We know: not all wing-fluttering, web-spinning, and creeping-crawling critters are “bugs.” But you can still celebrate springtime by reading about the littlest residents of the great outdoors.
595.7 DAN
Garden Bugs & Insects of the Midwest: Identify Pollinators, Pests, and Other Garden Visitors / Jaret C. Daniels
Simple and convenient, organized by group for quick and easy identification. Pocket-size format, easier than laminated folders. Expert author is an entomologist and nature photographer.
595.7 EIS
For Love of Insects / Thomas Eisner
Imagine beetles ejecting defensive sprays as hot as boiling water; female moths holding their mates for ransom; caterpillars disguising themselves as flowers by fastening petals to their bodies; termites emitting a viscous glue to rally fellow soldiers–and you will have entered an insect world once beyond imagining, a world observed and described down to its tiniest astonishing detail by Thomas Eisner. The story of a lifetime of such minute explorations, For Love of Insects celebrates the small creatures that have emerged triumphant on the planet, the beneficiaries of extraordinary evolutionary inventiveness and unparalleled reproductive capacity.
595.7 ENG
Natural Histories. Innumerable Insects: The Story of the Most Diverse and Myriad Animals On Earth / Michael S. Engel
A fascinating look at the world’s most numerous inhabitants, illustrated with stunning images from the American Museum of Natural History’s Rare Book Collection. To date, we have discovered and described or named around 1.1 million insect species, and thousands of new species are added to the ranks every year. It is estimated that there are around five million insect species on Earth, making them the most diverse lineage of all life by far. This magnificent volume from the American Museum of Natural History tells their incredible story. Noted entomologist Michael S. Engel explores insects’ evolution and diversity; metamorphosis; pests, parasites, and plagues; society and language; camouflage; and pollination-as well as tales of discovery by intrepid entomologists.
595.7 HIR
Meet the intelligent insects, marvelous minibeasts, and inspirational invertebrates that help shape our planet – and discover how you can help them help us by rebugging your attitude today! Remember when there were bugs on your windshield? Ever wonder where they went? We need to act now if we are to help the insects survive. Rebugging the Planet explains how we are headed toward “insectageddon” with a rate of insect extinction eight times faster than that of mammals or birds; and gives us crucial information to help all those essential creepy-crawlies flourish once more, including small changes we can make to have a big impact on our littlest allies.
595.7 MAR
500 Insects: A Visual Reference / S.A. Marshall
Insects account for more than half of the approximately 1.7 million named species of all living things. The number of insect species yet undiscovered runs into many further millions. Stephen Marshall has selected 500 of the most interesting insects from his travels to North and South America, the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, and beyond. Beautiful photographs show the insects in their natural habitats, and informative “fact files” provide further details about the lives of these fascinating creatures. Some of the insects are new species, photographed here for the first time. In addition to the entries for each of the species, there is an introduction on insect biology, classification and distribution, along with information on collecting and photographing insects.
595.7 NIC
Alien Worlds: How Insects Conquered the Earth & Why Their Fate Will Determine Our Future / Steve Nicholls
Life on Earth depends on the busy activities of insects, but global populations of these teeming creatures are currently under threat, with grave consequences for us all. Alien Worlds presents insects and other arthropods as you have never seen them before, explaining how they conquered the planet and why there are so many of them, and shedding light on the evolutionary marvels that enabled them to thrive. Blending glorious imagery with entertaining and informative science writing, this book takes you inside the hidden realm of insects and reveals why their fate carries profound implications for our own.
595.7 SVE
Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects / Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson
Most of us think life would be better without bugs. In fact, life would be impossible without them. Most of us know that we would not have honey without honeybees, but without the pinhead-sized chocolate midge, cocoa flowers would not pollinate. No cocoa, no chocolate. The ink that was used to write the Declaration of Independence was derived from galls on oak trees, which are induced by a small wasp. The fruit fly was essential to medical and biological research experiments that resulted in six Nobel prizes. Blowfly larva can clean difficult wounds; flour beetle larva can digest plastic; several species of insects have been essential to the development of antibiotics. Insects turn dead plants and animals into soil. They pollinate flowers, including crops that we depend on. They provide food for other animals, such as birds and bats. They control organisms that are harmful to humans. Life as we know it depends on these small creatures. With ecologist Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson as our capable, entertaining guide into the insect world, we’ll learn that there is more variety among insects than we can even imagine and the more you learn about insects, the more fascinating they become.
595.7022 SOS
Metamorphosis: Astonishing Insect Transformations / Rupert Soskin
Insects truly are the ugly ducklings of the natural world. How does something as beautiful as a butterfly begin life as little more than a fancy maggot? Or something as elegant and delicate as a lacewing hatch like a minuscule escapee from a horror movie? What are the circumstances that require a creature to transform from one body shape into another, a shape that is often so utterly different from the first that you would be forgiven for thinking they were completely unrelated organisms? This book illustrates some of the dramatic transformations insects undergo in their life cycles and explores why evolution has arrived at these remarkable solutions to survival. The aim of the book is to show remarkable transformations, most of which have never before been seen.
595.713 JAN
Bugs Up Close / Lars-Åke Janzon
Bugs are usually so small that we hardly notice them, let alone think of them as living beings. But call upon the magnifying glass, and a shapeless jumble of legs, wings, and antennae suddenly start staring back at us. About 80 percent of the Earth’s animals are insects. While there are millions of different species, we rarely see many of them . . . until now. Thanks to the photography of John Hallmén, who took a camera and magnified these magnificent creatures one hundred times, we can see what we’ve never been able to see before. Bugs Up Close takes readers on a journey into a world rarely seen, with incredible photographs of such insects as Crane flies, Yellow meadow ants, Black fungus beetles, Treehoppers, and many more!
595.7163 MEL
The Butterfly Effect: Insects and the Making of the Modern World / Edward D. Melillo
An insightful, entertaining dive into the fruitful, centuries-long relationship between humans and insects, revealing the fascinating and surprising array of ways humans depend on these minute, six-legged pests.
595.717 GOU
Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse / Dave Goulson
What will happen when the bugs are all gone? Goulson explores the intrinsic connection between climate change, nature, wildlife, and the shrinking biodiversity and analyzes the harmful impact for the earth and its inhabitants. Meanwhile we have all read stories about hive collapse syndrome affecting honeybee colonies and the tragic decline of monarch butterflies in North America, and more. But it is not too late to arrest this decline, and Silent Earth should be the clarion call. Smart, eye-opening, and essential, Silent Earth is a forceful call to action to save our world, and ultimately, ourselves.
595.76 EVA
An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles / Arthur V. Evans
An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles is an authoritative reference in a breathtakingly beautiful volume, one that will leave every reader with a deeper understanding, appreciation, and – yes – fondness for these amazing creatures and their place in nature. In terms of numbers, beetles are the most successful creatures on earth: about 350,000 species of beetles have been described since 1758. They range from tiny to gigantic, occupy sundry habitats, and eat everything–plants, animals, and their own remains. An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles provides an engaging look at these magnificent yet poorly understood creatures and highlights the absolutely essential role they play in the dynamics of nearly every terrestrial ecosystem on Earth.
595.7991 SEE
Honeybee Democracy / Thomas D. Seeley
Honeybees make decisions collectively – and democratically. Every year, faced with the life-or-death problem of choosing and traveling to a new home, honeybees stake everything on a process that includes collective fact-finding, vigorous debate, and consensus building. In fact, as world-renowned animal behaviorist Thomas Seeley reveals, these incredible insects have much to teach us when it comes to collective wisdom and effective decision making.
