diff --git a/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/java-lang/src/main/java/datadog/trace/instrumentation/java/lang/ProcessImplStartAdvice.java b/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/java-lang/src/main/java/datadog/trace/instrumentation/java/lang/ProcessImplStartAdvice.java
index e08f01e53eb..b70ef1fbb4d 100644
--- a/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/java-lang/src/main/java/datadog/trace/instrumentation/java/lang/ProcessImplStartAdvice.java
+++ b/dd-java-agent/instrumentation/java-lang/src/main/java/datadog/trace/instrumentation/java/lang/ProcessImplStartAdvice.java
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package datadog.trace.instrumentation.java.lang;
 
+import static datadog.trace.util.AgentThreadFactory.AGENT_THREAD_GROUP;
+
 import datadog.trace.bootstrap.instrumentation.api.AgentSpan;
 import datadog.trace.bootstrap.instrumentation.api.AgentTracer;
 import datadog.trace.bootstrap.instrumentation.api.TagContext;
@@ -19,6 +21,11 @@ public static AgentSpan startSpan(@Advice.Argument(0) final String[] command) th
       return null;
     }
 
+    // Don't create spans for agent threads
+    if (AGENT_THREAD_GROUP.equals(Thread.currentThread().getThreadGroup())) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
     AgentTracer.TracerAPI tracer = AgentTracer.get();
 
     Map<String, String> tags = ProcessImplInstrumentationHelpers.createTags(command);