Bug Books & Websites : Resources for the Ent-thusiast
(Compiled by Sharon J. Collman (WSU Extension, Retired))
Entomology and Insect Identification
(A fairly comprehensive list of other scientific or taxonomic guides is listed at The Bug Guide website: http://bugguide.net/node/view/3/bgref)
Insects – General
(For the Pacific Northwest – these insect guides are recommended.)
- Kaufman’s Guide to Insects of North America. 2007.
Ken Kaufman and Eric R. Eaton. ISBN-13/EAN: 9780618153107; $18.95
ISBN-10: 0618153101. 392 pages - Insects of the Pacific Northwest
Haggard and Haggard. Timber Press. - The Butterflies of Cascadia: A Field Guide to All the Species of Washington, Oregon, and Surrounding Territories (Paperback).
by Robert Michael Pyle (Author), Idie Ulsh (Photographer), David Nunnallee (Photographer)
Seattle Audubon, publisher. - An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles. Arthur Evans and Charles L. Bellamy
- Simon and Schuster’s Guide to the Insects. 1981. Ross H. Arnett, Jr. and Richard L. Jaques, Jr. Simon and Schuster. ISBN: 0-671-25014-0 (pb).
- The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders. 1980. Lorus and Margery Milne. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN: 0-394-50763-0.
- Rodale’s Color Handbook of Garden Insects. 1979. Anna Carr. Rodale Press, Inc. ISBN: 0-87857-250-3
- The Practical Entomologist. Rick Imes. Simon and Schuster Fireside Book
- A Golden Nature Guide: Insects. 1987. Herbert S. Zim and Clarence Cottam. Golden Press, Western Publishing Co. ISBN:0-307-24055-X.
- A Golden Nature Guide: Insect Pests. 1987. Herbert S. Zim and Clarence Cottam. Golden Press, Western Publishing Co. ISBN:0-307-24055-X.
- A Golden Nature Guide: Spiders and Their Kin. Golden Press, Western Publishing
Butterflies
- The Butterflies of Cascadia: A Field Guide to All the Species of Washington, Oregon, and Surrounding Territories (Paperback).
by Robert Michael Pyle (Author), Idie Ulsh (Photographer), David Nunnallee (Photographer)
Seattle Audubon, publisher. - Watching Washington Butterflies by Robert Michael Pyle.
1974. Seattle Audubon Society. - Butterflies Afield by W.A. Neill and D.J. Hepburn.
1976. Pacific Search. - A Field Guide to the Butterflies of the Pacific Northwest by James R. Christensen.
1981. University of Idaho Press. - The Butterflies of Oregon by E.J. Dornfield.
1980. Timber Press. - “Butterflies in the Arboretum” by B.J.D. Meeuse.
1976. Arboretum Bulletin 39(2):2-9 and 39(3):16-23. - Audubon Society Field Guide to the Butterflies by Robert Michael Pyle.
1981. Alfred A. Knopf. - Butterflies and Moths by Robert T. Mitchell and Herbert S. Zim.
1977. Golden Press. - A Golden Nature Guide: Butterflies and Moths. 1987. Herbert S. Zim and Clarence Cottam. Golden Press, Western Publishing Co. ISBN:0-307-24055-X
Diagnosis Books (with good color photos)
- Garden Insects of North America: The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs by Whitney Cranshaw. Princeton Field Guides
- Insects that Feed on Trees and Shrubs. 1991. Warren T. Johnson, and Howard H. Lyons. Cornell University Press. 560pp. ISBN: 0-8014-1515-9
Websites
- Bug Guide Website: http://bugguide.net/node/view/3/bgref
- Buggy Websites: This list of websites was compiled by Dave Pehling, WSU Snohomish County Extension (Retired). Many websites are themselves comprehensive lists of other insect sites; especially those with .edu in the URL.
- Scarabs – the Bug Society website: http://crawford.tardigrade.net/bugs/index.html
For A Good Read
Nonfiction
- Broadsides from the Other Orders: A Book of Bugs by Sue Hubbell. 1993. Random House. ISBN: 0-679-40062-1
- Insects Did It 1st by Roger Akre, Greg Paulsen and E. Paul Catts. 1992. YeGalleon Press, Fairfield, Wa. ISBN: 0-87770-517-8
- Life on a Little-Known Planet by Howard Ensign Evans. 1968. E.P. Dutton. ISBN: 0-525-47493-5
- Also by Howard Ensign Evans
- Wasp Farm;
- The Pleasures of Entomology;
- Pioneer Naturalists:
- The Discovery and Naming of North American Plants and Animals (Paperback)
- Also by Howard Ensign Evans
- The Man Who Loved Wasps: A Howard Ensign Evans Reader by Howard Ensign Evans, Mary Alice Evans, and Edward O. Wilson (Paperback – May 30, 2004)
- Ninety-Nine Gnats, Nits and Nibblers by May R. Berenbaum. 1989. University of Illinois. ISBN: 0-252-06027-X (pb).
- Berenbaum has also written:
- Buzzwords: A Scientist Muses on Sex, Bugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll,
- Bugs in the System: Insects and Their Impact on Human Affairs;
- Ninety-nine More Maggots, Mites, and Munchers and others
- Berenbaum has also written:
- Journey to the Ants: A Story of Scientific Exploration by Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson
- Autobiographical but also enjoyable facts about ants in the process;
- Includes info on how to keep a colony of ants in a Formicarium.
- Autobiographical but also enjoyable facts about ants in the process;
- To Know a Fly by Vincent. 1962. G. Dethier. Holden-Day, San Francisco. Library of Congress: 62-21838
- An account of research on fly biology and behavior with a bit of humor to keep it enjoyable.
- The World of the Tent-Makers: A Natural History of the Eastern Tent Caterpillar
by Vincent Gaston Dethier; Dethier follows the life of the eastern tent caterpillar within the context of the environment surrounding their tree, and weaves in research along the way. - Living Garden: The 400-Year History of an English Garden by George Ordish.
- Ordish also wrote
- The Constant Pest: A Short History of Pests and Their Control
- The Living American House: The 350 Year Story of a Home, an Ecological History John Curtis and the Pioneering of Pest Control (The Great innovators)
- The Year of the Butterfly
- The Year of the Ant.
- Ordish also wrote
- A Naturalist Buys an Old Farm by Edwin Way Teale and Ann Haymond Zwinger.
- Other books by Edwin Way Teale are also worth reading.
- Chasing Monarchs: Migrating with the Butterflies of Passage. by Robert Michael Pyle
Other books by Robert Michael Pyle include:- Wintergreen
- Listening to the Land’s Heart
- The Thunder Tree: Lessons from Urban and Wildland
- Nabokov’s Butterflies
- The Sacred Beetle and Others by Jean-Henri Fabre who also wrote
- The Life of the Spider
- Glowworm and Other Beetles,
- The Life of the Scorpion,
- The Life of the Weevil and many more plus
- Fabre’s Insects – superbly illustrated by Detmold.
Notable and Enjoyable Fiction Based on Insect Facts
- Ned Kelly and the City of Bees by Thomas Keneally and Stephen Ryan
- Trouble in Bugland: A collection of Inspector Mantis Mysteries by William Kotzwinkle, and illustrated by Joe Servello. (Godine Storyteller – paperback)
- A Rustle in the Grass by Robin Hawdon;
- An allegory for war or an account of ant life with ants as the characters
- Gives a reasonably good account of ant behavior and is an enjoyable read.