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>What am I allowed to collect?


For the most part the vast majority of what you collect will not be treated or listed and you are totally allowed to collect them. Collections normally consist mostly of adult insects and since most insects have short lives so you are likely killing them after they have already reproduced and are near death anyways. It is all worth noting that insect population are also so large that when you are only take a small number for a collection you are not affecting the species very much at all. That being said there are only a few insects that are listed as endangered and you should avoid collecting. I assume you live in the US so you can look up endangered species here.


>Can I collect at a state park?


State parks are normally not ok to collect in but it depends where you are. A good rule of thumb is to collect on private property (your own or with permission), Bureau of Land Management land, and National Forests (not National Parks) link for more info and exceptions.


>Where's the best place to learn about preserving and mounting?


Short videos (scroll to the bottom of page for videos)
text
bugguide
more info on traps and advanced methods

I didn't notice this mentioned on the links but make sure to keep some sort of poison inside of the box you stope insects in. If you do not carpet beetles (dermestids) will eat your collection. My favorite method is to crush up a mothball (made with para-Dichlorobenzene not naphthalene) and sprinkle it in the box replacing when scent is gone. Also if you live someplace with high humidity consider putting in desiccant packs to keep things dry and help prevent mold.


>How's, uh, the odor of a mounting workbench?


I work on my collection in my bedroom and the smell is fine. Some big beetles can stink as they dry (insides rotting) and if you pin a stink bug or darkling beetle you will smell them but it isn't bad enough to warrant putting them in the garage and most things will have no smell at all. I would also encourage you not to store insects in the garage since it is best for pinned insects to stay dry and garages can be moist. The things that do smell, however, will be poison (ethyl acetate, acetone, and PDB) so store those in your garage.


>apparently a good starter's kit is ~120$


If you want to spend that much that's fine but you can really start a lot cheaper. You can start with only a few dollars by collecting things in jars then putting them in the freezer to die. I suggest that you buy directly from BioQuip, pretty much the only entomology supply company. I think this starter kit would be perfect for your needs and only costs $40. I believe you were looking at this which is nice and if you are wanting nicer quality things it works, I personally liked starting with the basic kit then upgrading piece by piece once I knew what I liked and wanted.

Identifying:

When IDing here are some good resources

• bugguide.net
  
  
• Peterson Guide for common families
  
  
• the ultimate intro to entomology is Borrer and DeLong it has a lot of issues and some of the keys leave a lot to be desired but with it you can key out any North American insect or arachnid to family as well as get familiar with entomological terms and anatomy. The downside its it ranges from $200-$500
  
  If you can't ID something try:
  
  
• /r/whatsthisbug
  
• contact your local entomology museum or department
  
• if you don't have a local one you can reach UC Davis' at [email protected] just attach a photo
  
• or PM me :)
  
  Happy collecting!
  
  
  
  

You might also want to ask r/mantids , but a quick amazon search turned this up. Assuming your friend has an interest in raising them, it seems like a great choice. I've raised a few myself, and they're really a lot of fun and pretty easy to take care of. This store sells them, and r/invertpets can always answer his questions.

As for more general insect ecology, A Buzz in the Meadow is a great read. The Forest Unseen covers more than just insects, but is very engaging and well written.

Sorry, HUGE dragonfly nerd here! That's a sympetrum sp. (common name Meadowhawk)! I've done a bit of work with them in the past. They are pretty common, but individual species for sympetrums are pretty hard to tell apart. :/ Though, it looks like a male to me with it's bright colors. They come out in late summer and are still around until the end of September. Sympetrums are a perching species that like to establish territories for breeding. They will find a perch, go after prey, and come back to their perch, which is much different from a hawking dragonfly like Anax junius (an Aeshna) that likes to hunt as it flies. Dragonflies also predict where a prey is going to be and intercept it, they don't chase after prey. How cool is that! I really recommend getting a Stoke's beginner guide to dragonflies! It's the best cheap guide I've found for dragonflies http://www.amazon.com/Stokes-Beginners-Guide-Dragonflies-Nikula/dp/0316816795/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347984018&sr=8-1&keywords=stokes+beginners+guide+to+dragonflies

There are various editions to this book, but it has a general overview of different insects with a good deal of pictures and a useful set of keys in the back: Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity by Stephen Marshall.

Sting of the Wild by Justin Schmidt, this is an interesting read by an entomologist that evaluates the intensity of stings of various insects, along with other interesting pieces of information. He also predates Coyote Peterson in this endeavor.

Infested by Brooke Borel is about bed bugs and was entertaining for me hearing about stories of what people have done in response to the presence of bed bugs and other anecdotes.

Also, consider doing a search or two on this sub, or via google but focused on reddit, for book recommendations as this has come up in the past, but I don't have a link handy for it unfortunately. Some other good things have been suggested before!

Enjoy!

Go and pick up "Borror and DeLongs Introduction to the Study of Insects" (https://www.amazon.com/Borror-DeLongs-Introduction-Study-Insects/dp/0030968356)

It is where all entomologist begin and this book is essential in the field (i.e. you will always use this book, need this book). Stay away from field guides at the beginning if you're serious about becoming an entomologist, they have pretty pictures and are good for outreach but honestly, kind of useless unless you only want to identify the charismatic taxa that you'll likely already know. Eventually you'll figure out that a field guide leads to more misidentification than accurate identification.

First thing you'll want to learn is the structure of taxonomy and the Insect Orders, that'll put you on the path to learning Latin. Get to a point that you can identify any insect to order almost immediately. Once there pick an order to focus on learning families, pick something you like. If you want a challenge go for Diptera.

So, get the book and learn the orders, go out and look at bugs and practice identifying to Order. Honestly you probably won't have any luck volunteering at a museum or research laboratory. It's just not worth a researchers time to train a volunteer, sorry but it's the truth.
Good luck!

In terms of field guides, I've found both Glassberg's "Butterflies through Binoculars" and Petersen's "Field Guide to Western Butterflies" to be amazingly helpful for identifying Leps on the go.

Technical books can be a bit trickier, however. I wholeheartedly agree with sandozguineapig's recommendation on Triplehorn's textbook. I'm currently using the 7th edition for many of my entomology courses and both the keys and family descriptions are excellent for all the insect orders. Another book my Lepidopterist friend actually uses in her work is Scoble's "The Lepidoptera: Form, Function and Diversity" and tells me it is also quite an excellent book.

I'll be sure to ask some folks around lab to see if they have any suggestions!

The best thing you can do is become familiar with the terminology. This book was useful for looking up various nomenclatures on certain body parts or regions, like which veins are which on wings. Otherwise This book had some good keys in it, but it's primarily description based, and many other keys I've used beyond it are this way as well. For the book, it was convenient that it had many pictures to reference in earlier chapters if you wanted some visual confirmation you were on the right path in the key. Otherwise, I'd suggest getting with the professor and asking for sources they might suggest to become better with the terminology.

The keys I've used with as many pictures as descriptions were constrained to species-level ID of one insect. There might be some sources you can find with some internet searches, though those aren't so easy to find all the time.
Bugguide.net might be a resource you can consider, though it doesn't act as a key, and is more useful if you are already familiar with the different types of insects and their classifications.

If you're a beginner, and are interested in becoming more interested, so to speak, the Smithsonian Handbook of Insects and Other Arthropods has extensive information in addition to full-color photography of specimens on almost every page. It's not a field guide, but being able to see just how wonderfully varied and colorful every different family of insect there are can really pique your interest.

I picked up the book on a whim in the library one day and it really sparked my interest in entomology so you should give it a try too!

Borror, Delong, Triplehornes Intro to the Study of Insects is the standard text for systematic entomology classes... it is not a "guide book" but a series of keys. It will get you to the family level, but you need to be comfortable with keys.

Edit: if you want specific guides to certain orders or families... you're best bet is searching google for posted keys (usually region specific) or searching academic sources for keys.

Yes! Definitely need multiple sources. I usually don't use more then one field guide though. I use the field guy mentioned above, Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity by Marshall and then bugguide as another source. Marshall has an interesting key and a great set of photo references.

By the way, I just bought this book at Barnes & Noble:

http://www.amazon.com/National-Wildlife-Federation-Insects-Spiders/dp/1402741537/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

It's really basic stuff, but I got it mainly for the new taxonomy (this book was published just several years ago) and the CRAP LOAD of photos of a pretty decent coverage of various families. I wouldn't consider the guide my go-to, but it makes a nice color visual complement to my Peterson guides.

EDIT: Yes, I consider this photographic guide far superior to the Audubon guides.

I'd also suggest ditching the Audubon guide. Quite frankly, it's rubbish. Poorly organized, and a number of the photos are incorrectly ID'd. I highly recommend the Kauffman Guide to Insects by Eric Eaton for a broad overview of North American insect fauna.

Otherwise, if you're focusing on butterflies, the Peterson guides are quite useful. The eastern and western volumes by Opler are both useful, but lack quality keys.

The recently revised Peterson guide to Northeastern moths by Beadle & Leckie is impressive in its coverage (but by no means comprehensive) but similarly lacks any sort of useful key for identification.

If you're looking for other field guide recommendations, I'd be happy to share!

Here's how I survived college (virtually every subject): The Memory Book. These are techniques that memory champions use (those dudes who memorize Pi to 1000s of digits and stuff like that). Surprisingly easy to learn.

Alex Wild has a great blog. He's arguably the best insect photographer around. Another favourite of mine is Piotr Naskrecki's The Smaller Majority.

If you want to go more in-depth: Gullan & Cranston's The Insects is an excellent introductory entomology textbook

E.O. Wilson is a great myrmecologist (studier of ants) who has published several interesting books on science and nature. I believe he is still Professor Emeritus at Harvard.

The standard text for intro to ent courses is Borror and DeLong's Introduction to the Study of Insects. If you hope to go on and study entomology I'd recommend picking it up and starting to try to use the keys. And, also, learning the basics of collecting, preserving, and labeling.

I'd like to add that you should definitely get a field guide to insects that is relevant to your area. Being able to ID what you catch at least to order or family will make the whole thing more enjoyable and will help you learn what you are catching. If you can afford it this is a FANTASTIC book with a ton of photos that is appropriate to your area.

This one? I've used it a lot and it's quite good.
Edit: Amazon says "May 31st 2007" so I'm not sure if that's the publication date or just the date it became available on Amazon but that makes me think it's probably not this one. This is a good guide so if you can't find the one you had in the 90's I'd recommend either this one or the Kaufman field guide.

I use the National wildlife federation's field guide. It is by no means exhaustive but it helps me identify most things. The pictures are great.
https://www.amazon.com/National-Wildlife-Federation-Insects-Spiders/dp/1402741537/ref=pd_sim_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1402741537&pd_rd_r=CYNBQ573JKYM4SCS4W21&pd_rd_w=7e5Oe&pd_rd_wg=VTINW&psc=1&refRID=CYNBQ573JKYM4SCS4W21

Personally I'm a big fan of Steve Marshall's book:
http://www.amazon.com/Insects-Natural-History-Diversity-Photographic/dp/1552979008

It's well written in plain english, with tons and tons of pictures. I found it extremely easy to read when I was first getting into entomology, yet very accurate and informative. Covers all the major families you're likely to run into, and works well as a field guide too (except it weighs a ton!).

Plus, since it's not technically a textbook, it's relatively cheap.

I haven't heard of any good insect field guide apps, but this is my favorite field guide:

National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Insects and Spiders & Related Species of North America https://www.amazon.com/dp/1402741537/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_kbj-tb1X4SW2Z

This is a close second:

Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America (Kaufman Field Guides) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0618153101/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_zfj-tb1ZVGNYF

Edit: it's probably worth getting both for those prices.

You will need boxes for keeping your pinned insects in, and vials for your alcohol-preserved ones (wingless). 70% isopropyl alcohol is what I have used for preserving wingless insects, so you'll need a good bit of that too. Don't forget the pins, and maybe a couple mothballs for keeping the dermestid beetles out of your lovely collection.

For field collecting, you should have a charged kill jar (http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/ythfacts/4h/unit1/mkjar.htm) and a butterfly net at the very least. I also carry a large jar of alcohol for wingless specimens which I later separate into vials at home.

Be careful with anything you use as the active agent in the kill jar- it IS poison. Always wash your hands after handling specimens.

Oh, almost forgot books. There are a lot of good bug books but you probably want a cheaper one to serve as a field guide. Kaufman's will have a lot of the more common insects that you find (assuming you are in North America). http://www.amazon.com/Kaufman-Field-Insects-America-Guides/dp/0618153101 It's my favorite. Others swear by National Wildlife Federation's or Audubon, which are slightly more advanced. It's a personal preference.

I use the Kaufman field guide to insects of north america to identify insects at least down to the family level. It doesnt have every species, but it has the most common ones from each family and very good pictures imo. It can be ordered on amazon here https://www.amazon.com/Kaufman-Field-Insects-America-Guides/dp/0618153101

Leptoglossus looks pretty close. It seems the standard introductory text that everyone uses is this book. I would recommend trying to find it used.

Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity by Stephen Marshall is a rather large book that gives some information on each of the orders of insects. Following the write-ups there are many pictures detailing the various families among each order with descriptions about those families. Then, toward the end of the book there is a dichotomous key that can be used to ID insects to family.


That is what was recommended in my introductory entomology class for identification, but the bulk of what I learned was from lecture materials that aren't commercially available. Hopefully other folks here might have a good idea for other books/media!

Hi OP - I'm a forest entomologist and I would love to write to your niece!

also, if she is also into dolls, my husband bought me one of these and honestly it's pretty cool. THere is also a weirdly specific kids book, but idk what age level it is

and a blog-ish

The best field guide in the US is the Kaufman insect guide, hands down

Befriend BioQuip and get some good books. Mostly, have fun!

https://aphidsrus.wordpress.com/2019/03/08/lady-entomologists-international-womens-day-2019/

https://thedragonflywoman.com/about/

http://spiderblogger.blogspot.com/p/about.html

https://www.amazon.com/Barbie-GDM49-Entomologist-Doll-Playset/dp/B07NQ9YSRH LOL

The Insects: An Outline of Entomology by Gullan & Cranston is pretty much the standard textbook on entomology.

Check out The Ants by E.O. Wilson. Probably my favorite insect book.

An entomology Textbook would be a good place to start, or even a field guide.
https://www.amazon.com/Borror-DeLongs-Introduction-Study-Insects/dp/0030968356/ref=sr_1_43?ie=UTF8&qid=1479056077&sr=8-43&keywords=entomology

I recommend you purchase this book, read it, start a collection, and identify all of your specimens using the keys inside the book.

http://www.amazon.com/Borror-DeLongs-Introduction-Study-Insects/dp/0030968356

Fantastic! Also I went away and came back and realized I'd said the wrong book - I meant to suggest the Smithsonian Handbook of Insects (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0789493926/?coliid=I3CYLCZJO1VXU&colid=1V8VOEPLL0OQ7&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it) - I don't think it's specific to North America (which, maybe erroneously, I have assumed you are) but it's laid out really accessibly, I think.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Ants-Bert-Holldobler/dp/0674040759

I use the Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America.

[You can preview it here] (https://books.google.com/books?id=aWVi0IF_jcQC&pg=PA302&lpg=PA302&dq=Ocyptamus+fascipennis&source=web&ots=N-2Sq3PNbM&sig=B7-AH3uIPt40SJtTr_v1SIKNdFA&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result#v=onepage&q&f=false) to see if it's got everything you're looking for.

I got a lot out of reading Superorganism. Could be used either as reference or as something to read through.

http://www.amazon.com/Superorganism-Beauty-Elegance-Strangeness-Societies/dp/0393067041/ref=sr_1_26?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1382143744&sr=1-26&keywords=ant+book

Buy a local field guide. Then if that fails... http://www.amazon.com/Borror-DeLongs-Introduction-Study-Insects/dp/0030968356

Here is the mobile version of your link

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0030968356?pc_redir=1411850440&robot_redir=1

Borrer and Delong might have larval keys to family but it has been so long since I looked at the book that I can't remember.

Why is your Prof requiring family identification for larvae. That is a bit cruel for a general ento class.