Instagram story viewer> @jackthropod> Posts

Jack Forrester

@jackthropod

225

posts

17.4K

followers

2580

following

New England based macrophotographer
Entomologist and educator with @the_caterpillar_lab 🐛
Dabbling zygaenoidologist

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

Meet The Caterpillar Lab Team - Jack 🐛⚡️  This week, members of @the_caterpillar_lab staff will be taking over to introduce ourselves and some of our personal favorite caterpillars!  Here to kick things off - my name is Jack! In addition to educating at most of our caterpillar outreach programs, I manage our research collections and public open hours at the lab. Outside of work, I’m an avid macrophotographer!

When I first started as a summer intern at the lab, I didn’t know much about caterpillars - but I quickly fell in love with the lab’s educational mission to share these utterly extraordinary animals with the world. Four years later, it’s still the job of my dreams… and some might even say I know a thing or two about caterpillars now.
 If my time at The Caterpillar Lab has taught me one thing about myself, its that I’m a sucker for slug caterpillars - and so I’m shamelessly taking this chance to (yet again) champion my favorite caterpillar of all time, Monema flavescens aka the denki mushi 🐛⚡️
 You can read more about the story of this elusive non-native slug caterpillar in New England on my page - but for now, I hope you enjoy some of my favorite images and microscope videos that I’ve captured of this fascinating species over the past year!  Stay tuned throughout the week to meet the rest of our incredible staff of caterpillar experts… and more caterpillars! 🐛 by @jackthropod

3k

91

5 months ago

10k followers! 🤯🎉

For the occasion, here is something I’ve never done in the four years since I started this account - an introduction post:

My name is Jack Forrester, and I’m a 24 year old, self-taught macrophotographer from New England.

About four years ago, I overcame a life-long phobia of insects when I stumbled across the world of macrophotography. I was so encapsulated by the beauty of these animals up close, that in almost an instant, my fear and misunderstanding of them transformed into utter fascination. Immediately, I felt compelled to pick up macrophotography for myself.

Since that transformative moment in my life, I’ve learned a LOT about photography, and it has consistently been one of the most important parts of my life.

I graduated from Brandeis University two years ago with a degree in Neurobiology, but my newfound interest in inverts shifted my studies towards ecology and conservation. In my junior year, my favorite professor @science_hitch forwarded me a call for interns from Sam Jaffe, the director of a wonderfully odd non-profit organization in New Hampshire.

For the past three years now, I’ve been working what I can only describe as my dream job as an educator at said non-profit, @the_caterpillar_lab 🐛🔬 an organization dedicated to sharing the incredible diversity of native New England caterpillars with the world. My full-time job is getting to work hands on with thousands of these incredible insects, and then share my passion and knowledge with the public!

My time at the lab has lead to countless invaluable experiences - endless unbelievable macrophoto ops, field work discovering rare and undescribed species, and constant interactions with brilliant entomologists. Just yesterday, I got to present my most exciting find, New England’s rare denki mushi slug caterpillar (featured in at least two of these photos), with an entomology lab visiting from Harvard!

Thank you to everyone who has supported my photography and general oddness over the years, and to all my new followers as well. I really am so endlessly grateful for this community, and for all incredible people I’ve met thanks to macrophotography 🙌🫶 taken in New England by @jackthropod

599

131

a year ago

The Tale of the Denki Mushi

The little-known story of Boston’s forgotten slug caterpillar, Monema flavescens. It begins in 1906, when the unique cocoons of the denki mushi were first spotted on ornamental trees in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Denki mushi means “electric bug” in Japanese, a common name owed to the venomous spines of this vibrant slug caterpillar, which is native and relatively common across much of eastern Asia. It likely made its voyage to the US in the early 1900s as stowaway cocoons on trees imported to plant nurseries around Boston.

With no native predators willing to take on the electric bug, it established itself as an abundant defoliating pest on a wide variety of (mostly ornamental) trees, albeit in a very restricted range around Boston. In 1930, the USDA intervened by introducing a parasitoid tachinid fly to control the denki mushi. Unlike most biocontrol attempts during the early 1900s, this introduction was a success - so successful infact, that the species was practically wiped off the map, and the story of the denki mushi was all but forgotten about for nearly 100 years.

In 2018, the denki mushi quietly showed its face again - on an island in the Boston Harbor, an @inaturalistorg observation was made of the seemingly long lost slug caterpillar. About a year later, a young entomologist, Luke Aengenheyster, discovered a denki mushi caterpillar around Ipswich, Massachusetts. Luke shared his exciting discovery with the @the_caterpillar_lab and helped the director of the lab, Sam Jaffe, bring the story of this once invasive, now rare slug caterpillar back into the light.

In 2023, it was my second summer working for @the_caterpillar_lab when Sam Jaffe regaled the story of the denki mushi to me. Being that it had rarely been seen since Luke’s discovery in 2019, Sam challenged me to find the denki mushi once more - a quest that felt fitting given that most of the limited sightings had been around my hometown of Ipswich.

⚡️🐛 Story continues in comments 🐛⚡️ by @jackthropod

2k

123

a year ago

Madagascan sharpshooters (Madranga segnita)

Could hardly believe my eyes when I saw how vibrant these colorful little leafhoppers were. It was a good day for Hemipterans in the rainforests of Madagascar 🇲🇬

I’ve thrown in two images of some other colorful sharpshooters we encountered on the same day, IDs unknown (to me). @eduardflorinnigaphotography and I were particularly enamored with the unique blues of the species in the third image.

~•~

Sony a6700
Laowa 65mm macro lens
Godox V1 speedlite flash w/ #cygnustechdiffuser taken in Analamazaotra National Park by @jackthropod

333

55

10 days ago

Madagascan bark spider (Caerostris extrusa)

If I’m being honest, spiders haven’t always been amongst my top subjects to shoot. Not that I don’t love them, I’ve just never been overly drawn to them in my own macro work… in the past. The spiders I was fortunate enough to witness and photograph in Madagascar have given me a new appreciation to say the least.

It helped that my adventures in Madagascar were spent alongside a true spider connoisseur, @roythedivebro - every spider we encountered (and we encountered a lot) was made all the more thrilling by Roy’s knowledge and contagious excitement. It was an absolute honor trading wisdom of caterpillars and spiders my friend 🐛🤝🕷️

This golf ball sized orbweaver was floating over our heads during a day hike through the Analamazaotra rainforest. I managed to capture a couple focus stacks against the Malagasy clouds to create the stark white background in these images.

~•~

Sony a6700
Laowa 65mm macro lens
Godox V1 speedlite flash w/ #cygnustechdiffuser taken in Analamazaotra National Park by @jackthropod

223

53

17 days ago

Lavender sphinx moth (Batocnema coquerelii)

This beautiful endemic sphinx moth of Madagascar was a spectacular surprise during our second night of mothlighting at the @mantadialodge in Andasibe 🇲🇬

Even during the dry season, my (makeshift) mothlight brought in such a spectacular myriad of Madagascan insects that it was quite difficult to know when to call it quits and get some must needed rest after a long day of running after lemurs in the jungle. Luckily, a Malagasy toe-biter the size of my face showed up around midnight, and quickly proceeded to aggressively fly at my face - that was my cue for bedtime 😴

The last couple months have been some of the busiest of my entire life, so yet again, I apologize for my lack of activity here. I just returned from Pittsburgh, where I attended the Lepidopterists’ Society annual meeting and presented my lecture on the curious case of Monema flavescens in New England - aka the tale of the denki mushi 🏺🐛⚡️

I had the privilege of connecting with some truly incredible researchers (and fellow enthusiasts) of Limacodidae, but such slug caterpillar networking comes at a cost. In this case, a brutal cold that I contracted at LepSoc - so in my sniffly misery today I’ve found some time to finally edit some more images from Madagascar 🤧✌️

~•~

Sony a6700
Laowa 65mm macro lens
Godox V1 speedlite flash w/ #cygnustechdiffuser taken in Madagascar by @jackthropod

699

51

25 days ago

Come all, hear the tale of the denki mushi! 🐛⚡️

This Monday, June 15th - hear all about the quest to track down New England’s most elusive slug caterpillar from Jack Forrester @jackthropod of The Caterpillar Lab.

This FREE lecture hosted by @swampscottconservancy will highlight the bizarre beauty of slug caterpillars, macrophotography, citizen science - and even live caterpillars to meet up close!

Find all the details for this in-person talk in the final slide, and register for free online! It’s gonna be electric 😎🐛⚡️ by @jackthropod

1k

31

a month ago

Madagascan stink bug (Halyini tribe)

Stink bugs are some of the most beautiful insects in my opinion, so seeing this absolute jewel of one during our first day hike in the Analamazaotra rainforest of Madagascar was an early highlight of the whole trip.

I’ll never forget the day I was accidentally introduced to macrophotography after stumbling across an image by @explorewithdara featuring a stink bug adorned in the most exquisite blues and golds. At the time, about five years ago now, I had quite a bad phobia of insects, but seeing the otherworldly patterns and regal colors of that stink bug through Dara’s lens opened my eyes to the utter beauty of the insect world that I allowed my misplaced fears to obscure.

All these years later, getting to journey to my dream destination of Madagsacar, and then seeing this glorious stink bug in the rainforest - it brought me right back to that same revelatory experience that dissolved my fear into pure fascination.

The final image is of stunning little stink bug nymph I found nearby. No idea if they’re the same species, but they had a similar glistening aura. Thanks to @inaturalistorg I was able to narrow these stink bugs down to the tribe Halyini - although a quick online search revealed that this tribe is basically a “dumping ground” for miscellaneous spp… so who knows wtf these guys are. I’ll just stick Madagascan in front 😎🇲🇬

~•~

Sony a6700
Laowa 65mm macro lens
Godox V1 speedlite flash w/ #cygnustechdiffuser taken in Analamazaotra National Park by @jackthropod

1k

77

2 months ago

Madagascan ichneumon wasp (Xanthopimpla sp.)

A stunning parasitoid wasp we stumbled across right at the end of our first night expedition in the rainforests of Madagascar. Such exquisite colors and satisfying symmetry in its stained glass wings.

From what I can find online, Xanthopimpla spp. wasps are predominantly parasitoids of Lepidoptera pupae. From what else I can find online, Xanthopimp would make for a pretty sweet username 😎

My work as an educator for The Caterpillar Lab ramps up quite dramatically as we move into the summer, and so I’ve been struggling to find time to edit/upload as much as I’d like to. This wasp, and the scorpion I posted last week, were both found within maybe the first ~2hrs of truly exploring the Madagascan wilderness - so needless to say there is a lot more I’m itching to share once I get my Lightroom work ethic in order 😇

~•~

Sony a6700
Laowa 65mm macro lens
Godox V1 speedlite flash w/ #cygnustechdiffuser taken in Analamazaotra National Park by @jackthropod

958

84

2 months ago

Madagascan arrowbreasted scorpion (Tityobuthus sp.)

It’s been difficult to decide on a first subject to feature from my time in Madagascar, but this gorgeous little scorpion stood out to me as I was working on uploading some of my earliest images to @inaturalistorg yesterday.

These focus stacked images feature two scorpions that @eduardflorinnigaphotography @roythedivebro and I saw during our first night hike in the Analamazaotra rainforest with our incredible local guide, Lalaina. Quite small things, hardly larger than my thumbnail!

For whatever reason, endemic Madagascan scorpions weren’t really on my radar as far was what I was expecting to see, so spotting these two tiny beauties with my trusty @the_caterpillar_lab UV flashlight was quite the surprise. Made me realize that I’ve never actually seen a scorpion in the wild before. They really do glow quite brilliantly blue under UV light 🦂🩵

Still trying to process how utterly incredible my entire experience in Madagascar was. Lots more shots to come. 🇲🇬❤️

~•~

Sony a6700
Laowa 65mm macro lens
Godox V1 speedlite flash w/ #cygnustechdiffuser taken in Analamazaotra National Park by @jackthropod

653

95

2 months ago

Limacodidae fo today

In just a few moments, I’ll be boarding my flight from Paris to Antananarivo, Madagascar. I’ve transmuted my sleep deprivation into this series in hopes that it will signal my arrival to the endemic slug caterpillars of the island 🌞🇲🇬

The Limacodidae observations I’ve seen across Madagascar on @inaturalistorg are just astonishing, and I’d be over the moon to get to photograph literally any of them. Please send your most powerful slug wishes my way 🙂‍↕️🤞

This is probably it from me for a little while until I return, but I’ll do my best to update you all with the adventures of @eduardflorinnigaphotography @roythedivebro and myself on my story. This is a trip I’ve dreamt of ever since I did a project on the fossa in third grade 😎

also two gajillion ariary to anyone that can name every species here 💳

~•~

Sony a6700
Laowa 65mm macro lens
Godox V1 speedlite flash w/ #cygnustechdiffuser taken in New England by @jackthropod

477

46

3 months ago

Packard’s white slug moth (Alarodia slossoniae)

The blue slug caterpillar hath emerged as a white moth. Here it is sat atop the very same calcium-fortified cocoon you may have watched it build in my recent video.

The final image is of its cocoon, popped open perfectly like a little cookie jar in typical Limacodidae fashion, with the empty pupa skin popping out. Despite my delusions, I was unable to capture the moment of emergence on video - so I hope these focus stacked images of the adult suffice 😅

I apologize for my general lack of activity on here the past month, it’s been a very busy last few weeks to say the least. We just finished moving the entirety of @the_caterpillar_lab into our new building, and on top of that, I’m shipping off to Madagascar for the macro expedition of a lifetime exactly a week from now 🇲🇬📸🐛 lots of exciting stuff, and I’m only slightly overwhelmed by it all 😎

~•~

Sony a6700
Laowa 65mm macro lens
Godox V1 speedlite flash w/ #cygnustechdiffuser taken in The Caterpillar Lab by @jackthropod

677

64

3 months ago