(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best biology of insects & spiders books

There are various editions to this book, but it has a general overview of different insects with a good deal of pictures and a useful set of keys in the back: Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity by Stephen Marshall.

Sting of the Wild by Justin Schmidt, this is an interesting read by an entomologist that evaluates the intensity of stings of various insects, along with other interesting pieces of information. He also predates Coyote Peterson in this endeavor.

Infested by Brooke Borel is about bed bugs and was entertaining for me hearing about stories of what people have done in response to the presence of bed bugs and other anecdotes.

Also, consider doing a search or two on this sub, or via google but focused on reddit, for book recommendations as this has come up in the past, but I don't have a link handy for it unfortunately. Some other good things have been suggested before!

Enjoy!

Bioquip.com sells good collecting lights.

I use (the DC version that I have cut the end off and replaced with alligator clips and run it off a boat/car battery (I forget which but they have a handle attached for transport and use a trickle charger to recharge when not in use. If I'm using a generator In use the ac version)
https://www.bioquip.com/search/DispProduct.asp?pid=2805

If I'm using a generator this is my preferred light

https://www.bioquip.com/search/DispProduct.asp?pid=2819

For a sheet setup cheap $2.00 white bed sheets from Walmart work just fine. My quick go anywhere setup is two shepherd hooks (get ones that thick solid prongs with good welds or they will bent when going into hard ground)
https://www.homedepot.com/b/Outdoors-Garden-Center-Planters-Shepherds-Hooks/N-5yc1vZbx6t

Attach the sheet at all four corners so it won't flap in the wind. Then one laying on the ground in front of the upright sheet as many land on the ground and crawl up

To hold the light I use this tripod (or you can use another shepherd hook)
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005KP473Q?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

You will also want a mallet to help get the shepherd hooks in the ground and headlamps to see what has landed on the sheet.

If in North America this is the best Moth book (hands down/no question) and could make another awesome alternative present
https://smile.amazon.com/Moths-Western-North-America-Powell/dp/0520251970/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=opler.moths&qid=1558397719&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Those are among my favorite of families when it comes to collecting. I find them frequently and their variety compels me to gotta catch 'em all! I'm also a total geek and just enjoy reading field guides, haha. Something about the

I also just ordered this. I have a digital copy of it as well, and wow, it is one of the most awesome field guides ever put together for an entire subfamily (Cicindelidae used to be its own family). It also actually has photos of every species north of Mexico -- that's an incredible feat (granted, the scope is not as speciose as other groups)!

It seems like entomological circles are closely knit due to the relatively small size of the communities. I know that our knowledge of entire taxonomic groups may also come from just one expert, and if that expert goes away, everything we know of that group also goes away (except for whatever literature he has left behind).

Isn't Tettigoniidae also a complete mess and is constantly being rearranged? Probably nowhere as bad as Pyraloidea though lol.

It's strange, but I got really into it by reading a book. It really spoke to me and opened up a world to me I didn't really pay attention to.

http://www.amazon.com/Plan-Bee-Everything-Hardest-Working-Creatures/dp/0399534962

For a long time I was really interested in doing more eh....goal oriented things, but I realized that I am the kind of person that likes to keep things simple and comfortable. I'd rather relax and be with nature than try to work the corporate grind. I think bees are amazing creatures. The only thing I am worried about is that my mom is allergic to bee stings and i'v never been stung before. Hopefully I won't have a Little Miss Sunshine experience and realize halfway through realizing my dreams that I could die from a beesting and need to find something else to be passionate about.


Ah yes....and everybody should be nice to bees. I'v had to witness 2 bee killings this year by other people, which is a real shame because they are having a hard enough time as it is.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/10/1005_041005_honeybees.html

Stream insects will still be around, if you can get the kids to brave the cold water. Do you have access to a kick seine or a couple of D-nets through your university? I have probably fifty resources related to taking kids in creeks and poking around and looking at what comes out.

Also, get yourself a copy of this book because it is an awesome resource for off-season bug-hunting.

What part of the SE? Just curious. You may find that the litter layer is still pretty active in November, if you're in a warm enough area.

If you want a REALLY good entomology text I can't recommend enough 'An Introduction to the Study of Insects'. It is pretty much the bible for any entomology major in college. I'm pretty frugal, so I would suggest buying the 6th edition that is a generation old. It still has 99% correct info, with a few out of date taxonomic things such as Hempitera/Homoptera before they were combined. The new edition is $278 on Amazon the old edition is $10.

It has really good keys to US insect families, with good info on each. Any time I have to key out an insect at work I reach for this book. If you are serious about becoming an entomologist, this is the book for you.

http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Study-Insects-Donald-Borror/dp/0030253977/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1459051191&sr=8-2&keywords=triplehorn+insects

It's a great book. I can't think of any other that comes close to having as many images of regional insects, plus the text is well written. The one potential downside is that it's very large, so not good for taking in the field with you. However, I never take reference materials outside, with the exception of bird field guides. If you happen to be interested in flies Stephen Marshall recently came out with a massive and excellent book on them too. I don't own a copy yet, but a friend does and it is impressive.

For love of insects by Thomas Eisner is incredible, really interesting stories, beautiful photos and really good science

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Insects-Thomas-Eisner/dp/0674018273/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1382145973&sr=1-1&keywords=for+love+of+insects

The guy I bought my house from built those. He instead used sections of bamboo that he sealed on one end and glued together in blocks like that. He raised blue orchard bees. Apparently when it comes to pollination, they are about as good as honeybees and much easier to maintain. He was a bee researcher, and is partly the reason I decided to get into beekeeping.

Here's his book for some good reading on the subject

That is actually my textbook for a biology of arthropods course I am currently taking. It seems well-liked as a sort of general entomology book. I have been using the keys to families in it with some success for my collection.

I enjoyed reading “A World of Insects”, which I found in my university’s library. It is a compilation of entomology essays spanning a wide range of topics like ant behaviors, pest control, etc. They are scientific writings, but enjoyable to read if you are into that sort of thing.

A World of Insects: The Harvard University Press Reader https://www.amazon.com/dp/0674046196/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_A2h2BbMFN7HE8

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

I'm trying to finish up my grad degree and staying motivated is tough without someone to lean on every now and then. I throw my energy into my biology related hobbies instead of a significant other. This book would be helpful in my hobby of finding and identifying spiders.

Here is a great little (PDF) guide for Ohio that covers a lot of common NE species

The 2 most popular books are these:

Common Spiders of North America (Bradley)

Spiders of North America (Ubick, et al.)

The Bradley book is probably the more accessible of the two.

edit: fixed first link

The Peterson's field guide to butterflies comes in separate east/west volumes, and I find all of their field guides to be top-notch. Audubon is also good, but a single volume.

As far as texts go, I don't know a good one for just leps, but would recommend any used edition of Borror, Triplehorn, and Johnson (I think the new ones have a different name combo) - if your looking for a book with a key and good family info.

If you want to get to the nuts and bolts of things, there's Chapman and Snodgrass - both have leps and all the rest.

Sorry if my post sounded rude, it was not intentional, I shouldn't post late at night.

I have worked as an entomologist specialising in pollinators in the UK for nearly 10 years, and I have never heard of a bumblebee queen surviving more than one colony life cycle. This is very interesting. I've just had a look through some of my books (this one, this one, and this one) and they all state that bumblebee queens don't survive their colony, the latter book suggesting an average lifespan of about 6 months for Bombus terrestris. Perhaps the longer lifespans which you refer to is something specific to a small number of atypical species found outside of Europe? Somewhere sub-tropical perhaps, where the pressures relating to the onset of winter are not present. Do you know of any specific examples in the literature? I did a quick google search and everything that came up says the same thing: "annual lifecycle" and "old queen dies before winter". However, when I switched to the suggested search "how long do queen bumble bees live", the first result is: "All being well, a honey bee queen could live for 3 to 4 years, as long as she is free from disease. This is much longer than bumblebee queens or the solitary bee species." So perhaps you saw the 3-4 years bit (which was bolded) and understandably thought that it referred to the organism you were actually searching about?

I think perhaps your experience as a honeybee keeper has confused our conversation a bit. I suspect we are each more familiar a different type of bee! Although I am working on a honeybee project at the moment which is rectifying the gap in my knowledge :)

I recently got this book, Adventures Among Ants http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Among-Ants-Global-Trillions/dp/0520261992, which has photos of the exploding ants any many other crazy ant things - definitely recommended! I actually had lunch with the author, very funny guy, as you would imagine an ant expert to be.

I have this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Ants-North-America-Guide-Genera/dp/0520254228

It goes into great detail in identifying Genus.

There's a book by this title (here). The clue is in the title, it has some lovely pics and a decent about of information too.

A less expensive alternative is Mark W. Moffett's Adventures Among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions. The front and back cover boast endorsements from E.O. Wilson and Jane Goodall, among others.

Edit: Added subtitle and better link. As of the time of this edit, there are used copies available on Amazon for under $5.00.

Some general entomology-related books that I've enjoyed in the past:

• Wicked Bugs
  
  
• The Wasp That Brainwashed the Caterpillar
  
  
• A Buzz in the Meadow
  
  
• Buzz Sting Bite

Sounds good to me: Adventures Among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions

Yea... that's why I used the term "displace". Even really small ants like monomorium minimum displace other large insects chemically. They don't hunt the bugs that tend to flee their presence, it's that they present a hazard like a huge pack of small dogs.

When I kept ants I had bizarre first hand experience with chemical displacement. I had a few nests...two were formica pallidefulva and monomorium minimum. By volume the MMs were about 1% the size of the FPs.

So one day I woke up and checked in on my ants and the FP were dying. They were huddled in small groups...some were dead others were sluggish or have "seizures" (all shaky wobbly).

And I noticed the MMs were all over in their nest. The MMs had found a way out of the setup and into the FPs. There was no direct violence or attacks happening...and the MMs weren't eating them. The MMs just wanted the space and their mere presence began to kill the FPs. It was quite a sight...

An awesome book on insect chemical defenses and also on setting up easy experiments to study insects in your yard is..."For the Love of Insects" I learned so much from that book.

I was listening to an interview on NPR a few weeks ago. The interviewee was a guy known as "the Indiana Jones of entomology," and he'd written a book about ants.

Apparently there is an ant war whose front lines stretch all the way across the state of California. It is between two super-giant ant colonies, one of which basically stretches from Los Angeles into parts of Northern Mexico, and one of which stretches from San Francisco to Los Angeles, or some such craziness. Ants are apparently incredibly nationalistic, and form nations by chemical scent, and have no concept of peace. If they run across another ant that smells different, they have no choice but to kill, and they do not retreat, ever. So there's this crazy long line of ants that just clash somewhere around San Francisco, across the whole fucking state and kill each other, endlessly.

Ants are motherfucking intense.

EDIT: Link to book.