Encyclopedia of Insects

"This is like Wikipedia on steroids – it has all kinds of topics and it’s easily accessible, but the difference between it and Wikipedia is that the Encyclopedia ’s editors did a superb job of seeking out go-to guys who are the absolute experts on the subject. It’s not completely comprehensive, you won’t find every insect-related topic in here. But each topic is covered by an entomologist who arguably knows more about it than anyone else, so it’s a delight. If I were stranded on a desert island, I would like to have this book with me because it’s endlessly entertaining. It’s not just about arcane technical topics like Mantophasmatodea , a new order of carnivorous insects that was recently discovered in Africa. I don’t think the average person on the street has burning questions about Mantophasmatodea . There are accessible topics too. I was invited to contribute a chapter on “Movies, Insects in.” I had the idea as a graduate student at Cornell. I noticed a sign on campus that said the Asian-American Society was showing Godzilla , and I thought if Asian-Americans can have a sense of humour about their identity, why can’t entomologists? I thought: We could prey on people’s fears and misperceptions to draw them in and then we could explain to them why insects are useful. I pitched the idea to the department head at Cornell. He thought it was undignified. When I got to Illinois, once I established my credentials as a legitimate scientist I suggested it to my department head here. The festival is entering its 29th year and I’m happy to say we are in no danger of running out of insect films. We exploit insects in all kinds of ways. Silkworms produce silk, bees produce honey and wax. Of course there’s the pollinators. We also employ parasitic insects – in many cases an insect’s worst enemy is another insect, so we mass-rear parasitic wasps and release them to manage crop pests without causing the collateral damage that’s associated with synthetic insecticides. We even exploit dung feeders and the consumers of dead bodies. We clean museum specimens by throwing a dead body into a colony of so-called museum beetles. Carrion beetles strip every last bit of flesh off a bone more efficiently than any chemical processing. So we use insects in all kinds of ways. They contribute services, they just don’t get the credit for it. It’s an interesting question because it’s difficult to make the case to the public that protecting insects is important. Not many insects are as charismatic as the endangered mega fauna – the noble bald eagle and other poster creatures for conservation, such as leopards. It’s not quite the same when you’re worried about saving the Haematopinus oliveri , otherwise known as the pygmy hog sucking louse. It feeds exclusively on pygmy hogs, which like it are endangered. It’s a struggle to get insects listed under the Endangered Species Act provisions. The preponderance are butterflies. People care about butterflies. But other insects – those that may not be so pretty to look at – are also marvels of evolution."