 12 orders of insects encountered
  • 82 families of insects encountered

The next time I offer these insights, I plan to also link to an iNaturalist project (Insects of the Sun Foundation). This was created in June, 2024 [updated June 4, 2024]. I set the parameters for this project to include all of Marshall County, Illinois (as some insects may not be readily observed in the confines of the Sun Foundation, but may occur nearby).

Order Coleoptera (beetles)

Order Dermaptera (earwigs)

Order Diptera (flies)

Order Hemiptera (true bugs) 

Order Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps)

Order Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths, skippers)

Order Mantodea (praying mantis)

Order Mecoptera (scorpionflies)

Order Neuroptera (net-winged insects)

Order Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies)

Order Orthoptera (grasshoppers and crickets)

Order Phasmatodea (walkingsticks)

Insect Insights

2022 ASIW Day 5 – June 17

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During the last day of Art and Science in the Woods this year, I visited the Patchwork class in the morning and the Paint on the Path 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 – Patchwork 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, 40 families of insects. This list does not include non-insect arthropods we observed (such as spiders, ticks, centipedes, millipedes and their relatives). I think this was the diversity record for an individual class during this entire week. Well done students and teachers!

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 taxa encountered – Paint on the Path 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 – 8 orders, 28 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 Dermaptera (earwigs)

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 Insights

2022 ASIW Day 4 – June 16

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On day 4 of Art and Science in the Woods, I visited the Draw and Sculpt class in the morning and the Coyote Games class in the afternoon. As I did for previous days this week, 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 – Draw and Sculpt 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, 29 families of insects. As mentioned on prior days, 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 – Coyote Games 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, 27 families of insects. As mentioned on prior days, 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 Insights

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

2021 Insect Reflections

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This was my first year as an instructor at Art and Science in the Woods since 2018. As before, I am so appreciative of the Sun Foundation for asking me to be an instructor and to Bob and Joan Ericksen for allowing so many to visit their home and farm and roam the fields and forests looking for insects. It was a great opportunity to share my knowledge and passion for insects with so many. I particularly liked the visiting instructor format this year. I believe it allowed me to meet a wider spectrum of students and teachers than I have been able to do in the past (with a major class and minor classes each afternoon). Hopefully, many people now have a greater appreciation for the little things which run our world.

Since there was a different format this year and students had liited opportunities to learn how to collect and observe insects, I thought it might be helpful to provide a brief overview of what we encountered in the way of insect diversity. This does not include the ticks, chiggers, spiders and other arthropods we found.

  • Monday (1 class) – 6 orders, 18 families
  • Tuesday (1 class) – 7 orders, 29 families
  • Wednesday (1 class – all day) – 8 orders, 46 families
  • Thursday (2 classes) – 8 orders, 27 families in the morning class; 7 orders, 27 families in the afternoon class
  • Friday (2 classes) – 7 orders, 23 families in the morning class; 7 orders, 15 families in the afternoon class.

Obviously, many families of insects were encountered more than once. If we eliminate duplicates for the week, there were a total of 11 orders of insects encountered representing 82 families.

Unique insect taxa encountered this week

When you examine all the insects we encountered during the week (and remove duplicate orders and families), we arrive at the following list of taxa. I think this is reasonably impressive for one week’s worth of observations by students in various classes at the Sun Foundation Art and Science in the Woods event.

Order Blattodea (cockroaches)

Order Coleoptera (beetles)

Order Dermaptera (earwigs)

Order Diptera (flies)

Order Hemiptera (true bugs)

Order Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps)

Order Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths, skippers)

Order Mantodea (praying mantids)

Order Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies)

Order Orthoptera (grasshoppers and crickets)

Order Phasmatodea (walkingsticks)

Insect Insights

2021 ASIW Day 5 – July 23

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During the final day of Art and Science in the Woods for 2021, I was a visiting instructor in two classes (one in the morning; the other in the afternoon). Here are the insects encountered by each class.

Taxa encountered during the morning class (Coyote warriors)

These are the insects we encountered during the morning class. I was only able to spend about an hour with this class as they had other visiting instructors as well in the morning. As before, the insects we encountered are alphabtically arranged by order and family within each order. Each link will open in a new browser window/ tab.

All told, we encountered insects classified in 7 distinct orders and 23 families. Not bad for one hour’s worth of observations in the morning.

Order Coleoptera (beetles)

Order Diptera (flies)

Order Hemiptera (true bugs)

Order Hymenoptera (ants, bees, and wasps)

Order Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths, and skippers)

Order Mantodea (praying mantis)

Order Orthoptera (grasshoppers and relatives)

Taxa encountered during the afternoon class (Drawing and sculpting)

These are the insects we encountered during the afternoon class. We did spend a fair amount of time at Crow Creek as it was the last day and everyone needed to splash in the creek (and observe insects, of course). The insects encountered are arranged in alphabetical order by order and family as for the morning class.

In total, we encountered insects representing 7 orders and 15 families during our afternoon excursion.

Order Coleoptera (beetles)

Order Diptera (flies)

Order Hemiptera (true bugs)

Order Hymenoptera (ants, bees, and wasps)

Order Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths, and skippers)

Order Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies)

Order Orthoptera (grasshoppers and relatives)

Insect Insights

2021 ASIW Day 4 – July 22

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During the fourth day of Art and Science in the Woods, I was visiting instructor in two classes: Drawing with the Sun (morning) and Treasure Hunt for the Past (afternoon). I have separated the taxa encountered for each class. I was able to spend a couple hours with each class and am most thankful to the instructors for inviting me to their classes to share some information and insights about insects.

Taxa encountered (Drawing with the sun class)

These are the orders and families of insects we encountered as I spent time discussing insects with students during the morning. As I typically do, these are arranged alphabetically by order and family within each order. Links to more information will open in a new browser window/ tab.

During the morning, our class encountered insects in 8 orders and 27 families.

Order Coleoptera (beetles)

Order Dermaptera (earwigs)

Order Diptera (flies)

Order Hemiptera (true bugs)

Order Hymenoptera (ants, bees, and wasps)

Order Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths, and skippers)

Order Orthoptera (grasshoppers and relatives)

Order Phasmatodea

Taxa encountered (Treasure hunt for the past class)

These are the orders and families of insects we encountered as I spent time discussing insects with students during the afternoon. As I typically do, these are arranged alphabetically by order and family within each order. Links to more information will open in a new browser window/ tab.

During the afternoon, our class encountered insects in 7 orders and 27 families.

Order Coleoptera (beetles)

Order Diptera (flies)

Order Hempitera (true bugs)

Order Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps)

Order Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths, and skippers)

Order Mantodea (praying mantis)

Order Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets and relatives)

Insect Insights

2021 ASIW Day 3 – July 21

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I was able to spend the entire day at Art and Science in the Woods on Wednesday (as well as Thursday and Friday). I was able to spend most of the day with the Young Naturalists class. They were most enthusiastic about the insects we encountered and had many questions.

Insect taxa encountered

As I have done for previous days, I provide a list of the families of insects we encountered. Most were located by the students, instructors, and teaching assistants. I tried to keep a running list of the families encountered. As with prior days, one of the teaching assistants recorded the data on paper as we walked along the trails at the Sun Foundation. Insects encountered are listed by order (in alphabetical order) and family (also by alphabetical order within each insect order). Links to more information will open in a new browser window/ tab.

We encountered 8 orders/ 46 families of insects during my time with this class. Well done!

Order Blattodea

Order Coleoptera (beetles)

Order Diptera (flies)

Order Hemiptera (true bugs)

Order Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps)

Order Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths, and skippers)

Order Odonata

Order Orthoptera (grasshoppers and relatives)

Insect Insights
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