Ninety-nine Gnats, Nits, and Nibblers by May R. Berenbaum

by May R. Berenbaum

Excellent Book

Genres: Science

Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

May Roberta Berenbaum is an American entomologist whose research focuses on the chemical interactions between herbivorous insects and their host-plants, and the implications of these interactions on the organization of natural communities and the evolution of species.

Reviews

[Brice Fuqua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short essays on insects and other arachnids. Some accounts may give you nightmares. All will make you appreciate the diversity of the insect world. With excellent illustrations for each essay.

[Spooky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a note about the major orders described in the introduction; some of the orders have been changed since the printing of the book. Walking sticks have been taken out of the order Orthoptera (Grasshoppers, Crickets, Katydids) and placed in their own order, Phasmatodea. Homoptera (Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Scale Insects) has been combined into the order Hemiptera with what is now known as Heteroptera (True Bugs). Homoptera has since been split into the suborders; Auchenorrhyncha (Cicadas, Leafhoppers, Treehoppers, Planthoppers, and Spittlebugs) and Sternorrhyncha (Aphids, Whiteflies, and Scale insects). Also, sometimes the order Dictyoptera is split into two orders; Mantodea (Mantids) and Blattaria or Blattodea (cockroaches) with Dictyoptera being a superorder that also contains Isoptera (termites). Though Dictyoptera is sometimes used as an order, with the others then becoming suborders.

As this has changed since the book was published in 1989, it is very possible that some may change again, especially with new genetic information that may come out. I did my best to say which orders and suborders the insects are now in, but as many entomologists disagree on certain placements and change them often it is almost certain that some of these will change in the future.