Joliet Expeditions

Coelho met with others from the Big Bend expedition in Joliet, Illinois in August of 2005. The group studied a nesting aggregation of cicada killers numbering over 5000, which provided a unique opportunity to obtain reasonable sample sizes of relatively rare phenomena. Thermal biology, nest sharing and load carriage were examined.


Mobile Sphecius Research Group #42
left to right: Chuck Holliday, Meghan Swigart, Joe Coelho, Jon Hastings

The three men returned in early August of 2006. Being there earlier in the season allowed them to collect a lot of data on mating behavior. Furthermore, foraging data were collected on a small wasp called Tachytes chrysopyga.