Dennis.insect.filmer

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:

Diptera (Flies)

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.

Courtship behavior in long-legged flies.

Lucilia sericataGreenbottle 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.

Hoverfly, actual speed and slow motion captured at 2,000 frames a second.

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

• 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.

Northern corn rootworm

The northern corn rootworm adult feeding on thistle pollen.

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
• thumbtime=14Wrinkled solder beetle searching foliage

Gallery

• goldenrod soldier beetles foraging on yellow ironweed
• Mating goldenrod soldier beetles mating on yellow ironweed
• goldenrod soldier beetles taking flight from yellow ironweed, followed by slow motion (taken at 3,840 frames per second

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 Wasps.

• 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
• Water is brought to the nest for the larvae
• Masticated caterpillar portion brought to nest and fed to the larvae
• Wasps fanning the nest with their wings to provide breeze/cooling
• Queen replacing an egg that was either not viable or laid by a worker
• Wasps bring water to place in nest to provide cooling by evaporation
• Paper wasps disturbed by hits to their nest support.]]
• 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 are disturbed, but not enough to swarm around their nest entrance—with sound. The response is down to one wasp after seven minutes
• 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
• Yellowjacket wasp at fermentimg fruit harassed to leave by aggressive ant

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

Honeybee nectaring, actual speed and slow motion, captured at 2,000 frames a second.

Honeybees on yellow ironweed. Followed by segment at one tenth speed.

A pure green sweat bee foraging on yellow ironweed.

Image showing forked tongue of this A. pura.

Male Ceratina bee foraging on yellow ironweed.

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
• Large milkweed bug nymph feeding on milkweed before extracting its stylet, sheathing it again in its rostrum
• Late instar and adult large milkweed bugs on milkweed late in the season
• The banded orb weaving spider wraps up a large milkweed bug and subsequently cuts it from its web. This illustrates the protection the bug gained form feeding on milkweed

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

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

This wavy-lined emerald moth not only hides visually but is masked 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.

the silver-spotted skipper nectaring

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.

This Lepidoptera larvae disposes of its frass that might attract predators or parasites.

Crescent butterfly nectaring on yellow ironweed.

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.

Katydid nymph

Differential grasshopper grazing on yellow ironweed. A brief interaction with a paper wasp occurs.

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

• 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
• Praying mantis (Tenodera sinensis) catches and eats an adult grasshopper
• A chinese mantis catches a differential grasshopper

Order Arachnid -- Spiders

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

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.

Western Lynx spiders

• 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

A regal jumper staying near its shelter on a thistle. It attempts to capture a small winged insect.

The banded orb weaving spider wraps up a large milkweed bug and subsequently cuts it from its web. This illustrates the protection the bug gained form feeding on milkweed.

Mammals

Female skunk with young

Young skunk foraging in a backyard.

Squirrel retrieving and eating pumpkin seeds.

birds

This red-tailed hawk is an ambassador animal for the Ohio Wildlife Center.

This barn owl is an ambassador animal for the Ohio Wildlife Center.

This great horned owl is an ambassador animal for the Ohio Wildlife Center.

Turkey vultures coming in to the same roost they use for the season.

Perch Hunting. This perching hawk located, captured and returned with prey at sunset.

American goldfinch eating coneflower seeds and taking flight, including slow motion.

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

American goldfinch eating coneflower seeds and taking flight, including slow motion.

Milkweed seeds dispersed by the wind.

Field of goldenrod in the midwest.