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The Complete Insect: Anatomy, Physiology, Evolution, and Ecology
A beautifully illustrated exploration of the world’s most extraordinary animals
With an astounding 3.5 million species occupying virtually every habitat on Earth, insects are one of the most diverse groups of animals on the planet, from the humble bee to the agile praying mantis. Taking you inside the extraordinary world of insects, The Complete Insect explores all aspects of the natural history of these remarkable creatures, providing a close-up look at their fascinating anatomy, physiology, evolution, ecology, behavior, and more. It features hundreds of stunning color photographs and illustrations and draws on a broad range of examples, from familiar ants to iridescent jewel beetles. A celebration of the rich complexity of insect life, The Complete Insect is a must-have book for insect enthusiasts and armchair naturalists.
With an astounding 3.5 million species occupying virtually every habitat on Earth, insects are one of the most diverse groups of animals on the planet, from the humble bee to the agile praying mantis. Taking you inside the extraordinary world of insects, The Complete Insect explores all aspects of the natural history of these remarkable creatures, providing a close-up look at their fascinating anatomy, physiology, evolution, ecology, behavior, and more. It features hundreds of stunning color photographs and illustrations and draws on a broad range of examples, from familiar ants to iridescent jewel beetles. A celebration of the rich complexity of insect life, The Complete Insect is a must-have book for insect enthusiasts and armchair naturalists.
368 pages, Hardcover
Published August 15, 2023
9 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
David A. Grimaldi
12 books2 followersDavid A. Grimaldi is an entomologist with research interests in the evolution of insects and insect sociality, insect pollination and its evolutionary history, fossilization in amber, and systematics of Drosophilidae and other Diptera.
He is Professor at the Richard Gilder Graduate School, American Museum of Natural History, and Curator of Invertebrate Zoology at the same institution. He is also an adjunct professor at Cornell University, Columbia University, and the City University of New York.
He is Professor at the Richard Gilder Graduate School, American Museum of Natural History, and Curator of Invertebrate Zoology at the same institution. He is also an adjunct professor at Cornell University, Columbia University, and the City University of New York.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 20, 2025
Ikke verst, legger den til utelukkende som skryt
September 12, 2025
Brilliant piece of litterature.
It covers most of what one needs to get a general understanding of the scientific field of entomology.
Not much more to be said.
I read it as part of an undergraduate Insect Physiology and Ecology course at NMBU Norway.
It covers most of what one needs to get a general understanding of the scientific field of entomology.
Not much more to be said.
I read it as part of an undergraduate Insect Physiology and Ecology course at NMBU Norway.
November 25, 2024
I was blown away by this book. The quality of the pictures...the scope of the book....the clever way they have covered off the whole of entomology in one book by focussing on main fuctions like reproduction and nervous and sensory systems. I was raving about it to my family and still I think it is a fantastic book but with a reservation. That is, Chapter 4. I’ll cover Chapter 4 a bit later.
But overall, it's a great book. Loved the photos, loved the diagrams (well mostly), and the text is generally clear, well written and matches the illustrations. The authors and the overall editor are to be congratulated for putting together such a volume. It is so far ahead of the text book that I had when I was studying entomology that there is just no comparison. Though I do remember going out with Ted (who later became a professional entomologist) and he rolled some corrugated carboard around the trunk of a small sapling. And we came by the following day and collected the cardboard plus a collection of caterpillars who had hidden there. He collected some leaves and raised the caterpillars on them until they pupated and turned into butterflies....no chasing around with butterfly nets for our Ted. I mention this because there was no mention of the practical aspects of entomology, collecting and observations in the wild etc. Perhaps this was deliberate and the focus was intentionally just on insects themselves ....not on how they are collected and preserved.
Given the massive range of species (3.5 million species?) and huge differences between them. It’s really hard to look for features that they have in common ; that you can write about in a collective way. And I think the authors have been absolutely outstanding in this respect.
But, I have one big reservation. Chapter 4 is just very hard to read and to follow. It’s partly that the subject matter (such as the genetics of sexual differentiation in insects) is complex but it’s more that it is poorly written and edited. For example, the term JH is used on page 211 without explanation and is not actually defined until page 217.
The term “titre” is used without explanation multiple times …especially on p 215 but not until page 217 are we told that she is using it as “levels”. (I assume it actually derives from some form of titration to ascertain the level of the hormones) and when I researched it, it seems to be a fairly common term though I found no mention of “titre” in the index of three major chemistry textbooks, nor in textbooks on biochemistry or organic chemistry. So a simple explanation is warranted when it is first introduced.
Then there is the confusing use of ambiguous sentences such as this: “This is why some bacteria living inside insects have the capacity to change their sex”. (p1790. Well what is changing sex? The bacteria? The insect? ….. you need to read on to discover that she means the insect....... This is just bad editing!
I found many of the diagrams frustratingly hard to follow. Just to take one example (although all the sex determination diagrams suffer in the same way)….. the diagram on p 178 illustrating Haplodiploidy in Hymenoptera. In the first row we have a fly with nn chromosomes. So I assume from the text that it is female but it has an M alongside it (indicating male). If one ignores this confusion and proceed along the row I can see that a diploid female can produce a single n chromosome which can combine with a male single n chromosome and produce the diploid female with the red nn. But what about the fly image at the end of the row? I assume that it is female but it doesn’t have the F marker against it so I’m not sure. Please give us consistency. And with the lower row we start with a fly that has one n so presumably is male. Well please mark it as male. And as we proceed along the bottom row we end up with another fly with an n chromosome ….. but what gender is it? Apparently male. Well please mark it as male in a diagram that is supposed to be clarifying things. And whilst we are at it….. how does the red n in the first row convert into a blue n in the second row?
It’s confusing and certainly not clear. (And I’ve done courses in both genetics and entomology so I wonder how the “young people who should have access to the book early in their lives”….. according to the preface….. are going to struggle with these diagrams?) Even with the text alongside it’s difficult to follow and I think diagrams should be self explanatory. They really need to be completely re-worked.
While I’m complaining about the diagrams of chapter 4…… in the diagram on p217, on the Y axis we are told that we are measuring the concentration of two hormones. And, sure enough there is a black trace and a light brown or orange trace. But which is which? There is no key. Plus we are told that one of the hormones is 20E (Y axis) but we are not introduced to 20E until p218.
And on p 186. We are told that insect sperm is generally composed of an acrosome etc., but what is an acrosome? It doesn’t appear in the diagram; it doesn’t appear in the glossary; it doesn’t appear in the index? Is it the word “axoneme” misspelled. Very confusing when one is working carefully through the text. I didn’t find this difficulty with the other chapters of the book.
And the diagram on p188…. What is “Kruppel”? It never seems to be defined.
And page 190, under viviparity, we are told that” females give birth to juveniles and feed them an equivalent of milk”. Well what is this “equivalent”? Seems to be poor editing.
Yes, Chapter 4 needs considerable re-editing. It’s a really weak part of the book.
But it’s certainly not all bad. I found the firefly light patterns fascinating and quite new to me. Likewise the diagrams on p199 showing developments inside a chrysalis. Fascinating stuff. And the information about 20E and Juvenile Hormone III on pages 218-219 is starting to answer a lot of the questions I’ve always had about metamorphosis.
But even with my reservations about Chapter 4, it’s not enough to put me off the book. I’m glad I’ve had the chance to read it and, will probably re-read parts of it from time to time. Thanks to Grimaldi and the other authors. It’s a treasure. Five stars from me.
But overall, it's a great book. Loved the photos, loved the diagrams (well mostly), and the text is generally clear, well written and matches the illustrations. The authors and the overall editor are to be congratulated for putting together such a volume. It is so far ahead of the text book that I had when I was studying entomology that there is just no comparison. Though I do remember going out with Ted (who later became a professional entomologist) and he rolled some corrugated carboard around the trunk of a small sapling. And we came by the following day and collected the cardboard plus a collection of caterpillars who had hidden there. He collected some leaves and raised the caterpillars on them until they pupated and turned into butterflies....no chasing around with butterfly nets for our Ted. I mention this because there was no mention of the practical aspects of entomology, collecting and observations in the wild etc. Perhaps this was deliberate and the focus was intentionally just on insects themselves ....not on how they are collected and preserved.
Given the massive range of species (3.5 million species?) and huge differences between them. It’s really hard to look for features that they have in common ; that you can write about in a collective way. And I think the authors have been absolutely outstanding in this respect.
But, I have one big reservation. Chapter 4 is just very hard to read and to follow. It’s partly that the subject matter (such as the genetics of sexual differentiation in insects) is complex but it’s more that it is poorly written and edited. For example, the term JH is used on page 211 without explanation and is not actually defined until page 217.
The term “titre” is used without explanation multiple times …especially on p 215 but not until page 217 are we told that she is using it as “levels”. (I assume it actually derives from some form of titration to ascertain the level of the hormones) and when I researched it, it seems to be a fairly common term though I found no mention of “titre” in the index of three major chemistry textbooks, nor in textbooks on biochemistry or organic chemistry. So a simple explanation is warranted when it is first introduced.
Then there is the confusing use of ambiguous sentences such as this: “This is why some bacteria living inside insects have the capacity to change their sex”. (p1790. Well what is changing sex? The bacteria? The insect? ….. you need to read on to discover that she means the insect....... This is just bad editing!
I found many of the diagrams frustratingly hard to follow. Just to take one example (although all the sex determination diagrams suffer in the same way)….. the diagram on p 178 illustrating Haplodiploidy in Hymenoptera. In the first row we have a fly with nn chromosomes. So I assume from the text that it is female but it has an M alongside it (indicating male). If one ignores this confusion and proceed along the row I can see that a diploid female can produce a single n chromosome which can combine with a male single n chromosome and produce the diploid female with the red nn. But what about the fly image at the end of the row? I assume that it is female but it doesn’t have the F marker against it so I’m not sure. Please give us consistency. And with the lower row we start with a fly that has one n so presumably is male. Well please mark it as male. And as we proceed along the bottom row we end up with another fly with an n chromosome ….. but what gender is it? Apparently male. Well please mark it as male in a diagram that is supposed to be clarifying things. And whilst we are at it….. how does the red n in the first row convert into a blue n in the second row?
It’s confusing and certainly not clear. (And I’ve done courses in both genetics and entomology so I wonder how the “young people who should have access to the book early in their lives”….. according to the preface….. are going to struggle with these diagrams?) Even with the text alongside it’s difficult to follow and I think diagrams should be self explanatory. They really need to be completely re-worked.
While I’m complaining about the diagrams of chapter 4…… in the diagram on p217, on the Y axis we are told that we are measuring the concentration of two hormones. And, sure enough there is a black trace and a light brown or orange trace. But which is which? There is no key. Plus we are told that one of the hormones is 20E (Y axis) but we are not introduced to 20E until p218.
And on p 186. We are told that insect sperm is generally composed of an acrosome etc., but what is an acrosome? It doesn’t appear in the diagram; it doesn’t appear in the glossary; it doesn’t appear in the index? Is it the word “axoneme” misspelled. Very confusing when one is working carefully through the text. I didn’t find this difficulty with the other chapters of the book.
And the diagram on p188…. What is “Kruppel”? It never seems to be defined.
And page 190, under viviparity, we are told that” females give birth to juveniles and feed them an equivalent of milk”. Well what is this “equivalent”? Seems to be poor editing.
Yes, Chapter 4 needs considerable re-editing. It’s a really weak part of the book.
But it’s certainly not all bad. I found the firefly light patterns fascinating and quite new to me. Likewise the diagrams on p199 showing developments inside a chrysalis. Fascinating stuff. And the information about 20E and Juvenile Hormone III on pages 218-219 is starting to answer a lot of the questions I’ve always had about metamorphosis.
But even with my reservations about Chapter 4, it’s not enough to put me off the book. I’m glad I’ve had the chance to read it and, will probably re-read parts of it from time to time. Thanks to Grimaldi and the other authors. It’s a treasure. Five stars from me.
June 24, 2024
This book falls somewhere between textbook and coffee table book, leaning a bit more toward the latter. There's a lot of info here, covering nearly anything you may want to know about insects, just don't expect any deep dives. The majority of the text just skims the surface of subjects, and some sections felt rushed or too compressed.
Where this book shines brightest is the images. I appreciate that they didn't just choose the prettiest insects to showcase but included those less photogenic to show the true diversity of species. Don't worry, though, because there are so MANY gorgeous and up-close images this book is worth a cover to cover read just to be able to study each one.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants a broad overview of insects or as a starting place into the study entomology. It's a lot more fun to read than a textbook but you will walk away having learned quite a lot.
(As a side note--and only that because I feel I may be getting too pickety--this book could have had a little more time in editing. There are many clunky sentences and some grammar issues. Some of the charts/graphics lack clarity and explanation. And some of them felt more like filler, not useful or adding to the text in anyway)
Where this book shines brightest is the images. I appreciate that they didn't just choose the prettiest insects to showcase but included those less photogenic to show the true diversity of species. Don't worry, though, because there are so MANY gorgeous and up-close images this book is worth a cover to cover read just to be able to study each one.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants a broad overview of insects or as a starting place into the study entomology. It's a lot more fun to read than a textbook but you will walk away having learned quite a lot.
(As a side note--and only that because I feel I may be getting too pickety--this book could have had a little more time in editing. There are many clunky sentences and some grammar issues. Some of the charts/graphics lack clarity and explanation. And some of them felt more like filler, not useful or adding to the text in anyway)
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews