Learning About and Living With Insects of the Southwest: How to Identify Helpful, Harmful and Venomous Insects [Paperback]

Ph.D. Floyd G. Werner (Author), M.S. Carl Olson (Author), Frank W. Fisher (Editor), W. Eugene Hall (Introduction)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1555610609 | ISBN-13: 978-1555610609 | Publication Date: 1994

Describes more than 120 common varieties of southwestern insects and arthropods, enabling the reader to appreciate and respect the role "creepy crawlies" play in our world.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Floyd Werner, Ph.D. and Carl Olson, M.S., entomologists at the University of Arizona in Tucson, share their affection for the diversity and necessity of all creatures. They'll arm us with knowledge to help us appreciate and respect the role insects play as ther recylcers in nature and even dispel some of the fears and misconceptions many of us have about the earth's most numerous inhabitants.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Bugman’s Philosophy by Carl Olson Working with insects has been a love affair of mine since as long as I can remember. As a small boy with the countryside as home, I first collected butterflies. Then I learned that it was more fun to collect caterpillars and learn firsthand how they developed. Consequently, our garage was filled with jars containing all imaginable kinds of caterpillars, from Io caterpillars with their urticating spines to enormous green Polyphemus caterpillars with their startling array of colored tubercles.

When I finally got to the University of Arizona and started working with Floyd Werner, I had become indoctrinated into aquatics, not as the fisherman knows them, but as a biologist studies them. The joys and frustrations of capturing dragonflies are to me as stirring a hunt as stalking an elk, and most of the time just as difficult. I had experienced in graduate school what most desert dwellers dream of, wading in the water while enjoying the outdoors, but I also had a good idea of what kind of exciting creatures I would find beneath the water hiding perhaps under a rock.

My real awakening to the world of insects came by being in the field with Floyd, who unlocked many more doors of entomology with his keen eye and pioneer spirit. We spent hours exploring and discovering what the desert Southwest has waiting for the curious. Now I hope to carry on that naturalist-type position that Floyd epitomized until his death in 1992. I had the best of teachers to help me develop a broad knowledge of this fascinating microworld, and now I hope to share these joys, too. I am the preacher of good news when it comes to insects and what they do for us. I learned early to have confidence in insects and believe in Aldo Leopold’s land-ethic philosophy, which sums up for me what bugs really do on this planet. They may take, but in most cases they give back to the system to keep it healthy.

I do not find nature’s creatures to be selfish. On the contrary, they seem to have that built-in guide to stop them from messing up a good thing. It is the aim of most living things to maintain diversity, and this will then keep a healthy ecosystem. Once greed and selfishness creep into a system, you can bet trouble will soon follow. With insects I seldom find this to be the case. Oh, to the human’s aesthetic taste, insects are the destroyers, but to Nature, they are the recyclers, the reworkers and the designers. They’ve been at this game of survival much longer than human beings, and they’ve surely succeeded.

As I wander about this desert, I now try to figure out what insects are around making this world so delightful to me. I may become an oasis in the desert to the creatures. If that fly comes to my nose and becomes an irritation, I may shoo it away but I know why it comes to me. Life won’t always be as I wish it to be, so maybe I can return a little of me through some other life forms. Peace of mind comes in many ways, but to me it comes in the form of diverse shapes and sizes of all those microcreatures surrounding me in life.

The writing of this book seems to have taken ages as I look back. Floyd Werner began the task in 1989 after he retired. We discussed what insects, etc. would be good to include and then he sat down and wrote. During the three years Floyd worked on the book, many obstacles slowed its progress as Floyd battled ill health.

Finally in November 1992, Floyd asked me to complete this book, as he was one to never let things go unfinished. With great pride, I took the manuscript and began adding my touches. Needless to say, this project is a labor of love, both for Floyd and for the world of insects. This book writing is quite a job.

As you read the stories, they reflect experiences of both Floyd and myself. You may well detect two writing styles and hopefully they will window our souls to you. Some you will easily recognize as Floyd’s touch, because of the time factor. Others, well just guess!

As the reader homes in on a region of interest, it is good to have a feeling for the geographic boundaries. When studying insects, because of their importance to humans and the natural world, it is important to see where they live and which ones might be encountered during travels or home changes. Because of the mobility of insects, this is by no means a rigid distribution, for walls cannot be built high enough to stop the bugs, but it is very representative of the home range of the critters.

Copyright © 2000 Fisher Books. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 162 pages
• Publisher: Fisher Books (1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555610609
• ISBN-13: 978-1555610609
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,214,308 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Limited information, July 24, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Learning About and Living With Insects of the Southwest: How to Identify Helpful, Harmful and Venomous Insects (Paperback)

The cover of this book says "How to identify helpful, harmful, and venomous insects" but only about half of the insects in the book have an illustration. Many of the insects are common species that most folks can already identify from experience (house flies, mosquitos, fleas, centipedes, millipedes, house crickets, etc.) It may be useful for children, but as I mentioned, there are limited illustrations (and they are not in color). If you are looking for something along the lines of a key to identifying insects, this book will not help you.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars informative, July 4, 2001

By 

mona k olney (wittmann, az United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learning About and Living With Insects of the Southwest: How to Identify Helpful, Harmful and Venomous Insects (Paperback)

the book is just what i wanted......information was a little short, but covered the basics. the only thing that could have made it better would be to have had actual pictures of the real species. it wasn't disappointing at all!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A nice reference for the desert dweller, December 18, 2001

By 

John "John" (PHOENIX, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Learning About and Living With Insects of the Southwest: How to Identify Helpful, Harmful and Venomous Insects (Paperback)

This is a nice book to own if you live in the southwestern deserts. The next time a strange creepy-crawler dashed across your kitchen floor you'll be able to find out what it is and determine if it's dangerous. The illustrations in the book are well done. The text tells you a lot about each insect but does not bore you with information that only an entomologist would care about. In short, its a nice reference to have around the house if you want to learn more about the 6 and 8 legged creatures of the region.