This classicguide will help you get on a first-name basis with familiar bugs like wasps, moths, and crickets. But once you learn key identifying terms like “piercing-sucking mouthparts” and “chewing mouthparts,” you’ll discover all kinds of species you never noticed before. Basics about anatomy, reproduction, and insect development are covered alongside more than 2,000 photos. There are more than 350,000 species of beetles in the world. That’s a different species for just about every person who lives in Honolulu, Hawaii! This beautiful and coffee-table friendly book describes biology, habitat, and the importance of 600 different beetles, and features a photo of each at scale next to one rendered in extraordinary close-up detail. If you enjoy learning about things in a larger context, this book gives an overview of entomology including insect society, language, evolution, and pollination. You’ll be introduced to key entomologists like Maria Sibylla Merian and Jan Swammerdam. But the centerpiece of this work is the curation of fantastic illustrations of insects sourced from the American Museum of Natural History’s rare book collection. Designers, sculptors, and painters will find endless inspiration in these masterful and painstakingly-detailed portraits. Animators will dream new creatures and writers find new language to describe color after viewing the results of Levon Bliss’s layering technique to capture insect features using a microscope lens. The rest of us will feel awe at the magnificence possible on such a tiny canvas. Get to know the insect who is responsible for countless memes and metaphors about our journey to discover who we really are in the world. Check out photos of each butterfly’s life stages including caterpillar and chrysalis, and then delight in finding them in your own backyard or community garden.
