A Natural History of Insects in 100 Limericks

Length: 120 pages
Edition: 1
Language: English
Publisher: Pelagic Publishing
Publication Date: 2021-06-22
ISBN-10: 1784272507
ISBN-13: 9781784272500
Sales Rank: #1889535 (See Top 100 Books)

Insects are often overlooked because they are small or ignored because they are deemed trivial, and many are dismissed as nuisance pests. But their numbers and diversity are mind-numbing, and under even a modest hand lens they are beautiful or bizarre.

Insects dominate the centre ground of all terrestrial and most aquatic ecosystems. They inform us of the conservation value of ancient woodland and chalk downland. They help monitor the purity or pollution levels of ponds, streams and rivers. And they can demonstrate the effects of climate change, acting as warning lights to alert us to the damage that humans are doing to the world. Recent insectageddon headlines are starting to make people sit up and take more notice.

What better way to promote an interest in these fascinating creatures than by poetizing them? This cornucopia of discordant nonsense, with some quite frankly dubious rhyming clashes, is offered up so that entomological outreach will at least benefit from their shock value.

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Preface
Wasp
Bloody-nosed beetle
Silverfish
Fly
Earwig
Shield bug
Bush-cricket
Velvet ant
Greenbottle
Small copper
Giraffe-necked weevil
Peppered moth chrysalis
Whirligig
Trilobite beetle
Honeypot ant
Cochineal
Goliath beetle
Clothes moth
St Mark’s fly
Water scorpion
Cellar beetle
Potter wasp
Lacewing
Wood ant
Seven-spot ladybird
Death’s-head hawk-moth
Hoverfly
Oil beetle
Knopper
Bullet ant
Bombardier beetle
Dung beetle
Cleg
Mayfly
Field cricket
Bumble bee
Dung fly
Click beetle
Warble
Hummingbird hawk-moth
Ground beetle
Glow-worm
Stag beetle larva
Spittlebug
Deathwatch beetle
Minotaur beetle
Tiger moth
Caddis
Deer ked
Cinnabar
Scorpionfly
Conopid fly
Angle shades
Cranefly
Mother Shipton
Robber fly
Bee fly
Puss moth caterpillar
Picture-winged fly
Rose chafer
Bee-wolf
Burying beetle
Head louse
Dragonfly
Orange-tip
Ruby-tail wasp
Devil’s coach-horse
Magpie moth
Purple emperor
Stonefly
Plume moth
Damselfly
Cockchafer
Comma
Snakefly
Cat flea
Speckled wood
Termite
Cicada
Bed bug
Water skater
Praying mantis
Water boatman
Cockroach
Leafcutter bee
Rainbow leaf beetle
Ichneumon
Mosquito
Goat moth caterpillar
Horntail
Antlion
Aphid
Lacebug
Wart-biter
Stick insect
Assassin bug
Springtail
Appendix
Woodlouse
Centipede
Wolf Spider
Millipede
Index
Back Cover