Bugs!
(Insects and Other Arthropods)

Arthropods include a great variety of animals including crustaceans (crabs, krill, pill bugs, shrimp), insects, spiders, scorpions, and centipedes.

Selected Books

Brock, James P.
Butterflies of North America
QL548.B76 2003
Its compact format that makes this guide the easiest to use for fast identification in the field

Cech, Rick and Guy Tudor
Butterflies of the East Coast - An Observer's Guide
q QL551.A7 C43 2005
Covers butterflies in the East Coast states, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Appalachians, and furnishes detailed photo-illustrated information on the host plants favored by particular species.

Covell, Charles V.
A Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America
Butterflies usually are the ones that get all the attention. Intended for nonspecialists, but greatly appreciated by intermediate and advanced users, this book identifies and describes more than 1300 species in 59 families. The 1300 species, which include at least one in each of the 59 families present in the region, are those most likely to be encountered in eastern North America.

Cranshaw, Whitney
Garden Insects of North America: The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs
SB605.N7 C73 2004
A comprehensive guide to 1,420 common insects and mites affecting yard and garden plants.

Dunkle, Sidney W.
Dragonflies Through Binoculars: A Field Guide to Dragonflies of North America
QL520.2.U6 D87 2000
In these well-illustrated pages, Sidney W. Dunkle answers any query the beginner or expert might have on the subject of dragonfly-watching on this continent--what kind of binoculars to buy, where to start looking for dragonflies, how to photograph them, and which clubs or societies to join.

Ellis, Hattie
Sweetness and Light: The Mysterious History of the Honeybee
QL568.A6 E68 2004
Hattie Ellis interweaves social history, popular science, and traveler’s tales into a chronological narrative of the honeybee's history, who existed long before man.

Evans, Arthur V. and Charles L. Bellamy
An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles
q QL573.E89 1996
Provides a truly engaging look at the magnificent, yet poorly understood and often maligned creature, highlighting the absolutely essential role that beetles play in the dynamics of nearly every terrestrial ecosystem on Earth. Exquisitely detailed color photographs of jewel-like beetles from all over the globe.

Glassberg, Jeffrey
Butterflies of North America
QL548.G58 2011x
Jeffrey Glassberg, president of the North American Butterfly Association, offers a guide for the nonspecialist.

Glassberg, Jeffrey
Butterflies Through Binoculars: The East - a Field Guide to the Butterflies of Eastern North America
QL551.E16 G58 1999
This is an expanded version of Butterflies Through Binoculars: The Boston-New York-Washington Region and encourages the viewing of butterflies as opposed to collecting (and killing) them.

Marlos, Daniel
The Curious World of Bugs: The Bugman's Guide to the Mysterious and Remarkable Lives of Things That Crawl
QL467.M345 2010
Daniel Marlos is the creator of What's That Bug?, a website that started out as a column in the zine: American Homebody.

Marshall, Stephen A.
500 Insects: A Visual Reference
QL467.M355 2008x
Stephen Marshall has selected 500 of the most interesting insects from his travels to North and South America, the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand and beyond. This is a book that will introduce you to the wealth of insects around the world.

Marshall, Stephen A.
Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity
rq QL473.M33 2006
In this comprehensive view of a bug's life, Marshall (entomology, U. of Guelph) introduces students to the study of entomology. He describes the biology of each insect group and discusses common or especially interesting genera and species. The text covers all insect orders and the insect families of eastern North America and briefly examines common families of related terrestrial arthropods.

Milne, Lorus Johnson
Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders
QL473 .M54 1994x
Spiders, bugs, moths, butterflies, beetles, bees, flies, dragonflies, grasshoppers, and many other insects are detailed in more than 700 full-color photographs visually arranged by shape and color. Descriptive text includes measurements, diagnostic details, and information on habitat, range, feeding habits, sounds or songs, flight period, web construction, life cycle, behaviors, folklore, and environmental impact.

Pyle, Robert Michael
Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies
QL548 .P94 1981
This is a handy field guide with more than 1,000 photographs of all the butterflies of North America north of Mexico. The color plates are visually arranged by shape and color, and thumb-tab silhouettes provide a convenient index to identification of butterflies in the field.

Raffles, Hugh
Insectopedia
QL463.R34 2010
Organizing his book alphabetically with one entry for each letter, Hugh Raffles embarks on an exploration of history and science, anthropology and travel, economics, philosophy, and popular culture to show us how insects have triggered our obsessions, stirred our passions, and beguiled our imaginations.

Ross, Kathy
Crafts for Kids Who Are Learning about Insects
j TT160.R7142172 2008
Entertain your kids while learning about insects with 22 low-cost or no-cost projects.

Wagner, David L.
Caterpillars of Eastern North America: A Guide to Identification and Natural History
How many times have you run across a caterpillar and wondered what it was going to turn into? This guide will help you identify the caterpillars of nearly 700 butterflies and moths found east of the Mississippi.

Young, Karen Romano
Bug Science: 20 Projects and Experiments about Arthropods: Insects, Arachnids, Algae, Worms, and Other Small Creatures
j QL434.15.Y68 2009
This National Geographic Kids book provides instructions for experiments about bugs, including flies, microscopic insects, ants, bees, and others; and offers tips on using the workshops as science fair projects.

Return to the top

Browse the Catalog

For additional titles, browse the library catalog under the subject:

Return to the top

Web Sites

Acari
Did you know that mites are older than dinosaurs?
This website about mites (belonging to the Arachnid class of the phylum Arthropoda) is a joint creation of 3 universities and provides a basic introduction to them.
Animal Diversity Web: Class Insecta
Photos and sounds of insects
Ants: Farmers, Warriors, Builders: The Hidden Life of Ants
An online exhibit from the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History.
Bug Guide
Bug Guide is an online community of naturalists who enjoy learning about and sharing our observations of insects, spiders, and other related creatures. You can look up a bug here and view photographs and descriptions.
Butterflies and Moths of North America
View photos of different species. Unfortunately photos of corresponding caterpillars are not included.
Butterflies of the Allegheny National Forest
A pamphlet from the USDA Forest Service.
Caterpillars of Eastern Forests
This web site from the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center of the U.S. Geological Survey, offers photographs of caterpillars arranged by family. Unfortunately photos of corresponding butterflies are not included.
Dragonflies: Introduction To Dragonflies and Damselflies of West Virginia
A pamphlet by Norma Jean Venable for the West Virginia University Extension Service. Pittsburgh's dragonflies should be pretty similar.
Insect Images
The Source for Entomology Photos from the University of Georgia and the USDA Forest Service.
Kentucky Critter Files
Kentucky's insects, spiders, and other arthropods (plus slugs!) from the University of Kentucky.
Let's Talk about Insects
Here's an animated site from the University of Illinois that tells you what an insect is.
New York Times: Insects
Find articles about insects published in The New York Times.
North American Insects and Spiders
A catalog of over 2,000 high-resolution close-up pictures of live, wild insects and spiders with descriptions and natural history.
Odonata Central: Dragonflies and Damselflies
You can search for photos of species at this Texas site.
Music of Nature
Do you hear insects chirping? Would you like to try to identify them? This site has recordings of crickets, katydids and cicadas.
North American Butterfly Association
Dedicated to the preservation of butterflies and their habitats.
Ohio Butterflies
See if you can recognize the butterflies in these photos from the Ohio Lepidopterists!
Penn State: Commonly Encountered Pennsylvania Spiders
This is a brochure in .pdf format from Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.
Penn State Entomology: Resources for Educators
This website from the Department of Entomology has lots of resources for teaching about bugs.
- Kids
  Programs include summer Bug Camps for Kids and The Great Insect Fair in October
PestWorld for Kids
The National Pest Management Association provides photos and info on common household/garden pests.
Tree of Life
If you want to browse through some wonderful online photos of insects, try the Tree of Life.
What's That Bug?
Do you need to identify a caterpillar? Try looking here. Check out his book, too: The Curious World of Bugs.