From the Field

INHS vector ecologist Holly Tuten describes her work at "tick ground zero," investigating Heartland virus in Illinois ticks.

Kelly A. Estes serves as state survey coordinator of the Illinois Cooperative Agriculture Pest Survey (CAPS) with the Illinois Natural History Survey. Kelly recently answered a few questions regarding her work on agricultural pests.

Here are nine of Illinois' many skimmer dragonfly species. Skimmers have large eyes that meet in the center of the head, and many species have distinctive markings on their wings. Look for these beauties around the edges of still waters.

To kick off the school year, here are Illinois' common "punctuation" butterflies—the Question Mark, Comma, and Gray Comma. These butterflies have distinctive silver marks on the underside of their hindwings. Look for a crescent and dot on the Question Mark, a c-shaped mark on the Comma, and an L-shaped mark on the Gray Comma.

Swallowtails are the largest butterflies in Illinois. These beautiful insects are easily identified by their large size and hindwing tails, which are reminiscent of the forked tails of swallows. Swallowtails are welcome visitors to flower gardens—they are adept pollinators for a number of herbs, shrubs, and trees.

Illinois is home to a number of large moths known as imperial moths or silkmoths. These moths are mostly nocturnal insects of forests, so they're not observed as much as their relatives that are active during the day—butterflies and skippers. However, silkmoths can occasionally be spotted around lights in the evening. Here's a short video featuring nine of these nocturnal beauties.