Insects + Spiders

Writing a guide to the beetles of Australia is no simple task. According to the Australian Museum, there are potentially 30’000 species that may occur in Australia. Only two-thirds of these have been scientifically described. The authors accomplished something amazing with this book. They’ve provided an overview of most beetle families that may be encountered in Australia. … [Read more...] about Book Review: A Guide To The Beetles Of Australia

One of the things that shocked me when I started exploring bee identification was how difficult it was to narrow a bee to species. This is due to two reasons: there is still a lot of work to be done in the field you need to be able to view the small details, some of which can only be seen using magnification. I would submit my photos to citizen science websites … [Read more...] about Book Review: A Guide to Native Bees of Australia

Miniature Lives is my second favourite guide for identifying insects. I love Backyard Insects but eventually outgrew it. I had bought other insect field guides but was struggling. It was sheer information overwhelm and a completely different scenario than bird identification. Michelle Gleeson created the perfect book to introduce readers to more advanced methods of … [Read more...] about Book Review: Miniature Lives

I fell into entomology by accident. I was testing out my macro lens on the various insect and spider species I had and noticed I was seeing the same species repeatedly. I wanted to learn more about the animals I was seeing so I could get better photos of them in the future. This was the first book I bought on insects and it is still the one I pull out first. It is the best … [Read more...] about Book Review: Backyard Insects

It took me a while to become interested in spiders. At first, I dismissed them because the ones I encountered around the house were either associated with warnings or embodied the definition of creepy-crawly. Then I started coming across different species while hiking or birdwatching. These new spiders were fascinating, with unique markings and behaviour. I paid more attention … [Read more...] about Book Review: A Guide to the Spiders of Australia