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Washington State University

WSU Snohomish County Extension office has moved!

Our office is now located in the Snohomish County Parks & Recreation Administration Office at Willis Tucker Park, 6705 Puget Park Drive, Snohomish, 98296.

Bug Book Recommendations

Program Contact: Snohomish County 4-H Office
(425) 357-6044 • snoco.4h@wsu.edu

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

 

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)
  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.