Joseph Spencer
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talkingrootworm.bsky.social
Joseph Spencer
@talkingrootworm.bsky.social
260 followers 72 following 170 posts
PhD entomologist & insect photographer. Scientist & Program Leader in Insect Behavior in the Illinois Natural History Survey/Prairie Research Institute at University of Illinois. I like & share images & stories about insects, rootworms, agriculture & more!
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talkingrootworm.bsky.social
“Spy vs. Spy, Assassin #bug vs. Soldier bug" I didn’t see how one stealthy #predator caught the other, but the outcome was photogenic. Perhaps declining Autumn numbers of #caterpillars & other small prey make this inevitable? #Reduviidae #Podisus #Hemiptera

[Champaign Co., Ill. USA. 14 Oct 2025]
October 15, 2025 at 3:45 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
“Girl with kaleidoscope eyes” #Coelioxys sp. #Cuckoo #leafcutter #bees parasitize the nests of leafcutter bees by invading & laying their eggs inside that will kill the leafcutter larvae & then eat their store of nectar & pollen. This female was chilling on an aster in my garden.
Big-eyed black bee with dark red legs, amber wings, white body stripes and other markings resting on a closed aster flower against a black background. Big-eyed black bee with dark red legs, amber wings, white body stripes and other markings resting on a closed aster flower against a black background. Big-eyed black bee with dark red legs, amber wings, white body stripes and other markings resting on a closed aster flower against a black background.
October 14, 2025 at 3:36 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
Red-headed beauty!
I found this walking #stick #insect (#Orthonecrosia sp.) on at the Jungle Girl Entomology Camp at Trus Madi, Malaysia on Borneo in March 2025. Borneo is amazing, an island of wonder & stick insects! There are currently about 400 described Borneo species of stick insects.
Green-blue colored stick insect with a red head resting horizontally on a piece of bark-less wood in a forest against a black background.
October 12, 2025 at 6:40 PM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
“Who’s in charge now?” If asked, I’d affirm the wheel bug, #Arilus cristatus, as the top predator in my yard. A recent encounter w/ one of the many cross #orbweavers, #Neoscona crucifera, in my yard reminded me that the tables can, and do, turn. #Arachtober #spider #Reduviidae #Araneidae #arachnid
A large tan-colored, orb-weaving spider with red legs is struggling with a partially silk-wrapped wheel bug. They are dangling in a tattered web against a black background A large tan-colored, orb-weaving spider with red legs is struggling with a partially silk-wrapped wheel bug. From this angle, the spider is almost completely eclipsed by the struggling wheel bug. They are dangling in a tattered web against a black background. A large tan-colored, orb-weaving spider with red legs is struggling with a partially silk-wrapped wheel bug. They are dangling in a tattered web against a black background
October 1, 2025 at 3:23 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
I've been following the "progress" of this little (<1 cm) #inchworm #caterpillar for a couple of days. It is wearing a trio of #ectoparasitic wasp larvae (in Family #Chalcididae). They're siphoning the caterpillar's blood & bodily fluids. It'll die soon & they will form pupae near the cadaver.
Brown inchworm caterpillar perched on a nearly vertical green leaf petiole against a black background. Three creamy orange parasitic wasp larvae, each approximately the size of the caterpillar's head, are attached to the caterpillar's back.
September 29, 2025 at 6:36 PM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
Three’s a crowd! The wheel bugs (#Arilus cristatus) in my garden seem confused about how many individuals are needed to start a family. They worked it out about an hour after my photos and the “third wheel” hit the road. #Reduviidae #AssassinBug

[Champaign County, Illinois. USA. 19 September 2025]
An amorous trio of two males and 1 female gray-colored wheel bugs with red antennae and beaks hang together off of the left side of a brown and dried purple coneflower against a black background.
September 22, 2025 at 2:06 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
This afternoon, a group of #migrants on their way to Mexico stopped in my yard to grab a bite and rest. They are staying the night. I count 64 lodgers tonight. On Saturday evening, I had 142! #butterflies #monarchseason #monarch.
September 16, 2025 at 3:19 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
Though they were vastly out-numbered by #monarchs, painted lady #butterflies, were still showing off as they completed for opportunities to sample the floral delights offered up by the Liatris blossoms. #Colias.
September 14, 2025 at 4:02 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
Days like today, when the yard is full of butterflies, remind me why I planted and tend my gardens of prairie plants.
[Champaign County, IL. 13 September 2025]
Orange, white and black monarch butterfly is perched on the top of a taco-shaped, purple blazing star flower with a small alfalfa butterfly lurking over the edge below. Image is set against a field of green foliage and out of focus grass stems.
September 14, 2025 at 3:33 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
I returned home from work tonight to find a collection of #monarch butterfly wings within and beneath a blazing star plant next to my driveway. Then I noticed the culprit, a giant #Chinese #mantid! The mantid was caught for relocation...to a student insect collection! #invasive
September 12, 2025 at 4:34 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
"I'm an #inchworm caterpillar, but I identify as stick." When disturbed, some #Geometridae family #caterpillars will straighten out in a stick-like posture to avoid detection. It's an effective form of #crypsis even the color/texture doesn't match well.

[Champaign County, IL. USA. 5 September 2025]
Tan-colored smooth caterpillar with a few bumps and dark specks gripped onto a vertical stem with its rear prolegs, extending out stick-like in a straight, rigid posture against a dark background.
September 6, 2025 at 2:43 PM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
Have you ever seen a #pelecinid #wasp? Well, you have now! Say "Hello" to #Pelecinus polyturator. Their larvae live as internal parasites of wood or ground dwelling scarab beetle larvae. Until 3 weeks ago, I'd only ever seen 1 individual. Since then, I've seen a dozen females.
August 25, 2025 at 3:33 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
That look! A #katydid leans in to ask, “I can’t hear you with all the tree-cricket racket, can you talk into my ear?” Conveniently, katydid #ears are located on their prothorasic legs, just below the "knee". Can you see them? #insect
August 25, 2025 at 3:23 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
Hanging around or hanging on! A nightwalk revealed #insects exploited by other #arthropods. Doomed big & little Paw Paw #sphinx #caterpillars parasitized by #braconid wasps, an #inchworm bearing more #wasp #cocoons, & a crane fly #Über allowing 2 #pseudoscorpions to hitch a ride (called #phoresy)
A luminous green caterpillar with a spiky tail horn is covered with the cocoons of parasitic wasps that have fed internally before emerging and spilling a cocoon attached to their host's back. Openings near the tops of the cocoons reveal that the adult wasps have emerged. A luminous green caterpillar with a spiky tail horn is covered with the cocoons of parasitic wasps that have fed internally before emerging and spilling a cocoon attached to their host's back. Openings near the tops of some cocoons reveal that the adult wasps have emerged. The caterpillar is hanging from the leaf of a paw paw tree. A brown inchworm caterpillar grips a leaf with its rear legs while a silken thread supports the head as it hangs upside-down. Half-a-dozen parasitic wasp cocoons dangle from the back of the caterpillar. A crane fly with banded brown/tan banded legs and a yellow abdomen dangles from the leaf of a forest plant. Pseudoscorpions are attached near a joint on one meso- and one metathorasic leg. They use the fly to harmlessly carry them over the landscape (this phenomenon is called Phoresy).
August 25, 2025 at 3:10 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
Singularly fantastic & uncommon #arachnid. #Orsima ichneumon, the kaleidoscope #ant #mimic #spider #Salticidae, is found in SE Asia. This female was shadowing an ant while patrolling a leaf @ Trus Madi Jungle Girl Entomology Camp. #Sabah #Borneo. It has fewer than 50 records at #iNaturalist
Stout-bodied multicolored jumping spider with an abdominal constriction and elongate spinnerets that resemble the head and thorax of an ant or wasp. It rests on a green leaf surface marked with some silk this individual was spreading the surface. Stout-bodied multicolored jumping spider staring up and to the left of the viewer exposing ruby-red chelicerae. This species has an abdominal constriction and elongate spinnerets that resemble the head and thorax of an ant or wasp. It rests near the edge of a green leaf surface. Stout-bodied multicolored jumping spider with an abdominal constriction and elongate spinnerets that resemble the head and thorax of an ant or wasp. It rests on a green leaf surface next to a bright red leaf vein.
August 20, 2025 at 12:04 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
"Move along. Nothing to see here. Just a leaf." Checkered-fringe #prominent #caterpillars (#Schizura unicornis, Family #Notodontidae) tuck themselves into the gaps they create while feeding to disguise interrupted leaf outlines that might give them away to a predator.
August 19, 2025 at 3:37 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
If you have Paw Paw trees, it's likely a good time to see caterpillars of the Pawpaw Sphinx Moth - Dolba hyloeus. I saw ≥30 at various developmental stages last night (8/15) in an east-central Illinois forest. Two weeks ago they were only 1/2 as abundant.
Green caterpillar bearing six diagonal white and dark stripes, the final posterior strips seems to continue and culminate in a bluish-green "horn". The caterpillar is hanging from the underside of a Paw Paw leaf.
August 18, 2025 at 12:58 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
“Don’t go far!” Tiny, newly-emerged nymphs of the green stinkbug (Acrosternum hilare) congregate next to their eggs. They will soon disperse and begin to feed. There are 5 immature stages before becoming winged adults.
Newly-emerged orange and black stink bugs clustered tightly together next to their empty barrel-shaped, white eggs on a green leaf.
August 18, 2025 at 12:54 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
#Predator & Emperor of my garden, #Arilus cristatus, the wheel bug (Family #Reduviidae), prowls the vegetation looking for a meal!
Large gray wheel bug perched on a goldenrod stem with its red antennae extended outward to the left. A cog-like extension rises from thorax, this wheel is the source of the common name.
August 12, 2025 at 2:55 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
#Spider #mating or a midnight snack? There's both a male & a female orbweaver (perhaps #Neoscona crucifera) in there. I think it's more #marriage than mealtime mayhem as they were suspended from a single silken strand.
Male and female orbweaver spiders with brown/orange bodies covered with a fringe of spiky hairs embrace while hanging from a single silken strand against a dark background.
August 12, 2025 at 2:37 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
A dark morph of the #tiger #swallowtail, #Papilio #glaucus, was also nectaring on whorled #milkweed. I snapped photos of the top & underside of the wings.

[Champaign County, Illinois, USA. 9 August 2025]
August 11, 2025 at 3:04 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
Coming in for a landing! Black #swallowtail #butterflies, #Papilio #polyxenes, approaching & landing to nectar on whorled #milkweed, #Asclepias verticillate, in central #Illinois, #USA
Butterfly in flight above whorled milkweed plants with black forewings marked on the underside with one row each of yellow triangles and circles near the trailing wing margin. The hind wing also bears two parallel rows of yellow marks, but with intervening blue polygons and conspicuious tails. The body is also black with yellow spots along the side of the abdomen. Butterfly in flight approaching a whorled milkweed plant in bloom with black forewings marked on the underside with one row each of yellow triangles and circles near the trailing wing margin. The hind wing also bears two parallel rows of yellow marks, but with intervening blue polygons and conspicuious tails. The body is also black with yellow spots along the side of the abdomen. Butterfly in flight just before contacting a whorled milkweed plant with black forewings marked on the underside with one row each of yellow triangles and circles near the trailing wing margin. The hind wing also bears two parallel rows of yellow marks, but with intervening blue polygons and conspicuious tails. The body is also black with yellow spots along the side of the abdomen. Butterfly resting on a whorled milkweed plant with black forewings marked on the underside with one row each of yellow triangles and circles near the trailing wing margin. The hind wing also bears two parallel rows of yellow marks, but with intervening blue polygons and conspicuious tails. The body is also black with yellow spots along the side of the abdomen.
August 11, 2025 at 2:47 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
In the last fews days, my yard & the east-central Illinois area has been invaded by 100's of Hypena scabra, green cloverworm moths. They primarily feed on legumes including clover, alfalfa, soybeans, & garden beans. I suspect they're splatting my car when I drive through the area in the evening.
Brownish-orange moth with bulging dark-ruby colored eyes and prominent scaly legs resting vertically on the leaf of a goldenrod plant against a dark background.
August 9, 2025 at 9:20 PM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
These boy bees are catching ZZZs! Melissodes bimaculata is in the same family as the honeybee, Apidae. The males roost together overnight on vegetation, while females stay in their individual nest holes in the ground.
August 4, 2025 at 3:55 AM
talkingrootworm.bsky.social
Dinner for two! A pair of #Podisus stink bugs sharing a Virginia #ctenucha (Ctenucha virginica) is my favorite stink #bug #predation image. This gristly tableau yielded a number of photos because the evenly-matched bugs were doing a little “tug-of-war” over their shared #moth feast.
A pair of brown-and-tan speckledPodisus stink bugs simultaneously feeding on the same Virginia #ctenucha (Ctenucha virginica) moth near the edge of a green leaf.
July 23, 2025 at 2:28 AM