National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Insects and Spiders & Related Species of North America

by Arthur V. Evans

Book Overview

National Wildlife Federation's new all-photographic field guide to North American insects, spiders, and related species, is the most up-to-date of its kind, and lets both amateur and expert naturalists identify more than 940 species quickly and accurately. More than 2,000 close-up color photographs by leading nature photographers reveal the field marks that distinguish each creature, and the clear and concise text that accompanies each image describes the range, habitat, life cycle, and behavior. Budding entomologists will be inspired to explore further with the detailed information on starting a collection, planting an arthropod garden, keeping insects and spiders in captivity, and learning the techniques of macro photography. The unique waterproof cover makes it ideal for use outdoors.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1402741537
• ISBN13: 9781402741531
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: Union Square & Co.
• Length: 496 Pages
• Weight: 1.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 4.7" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Love This Series

Another wonderful publication by National Wildlife Federation. Love this series, love the information, so many pictures!

Natioal wildlife Federation Field guide to Insects and Spiders

This book is a great for outdoor people that want to be able to identify north american Insects. I was ablr to find a butterfly I had photographed in Colorado. I found out it's name and learned abot butterflies and htier habits. The book went opn to explain the type of plants to grow to draw butterflies to your garden and the best time of day to photograph them If anyone is interested in insects and spiders I highly recomend this book.

insects

I needed a more up to date book on insects that is why I purchased this book. This is an excellent insect book. It has the photos and the descriptions together on the same page. Unlike other books where you have to go between the front/back of the book which is a pain.

Refreshing and colorful new look for a field guide

After you get past the eye catching photo on the waterproof plastic front cover this book presents a wealth of information in an easy to use format. Each entry includes one or more color pictures and a write-up beside the picture in a consistent format. Insects of the same order are grouped together to make it easier to compare similar insects. Over 940 species are represented with 1,600 color photos. In the butterfly section each entry includes a color picture of the open wings as well as a side picture of the underside of the wings and a picture of the caterpillar. In addition to the expected background information about each group there are "How To" sections on starting an insect collection, keeping insects in captivity, planting a garden to attract insects, and macro photography of insects. The book starts with a fold out flap that includes a ruler printed on the edge and "parts of a bug" diagram for easy reference. The inside back cover has a map of North America. The book is divided into 4 major sections (Entognaths, Insects, Arachnids and Other (Centipedes, Millipedes, tadpoles, crayfish and a few others). Within each section items are group by common name like Silverfish, Dragonflies, Mantids, Stick Insects, etc. Each of these groups is ordered by order. At the end of the book are a glossary, pronunciation guide, list of anthropod orders, list of endangered insects, list of insect zoos, a bibliography, a detailed index and a quick index. The Peterson Field Guide is still more detailed and precise but much harder for an amateur like me to use to identify things. I now reach for this new guide first to identify my find and once I know the scientific name I can move to the Peterson guide for more details and to confirm the identification. Hopefully there will be more guides forthcoming in this series.

My favorite field guide

This is my favorite field guide (I also have Peterson's and Audobon's). The pictures are good and the range/size/habitat information is listed on the same page. I very much apprecciate not having to flip to alternate pages to get the information that I am looking for. If you are looking for a book that is not in the field I would recommend Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity by Stephen Marshall, but to travel this is my favorite.