Kategoria BISAC: Nature >> Animals - Insects & Spiders

A water strider darts across a pond, its feet dimpling the surface tension; a giant water bug dives below, carrying his mate's eggs on his back; hidden among plant roots on the silty bottom, a dragonfly larva stalks unwary minnows. Barely skimming the surface, in the air above the pond, swarm mayflies with diaphanous wings. Take this walk around the pond with Gilbert Waldbauer and discover the most amazingly diverse inhabitants of the freshwater world.

In his hallmark companionable style, Waldbauer introduces us to the aquatic insects that have colonized ponds, lakes, streams, and...

We are told from the time we are children that insects and spiders are pests, when the truth is that most have little or no effect on us--although the few that do are often essential to our existence. Arthur Evans suggests we take a closer look at our slapped-at, stepped-on, and otherwise ignored cohabitants, who vastly outnumber us and whose worlds often occupy spaces that we didn't even know existed.

What's Bugging You? brings together fifty unforgettable stories from the celebrated nature writer and entomologist's popular Richmond Times-Dispatch column. Evans has...

Flies that have any direct effect on Man are only a small proportion of the eighty to one hundred thousand species which constitute the Order Diptera. "To discuss adequately a group so rich and varied it is necessary to particularize, mentioning the names of species, genera, families or larger groups," writes Professor Oldroyd. Yet, he has tried to present more of a picture of flies in evolution than a discussion of classification and arrangement. Part One is a general description of flies and their life histories: eggs, larvae, pupae, and adult flies. Part Two surveys the flies in sixteen...

During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, natural and social scientists began comparing certain insects to human social organization. Entomologists theorized that social insects -- such as ants, bees, wasps, and termites -- organize themselves into highly specialized, hierarchical divisions of labor. Using a distinctly human vocabulary that reflected the dominant social structure of the time, they described insects as queens, workers, and soldiers and categorized their behaviors with words like marriage, slavery, farming, and factories. At the same time, sociologists working to...

Dragonflies and Damselflies of the West is the first fully illustrated field guide to all 348 species of dragonflies and damselflies in western North America. Dragonflies and damselflies are large, stunningly beautiful insects, as readily observable as birds and butterflies. This unique guide makes identifying them easy--its compact size and user-friendly design make it the only guide you need in the field. Every species is generously illustrated with full-color photographs and a distribution map, and structural features are illustrated where they aid in-hand identification....

The Mayflies of North and Central America was first published in 1976. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.

Mayflies have fascinated man for centuries because of the brief span of their adult lives. These aquatic insects spend most of their lives as nymphs in water, then develop into winged stages and soon die, most species having an adult life of only two or three days. This brevity is implied in the very name of the order,...