Big Bugs Life-Size - Softcover

George Beccaloni

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0565092138 ISBN 13: 9780565092139

Publisher: The Natural History Museum, 2010

Synopsis

Big Bugs Life-size is the first book to feature life-size photographs of the world's largest and most spectacular bugs. It establishes for the first time which of the world's bug species are the heaviest, the longest, and have the greatest wingspan. Discover the record-breaking stick insect which is almost as long as your arm, a cockroach with the wingspan of a cereal bowl and come face to face with a fly as big as your eye. The book gives all the essential facts about the world's biggest minibeasts, including where they live and what they eat. Everything known about the biology, ecology and distribution of each species is summarised and much of this information has never been compiled before. Did you know that the world's largest millipede is the length of a strand of spaghetti? Or that one of the longest beetles on the planet can break a pencil with its powerful jaws? Some of these giant creepy crawlies are so rare that very few museums have specimens, and some like the giant West African antlion and Fruhstorfer s giant dobsonfly have never been illustrated in any book before. They often have fascinating stories associated with them too. Find out how war-like termite soldiers defend a nest without having eyes, and what the goliath bird-eating spider actually eats. Stunningly illustrated throughout, including a special fold-out page of the world's longest insect, Big Bugs Life-size shows just how huge these creatures really are.

About this title

Review:

Biggest Buts ... will amaze browsers and encourage readers to search for additional information.--Kathy Piehl"School Library Journal" (05/01/2011)

Even for the skittish, it's hard not to marvel at these buggy behemoths.--Julie Leibach"Audubon Magazine" (03/11/2011)

Libraries in need of a bug book of world records might find this historical overview helpful.--Marilyn Teicher, Library Media Specialist, PS 86 Bronx, NY"Library Media Connection" (05/01/2011)

The visual appeal alone will entice even the most reluctant readers.--Angela Leeper"Library Journal" (12/01/2010)

This jolly reference work showcases nonmarine arthropods, excluding crustaceans and including arachnids and myriapods...in common parlance, bugs! Not just any bugs, but startlingly big bugs, the biggest of their kind...and here reproduced in glossy, spine-stiffening life-size photographs. George Beccaloni's text is sharp and loaded with facts but also intelligently enthusiastic. He wisely includes maps to show the creatures' distribution--at least some readers will be happy to note how far away many of them live. "My first notable encounter with any bug was with one of the species featured in the book," says Beccaloni. "When I was two and living in Kenya, I found a rolled-up giant African millipede, the world's longest bug. Mistaking it for a biscuit, I bit it." In such curious ways are entomologists born, though most will be happy they saw this book first. A Notable Book

This large attractive hardcover book will entice budding naturalists and world-record enthusiasts. This book is adorned with vivid colour photographs, numerous life-size images, quick fact boxes along with world map distributions of 21 record-breaking insects.... Visually this book is eye-catching with an attractive design structure of large headings with bug silhouettes, fact boxes and stunning photography. This book will make an attractive and information-packed addition to your insect section and definitely attract the "Guinness World Records" audience of the bug world. Avid insect enthusiasts and budding entomologists of all ages will find this book to be fascinating and informative. This book would be useful for scientific research of various insects in elementary school and middle years.

Biggest Bugs will amaze and inform curious young readers who may never get to see such exceptional species in the wild. It may encourage a new sense of respect for this diverse group of living things that many of us consider to be merely 'creepy crawlers'. Highly Recommended.--Gillian Richardson"Canadian Materials" (11/12/2010)

Beccaloni defines biggest to mean "the largest body length or greatest wingspan" (though in many cases, the biggest length-wise are the heaviest) and includes a hefty sampling of 35 big "bugs" from all around the world, along with informative text and geographic maps.... Even for the skittish, it's hard not to marvel at these buggy behemoths. At least in this case, they're confined to the safety of the page.--Julie Leibach"Audubon Magazine" (03/11/2011)

A book about creepy crawlies always attracts student attention. In this volume the reader will learn about more than twenty different bugs. Presented are the heaviest, the widest and the longest from all over the world. Some may be extinct, some are decades old and in museums or private collections. The table of contents lists the common name and the scientific order with the scientific name on the page with the description of the bug. A map shows where each bug lives and photographs depict their exact sizes. Older students may find the book useful in their biology pursuits. Libraries in need of a bug book of world records might find this historical overview helpful.--Marilyn Teicher, Library Media Specialist, PS 86 B"Library Media Connection" (05/01/2011)

Beccaloni identifies the largest representative of major orders of insects, arachnids and myriapods. Each spread offers basic information plus a dramatic life-size photo and a small world map indicating the animal's range. Largest can mean heaviest, longest or those with the greatest wingspan. All will amaze browsers and encourage readers to search for additional information.--Kathy Piehl"School Library Journal" (05/01/2011)

About the Author:

George Beccaloni has worked in the Natural History Museum's Entomology Department since 1996. In 2003 he became the Museum's Curator of Orthopteroid Insects (grasshoppers, crickets, cockroaches, stick insects and their relatives). He started collecting and studying insects at the age of ten whilst he was living in Zimbabwe. He went on to do a BSc in Zoology at Imperial College, London, and then a PhD on South American butterflies jointly at Imperial and the Natural History Museum, London. He has been fortunate enough to see nearly a quarter of the species featured in this book alive in the wild. He is the author of many popular and scientific articles, as well as four other books.

About this edition

• Publisher: The Natural History Museum
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0565092138
• ISBN 13: 9780565092139
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 84