Insects represent over half of the planet's biodiversity. This popular manual provides a comprehensive introduction to this amazing diversity and places entomology at the center of evolutionary and ecological studies.
Fully revised, this fifth edition begins with a chapter on the popular side of entomology, including insects that are the subject of citizen science, those exhibited in zoos, and examining insects as food for humans and animals. The following chapters cover basic characteristics of insect structure, function, behavior, ecology, and classification, along with appropriate molecular studies. Much of the book is organized around major biological themes: living in the soil, in water, on plants, in colonies, as predators, parasites, and prey. The entire book runs on a strong evolutionary axis.

The systematic chapter has been extensively revised, and the new chapter titled "Insects in a Changing World" includes both the responses of insects to climate change and the consequences of climate change and human-induced changes in the global distribution of insects. The updated taxonomic inserts provide comprehensive information on all aspects of the 28 major orders of insects as well as the three orders of hexapods that are not insects. New texts describe growing concerns about the environment and commercially important trees (including eucalyptus, palm trees, and coffee trees) that are threatened by insects, and explain the value of genetic data as well as evolutionary developmental biology and DNA decoding in insect biodiversity studies.

The authors maintain the clarity and coherence of previous editions and expand the already rich illustration with new drawings. Over fifty color photographs, along with the texts and the relevant website, encourage further exploration in the scientific study of insects. The book has been written to serve as the basic manual for students studying entomology, as well as a reference book for undergraduate and graduate students in ecology, agriculture, fish farming, forestry, paleontology, zoology, medicine, and veterinary medicine.