Dennis has had a lifelong interest in insects. First collecting them when eight or nine, later photographing them.
My interest in insect behavior led me to video, 3-D video and high-speed video.
My interest in becoming a Wikimedia editor is to add video clips to existing pages illustrating that insect's behavior.
I have added video to the following pages:
Tipuloidea Craneflies
Mating craneflies. The light brown one with bipectinate
antenna is male
Asilidae Robberflies
A robber fly with a
honey bee . Includes slow motion.
Dolichopodidae long-legged flies
Long-legged fly mating behavior.
Lucilia sericata Greenbottle flies
Greenbottle flies on dead
vole .
green bottle flies on
rabbit
carrion ; day two and three.
green bottle fly larvae on
rabbit
carrion ; day two and three.
green bottle fly larvae leaving
rabbit
carrion to pupate. Some encounter
parasitoid wasps and
ants . One segment is played at eight times speed.
genus
Rivellia . Signal Flies
Signal flies of genus
Rivellia mating.
squash bug with
Tachinid fly eggs attached and a
feather-legged tachinid fly, probably
Trichopoda pennipes , quickly depositing another egg on it.
Coleoptera (Beetles)
Tiger beetles
Tiger beetle larvae repairing its shaft
Tiger beetle larvae attempting to catch prey
Six-spotted tiger beetle adults including a pair
Labidomera clivicollis Milkweed leaf beetle
Larva eating
horsenettle leaves and stems. Notice the embedded leaf prickles that extend through the leaf that the larvae avoid while chewing. Last shows beetles internals through transparent exoskeleton.
Milkweed leaf beetle adult on
milkweed
Tetraopes tetrophthalmus The red milkweed beetle
Mating red milkweed beetles on
milkweed .
Mating
milkweed beetles on
common milkweed . The beetle vibrates when it is making a warning noise.
A red milkweed beetle cutting
milkweed vein to reduce/stop latex pressure before feeding beyond the cut.
Necrophila americana American carrion beetle
American carrion beetles on a dead
vole .
Epicauta funebris margined blister beetle
Female
margined blister beetle pursued by multiple males.
Family
Cerambycidae -- Longhorn Beetles, genus
Stictoleptura
Stictoleptura rubra
Apparently when this
Stictoleptura rubra beetle emerged from its pupa, its wings didn’t fully expand before they hardened, making flight impossible.
Cucumber Beetle
Diabrotica undecimpunctata on
goldenrod .
Family
Staphylinidae Rove Beetles
Hairy rove beetles (
Creophilus maxillosus ) at four days and larva at seven days under
rabbit
carrion .
Lebia tricolor , genus
Legia , in the family of
ground beetles , searching for prey.
Mating
tumbling flower beetles in a
morning glory flower.
Tumbling flower beetles on a
daisy
A
wrinkled solder beetle flies into an
aphid colony, eating an aphid before being chased away by the ants. ]]
Hymenoptera (Bees, Wasps and Ants)
Various
bees visit a
morning glory flower. A
Tumbling flower beetle remains in the flower with a bee visitor.
Polistinae Paper Wasp plusAdditional description.
Single paper wasp foundress establishes her nest, adding cells, renewing repellent on the pedicle. She has already laid eggs in several of the incomplete cells and continually checks the nest and cells.
Foundress' nest raided by a rat, beetle or other predator. Nest was previously photographed eleven days earlier when there were five eggs. If the foundress survived, she would start a new nest at a different location
Worker adding additional matrial to expand nest
Queen replacing an egg that was either not viable or laid by a worker
Masticated caterpillar portion brought to nest and fed to the larvae
Water is brought to the nest for the larvae
Wasps fanning the nest with their wings to provide breeze/cooling
Wasps bring water to place in nest to provide cooling by evaporation
Paper wasps disturbed by hits to their nest support.
Potter wasp
End of season: Male wasps mature and leave, nest shuts down leaving nest empty.
Potter wasp forming a mud ball.
Four-toothed mason wasps
nectaring on
Canadian thistle
A
gold-marked thread-waisted wasp in family
Sphecidae flying near blooming
yellow ironweed .
Yellowjacket wasps
Yellowjacket wasps can be very aggressive if disturbed. Here the ground was pounded next to their nest—with sound.
Yellowjacket wasps using a stone as a landmark to
navigate to their nest entrance. When the stone moved, they continued for a time to return orienting with the stone.
Yellowjacket response when a leaf blocks their entrance--with sound.
Very late in season, nearly every morning is too cold for the yellowjackets to forage. In another several weeks all are dead—except the new queens sheltering somewhere else.
Yellow jacket wasp catches
green bottle fly to feed its larvae, followed by the final catch in slow motion.
rabbit
carrion is four days old.
Sphex digger wasp
nectaring on
Queen Anne's Lace ; replayed at one tenth speed.
Parasitized white cabbage larvae showing wasp larvae exiting its body, spinning cocoons. Playback at double speed. Adult wasps at normal speed.
Bombus Bumlebees
Bumblebees can be active in cooler and less favorable weather than most other flying insects. Here it is cool and raining (with audio)
Honey bee hive entrance with audio. The last part is at one fourth speed
Family
Formicidae Ants
Bold Jumping Spider (
Phidippus audax ) with a cutworm (tribe
Noctuini ) and then lost to ants (Family
Formicidae )
ants from different colonies
steal the
cranefly that a pair of
silverr long-jawed orb weaver spiders were consuming.
Ants find a dying
white cabbage larvae that
parasitoid wasps larvae exited two days earlier.
Ants
nectaring on
dandelion .
Ants collecting
honeydew from Calico scales (
Eulecanium cerasorum then played at 30 times speed to show the pumping action of the scale.
Ants tending
aphids and collecting
honeydew secreted. A
wrinkled solder beetle flies in and eats an aphid before being chased away by the ants.
Hemiptera (True Bugs, including Aphids, Cicadas, Leafhoppers and Planthoppers)
Arilus cristatus North American wheel bug
American wheel bug attempts capture of
spotted cucumber beetle and captures and rejects an
ambush bug
North American wheel bug
grooming
Sinea diadema The spined assasssin bug
Adult spined assassin bug on goldenrod
Phymatinae Ambush bug
Adult Phymata sp. attempting its lie in wait technique to ambush a
syrphid fly (
Orthonevra nitida ) and a
Halictus bee
Adult Phymata sp. catches a
Halictus bee.
Adult Phymata sp. catches a much larger
honey bee .
Ambush bugs attempting mating.
Fieberiella florii nymph
leafhopper
Fieberiella florii nymph leafhopper
Jikradia olitoria
leafhopper
Jikradia olitoria
leahopper nymph on
sweet corn leaf (nearly eight millimeters long)
Green coneheaded planthoppers,
Acanalonia conica in the infraorder
Fulgoromorpha , on the underside of a
milkweed leaf.
Planthopper
nymphs , belong to subaorder
Auchenorrhyncha along with the other hoppers, on
coneflower stem. Includes a slow motion segment
Froghopper
Nymph (usually called a spittlebug) reforming its protective bubble covering.
Cicadidae Annual cicadas
Annual Cicada adult male singing (with audio)
genus
Magicicada Periodical cicada
Adult cicada and female creating a slit in twig and inserting eggs. The sounds of thousands of cicadas.
Emergence! Nearly all at once. Many do not survive, but with mass emergence, many will reach maturity to start the next generation.
Acanthocephala terminalis
Acanthocephala terminalis on
milkweed
Insects live in a world of motion. This
leaf-footed bug climbs wind blown grass and flies off.
Two
leaf-footed bugs interact.
A female
leaf-footed bug , family Coreidae and tribe
Acanthocephalini , deposits an egg before flying off.
squash bugs
squash bugs including a
Sphecidae wasp investigating them and a
feather-legged tachinid fly quickly depositing another egg on one of them.
A
Sphecidae wasp, probably
Sceliphron caementarium , investigates two
squash bugs , but doesn’t attempt capture to provision its nest.
Mating pair of
squash bugs .
Ants collecting
honeydew from Calico scales (
Eulecanium cerasorum then played at 30 times speed to show the pumping action of the scale.
Ants tending
aphids and collecting
honeydew secreted. A
wrinkled solder beetle flies in and eats an aphid before being chased away by the ants.
Oncopeltus fasciatus , The large milkweed bug in the family
Oncopeltus
Large milkweed bug
flying , repeated at one fifteenth speed.
Large milkweed bug molting from third to fourth instar. Scenes of the molting followed by the entire molt at fifteen times speed. Last is superposition before to just after molt showing the increased size already.
Early instar large milkweed bugs on
milkweed late in the season.
Late instar and adult large milkweed bugs on
milkweed late in the season.
A
brown marmorated stink bug uses its
stylet to pierce a
sweet corn stock, inject enzymes and suck in partially digested sap.
genus
Podisus
Spined soldier bug eggs and then the recently hatched first instar bugs
Helmeted squash bug late instar nymph.
Family
Gerridae Water Striders
Water striders
Butterfly Life Cycle in Video (
Pieris rapae , the common cabbage white)
Gallery
Cabbage white emerging from egg and starting to eat broccoli leaf.
Second instar larvae eating. Speeded up 50 times to illustrate feeding behavior. Nearly transparent body shows internal digestion.
Second instar larvae sheds skin in under 20 minutes.
Cabbage white larvae eating remainder of a
broccoli leaf. Six hours speeded up one hundred times.
Segments of the last two hours of the
Cabbage white larvae shedding its 4th instar skin. It started a few hours earlier. The integument has already pulled away from its head capsule as this video starts.
Fifth instar
white cabbage larvae walking on broccoli stem and on glass, showing it laying down silk it then walks on.
Parasitized white cabbage larvae showing wasp larvae exiting its body, spinning cocoons. Playback at double speed. Adult wasps at normal speed.
White cabbage larvae shedding skin, becoming a chrysalis. Recorded over fifteen hours. Closeups at two times speed. Other clips at ten times speed.
Cabbage white emerging from chrysalis into an adult.
White cabbage butterflies flying. Later clips in slow motion.
Male cabbage white (
Pieris rapae ) butterflies
mud-puddling
White Cabbage Butterflies depositing eggs under broccoli leaves. Each repeated in slow motion.
Hemaris diffinis the snowberry clearwing
Hemaris diffinis is a excellent bumblebee mimic.
Family
Pterophoridae Subfamily
Pterophorinae
Geina buscki Bucks Plume
Bucks Plume avoids a
crab spider
Family
Nymphalidae
Monarch Butterfly
Danaus plexippus
Adult Monarch butterflies Flying and sipping
nectar
Monarch caterpillars eating
milkweed leaves
1) Fourth-instar Monarch larvae killed and being consumed by a stink (shield) bug. 2) Mature fifth_instar larvae jerks to dislodge a large milkweed bug (a herbivore). 3) Fourth-instar arvae killed by insect parasitoids, non-insect parasites or a pathogen.
Geometridae Inchworms
Locomotion of a looper
Synchlora aerata Wavy-lined emerald moth
The camouflage not only hides it visually but masks it from the chemical sensors on this crab spider's front legs.
Wavy-lined emerald moth is an inchworm. It defensively bumps insects that get too close to it.
The milkweed tiger moth larvae (23 mm long) consuming
common milkweed .
Noctuidae owlet moths
Cucullia asteroides Asteroid Caterpillar
Asteroid larvae on
goldenrod
Cross-striped cabbageworm larvae on the underside of a
broccoli leaf. Larvae spinning silk readying to pupate. Lump of tan silk is cocoons of numerous parasitic wasps that parasitized that larvae. Later they emerge as adults.
Zebra Longwings
nectering
Skipper
nectaring
Several
peck's skippers on blossoms, including slow motion.
Black swallowtail
nectaring
Spilosoma virginica Yellow Bear
Yellow bear on
milkweed .
Pyrrharctia isabella Wooly Bear
Pyrrharctia isabella Wooly Bear.
European corn borer (
Ostrinia nubilalis )
nectaring .
A
buckeye butterfly flitting from bloom to bloom
nectaring .
Orthoptera (Grasshoppers, crickets and katydids)
Oecanthus nigricornis the Black-horned tree cricket
Black-horned tree cricket bats away a hover bee (could have been a parasite or predator) with its antenna (replayed in slow speed). Later a cricket sings.
Gryllus Field Cricket
This female field cricket was seen in Ohio in September.
Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies)
Zygoptera Damselflies
Western forktail damselfly attempting on-the-fly catches. Each repeated in slow motion. The second prey landed, escaping capture. Finally closeup devouring medium sized fly.
Western forktail damselflies interacting.
Common blue damselfly , genus
Enallagma , family
Coenagrionidae
Anisoptera Dragonflies
Dragonfly returns to same perch each time it darts out to catch very small flying prey.
Dragonflies over a pond (including female inserting eggs below the water surface.
Order
Mantodea Preying Mantases
Camouflage and
Motion camouflage
Preying mantises exhibiting motion camouflage
A female Chinese mantis (
Tenodera sinensis ) catches and consumes a smaller immature preying mantis.
Praying mantis nymphs emerging from their ootheca.
Preying mantises exhibiting motion camouflage
Praying mantis (Tenodera sinensis) catches and eats an adult grasshopper
Genus
Phidippus
Bold Jumping Spider (
Phidippus audax ) with a cutworm (tribe
Noctuini ) and then lost to ants (Family
Formicidae )
Thomisidae Crab Spiders
Crab spider on Queen Ann’s lace
Crab spider jumps with safety line, on
yellow ironweed . Repeated at variable slow motion to better see silk line. Spider probably
Misumessus oblongus .
Castianeira longipalpa Ant mimic spider
Two ants and a Castianeira longipalpa investigate a tiger beetle larvae shaft just after the beetle larvae pulled an ant down to consume. Part repeated at one tenth speed.
Thomisidae Crab Spiders
Crab spider on Queen Ann’s lace
Castianeira longipalpa Ant mimic spider
Two ants and a Castianeira longipalpa investigate a tiger beetle larvae shaft just after the beetle larvae pulled an ant down to consume. Part repeated at one tenth speed.
ants from different colonies
steal the
cranefly that a pair of
silver long-jawed orb weaver spiders were consuming.
Pair of
silverr long-jawed orb weaver spiders interacting, laying silk and lose the
cranefly they were consuming to
ants .
Diamorphic jumping spider in family
Salticidae on tree trunk.
Male and female
western lynx spiders . Female (6.5 millimeter body length) on leaf. Male on
clover and approached by a
Halictid bee. This species is in the
lynx spider family.
Female
western lynx spider with
ichneumon wasp prey. This species is in the
lynx spider family.
Western lynx spider jumping. At least one jump was triggered by a fast flying insect approaching. Jumps are replayed in slow motion, This species is in the
lynx spider family.
Mammals
Female
skunk with young
Others
Solanum carolinense horsenettle
Milkweed leaf beetle larvae consuming horsenettle. The leaves contain embedded leaf prickles that extend through the leaf protecting it from many herbivores.
Poecilochirus carnivorous mites
Poecilochirus mite on
American carrion beetle on dead
vole .
Carrion insects
Carrion insects on dead
vole , including
greenbottle flies ,
flesh fly ,
rove beetle ,
dermestes beetle and
American carrion beetle
Flying and gliding animals
Large milkweed bug
flying , repeated at one fifteenth speed.
American goldfinch eating
coneflower seeds and taking flight, including slow motion.
Milkweed seeds dispersed by the wind.
Field of
goldenrod in the
midwest .