Dmmetler Posted January 25, 2016 Share Posted January 25, 2016 Here's what I've pulled together for DD so far. She will also be doing some of the field collection and lab work at the college, and meeting with her mentor. I'm still looking for more, but this has been a fun unit so far. NC State general entomology course materials https://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/ent425/course/index.html We ordered the following books: How to Know the Insects (Pictured Key Nature Series) 3rd Edition by Roger G. Bland (Author), H. E. Jaques (Author) The Insects: An Outline of Entomology 3rd Edition by P. J. Gullan (Author), P. S. Cranston (Author) and are using this app http://www.audubonguides.com/field-guides/insects-spiders-nature-app.html For ethical reasons, we are substituting catching, identifying, photographing and releasing insects rather than collecting them. Insects/arthropods that we've kept and observed so far: Mealworms/Darkling beetles Tenebrio molitor Superworms/beetles-Zophobas morio House cricket-Acheta domesticus Lesser Wax Moth (Achroia grisella) Madagascar Hissing Cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa) Brown House Spider (Steatoda grossa) Except for the spider, who volunteered by crawling across the floor, all of these are insects that we know people who keep as pets or as feeders, so we were able to get them for a period to observe, but have a place to send them back to (the cockroaches came from the college biology department, where they're used for the entomology and some of the general biology classes to do many of the same sorts of labs DD is doing). Online virtual dissections Cockroach http://www.orkin.com/cockroaches/virtual-roach/ Grasshopper http://www.ent.iastate.edu/ref/anatomy/ihop/ Lab instructions- Hissing cockroach behavior lab homepages.gac.edu/~jwotton2/.../COCKROACH%20BEHAVIOR3.doc Animal behavior using arthropods www.ableweb.org/volumes/vol-3/7-larsen.pdf 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommymonster Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 This looks amazing! Have you come across the Bug Chicks? They are an amazing duo of entomologists that work hard to spread bug love. http://thebugchicks.com/We've been to a number of their presentations and they do a marvelous job. Also, if you're up for more bug friends, maybe consider bess beetles. They are super cool! They live in social groups and they stridulate (14 different sounds!). They eat rotting wood (well, they get their nutrition from a fungus that grows on their own excrement) and you can't clean their living spaces because then they wouldn't have fungus to eat. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalmia Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 Oh this is so exciting! I love insects more than... well, anything. I second the bess beetles, one of my favorite teaching animals. In our region right now, promethea moth coccons are highly visible in the winter landscape hanging from the end of twigs. If you build an outdoor cocoonery (also protects them from squirrel predation), you could collect some from areas where collecting is allowed and watch them eclose around April or May depending on your location. If they are females numerous local males will be attrated by their scent. We've had thirteen males come by on eclosion day. We then release them to continue the species. I know your daughter has been improving your property to make it a better habitat for herps. Along the same lines, Dr. Douglas W. Tallamy (who is at the University of Delaware), author of Bringing Nature Home, offers an guide to improving your property for insects. http://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Nature-Home-Wildlife-Expanded/dp/0881929921/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453822426&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=Douglas+Tollamy Other living books: Anything by Robert Michael Pyle (lepidopterist) Walking the High Ridge, Chasing Monarchs, Handbook for Butterfly Watchers, Sky Time in Gray's River) A Buzz in the Meadow and A Sting in the Tale by Dave Goulson (entomologist or ecologist) E.O. Wilson Ants Tracks and Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates by Eiseman and Charney (Stackpole Books) Summer World, Winter World, Bumblebee Economics by Bernd Heinrich Adventures with Insects by Richard Headstrom Crickets and Katydids, Concerts and Solos by Vincent G. Dethier The Life Cycles for Butterflies by Judy Burris and Wayne Richards (mostly for the photos) Discovering Moths by John Himmelman Anything by Gilbert Waldbauer (Insects through the Seasons, What Good are Bugs) Life in the Soil by James B. Nardi Lang Elliot's CDs of Insect Sounds Moths and Butterflies Mary C. Dickerson (vintage) Garden Insects of North America by Cranshaw The Smaller Minority by Naskrecki For Love of Insects by Eisner Manual for the Study of Insects by Comstock and Herrick (vintage) Caterpillars of Eastern North America by Wagner (best caterpillar ID book out there) Broadsides from Other Orders by Sue Hubbell 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted January 26, 2016 Author Share Posted January 26, 2016 Thanks! DD has been having a tough time this fall, and really needed more hands on animal and outdoor field time, so since the college was offering Entomology, it seemed a good time to spend some time with arthropods. It's been a good unit so far, and she's enjoying it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted January 27, 2016 Author Share Posted January 27, 2016 We just got these today-neither are insects, but they should be good to use for comparative anatomy along with virtual dissections, books,and external anatomy http://smile.amazon.com/Famemaster-4D-Scorpion-Anatomy-Model/dp/B002W7W9RQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453928323&sr=8-1&keywords=4d+scorpion http://smile.amazon.com/4D-Tarantula-Spider-Anatomy-Model/dp/B001YIT6QQ/ref=pd_sim_21_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=41okEIVyGdL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR119%2C160_&refRID=0DTENP0YXAQXVGWQTCVT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted February 8, 2016 Author Share Posted February 8, 2016 Purdue University has a ton of materials, both free and paid, designed for use in 4H entomology programs https://mdc.itap.purdue.edu/subcategory.asp?subCatID=353&CatID=16 Isopod behavior lab (part of AP biology, but we used it as part of entomology after discovering isopods while moving a frog pond) http://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/isopod_behavior_lab.html 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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