National Insect Week
I would like to get a insect week started in the US, (see the link to the UK national insect week: http://www.nationalinsectweek.co.uk/ ) Since you guys have a great web presence I wanted to be the first official person to sign the “petition” to start a US based- National Insect Week (preferably during the school year so students can participate) Entomologists Unite!!
Michelle Gunter

February 12, 2010
We are very excited that we are nearing the end on writing our book, The Curious World of Bugs.  We are involved in the second round of edits, and it is time to lock the artwork content and placement.  We also need to write an introduction this weekend.  We are on schedule, and the book, which is being published by Penguin/Perigee, should be available by October.

Comment
March 11, 2010
I have been reading your site daily for about 2 years. I use it to identify insects for customers and for the general delight of myself and my family. My 7 year old daughter especially loves to catch bugs then run inside to identify them. We are very excited about your book and cannot wait until it is available for purchase!
crazyaboutbugs

Dear crazyaboutbugs,
Thanks for your kind words.  We are about to embark on perhaps the final flurry of activity regarding the book.  The final edit is scheduled to be back from the copy editor tomorrow, and we need to proof it and provide an introduction, reference list, and compile the illustrations that will accompany the text.  Once we have selected all of the imagery, the designer will create the final look of the book.  We are still right on schedule, and we expect the book to be hitting the shelves in October.

January 14, 2010
Our fellow college professor Sharon from the Speech Department accompanied us to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles today where Lila Higgins was gracious enough to give us a tour.  We met with Karen Wise who is in charge of Public Programs, and Dr. Brian Brown was kind enough to show us many interesting butterflies and beetles in the insect collection as well as an Ant Decapitating Fly he was viewing under a microscope.  We also went behind the scenes at the Insect Zoo where Lisa remembered meeting us at the UC Riverside Insect Collection several years ago.  Our trip was thoroughly delightful, and perhaps the high point was the rarities in the insect collection that are locked away for safe keeping.  There we saw several bilateral hermaphrodites of moths and butterflies that are male on one half and female on the other, an oddity made even more obvious when the species exhibits sexual dimorphism.  We look forward to future collaborations with the North Campus garden at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.

Correction courtesy of Eric Eaton
Daniel:
Was reading the entry on WTB about your trip to the natural history museum.  I hate to point out an error, but….
The half male/half female specimens are NOT bilateral “hermaphrodites.”  They are properly called bilateral gynandromorphs.  They are rare and spectacular indeed!
Eric

Thank You!
I just wanted to thank WTB for identifying a bug I had crawling up my bedroom wall about a month ago. It was a Western Conifer Seed Bug. After I knew what it was, I hopped onto WTB and found tons of useful info on my bug. Since I found him, I’ve kept him in a container (with plenty of airholes), and I’ve named him Axel. All he needs is water during the winter, and in the spring, I plan to release him on some conifer trees next to my house. Ever since finding the WTB page, I’ve been on here for 2-3 hours every day just looking at all the great pics of all the different bugs you have, I have to say that WTB is a truly amazing website and I cannot believe how much info you guys put out there. Thanks WTB, I am no longer a scaredy-cat about bugs! Thanks again for doing such a great job!
Jenn Kendall
West Brookfield, MA

In January 2009, we first posted the announcement that we are writing a book, and we are happy to announce that we emailed a first draft that is longer than we needed by about 15%, which means our editor at Penguin/Perigee will have room to cut content. Right now, the working title is The Curious World of Insects.  Our book will not be an identification guide and it will not be a scientific text.  To quote from our proposal “Rather than using the Q&A format, the book will be a compendium of accumulated information, and instead of concentrating on species identification in the way a field guide does, the What’s That Bug? book will be more of a general overview of groups of bugs.”  We will be spending December and January rewriting at the editor’s suggestion, and we also need to find visual content.  We will not be using photographs, but rather old entomological sketches from very old books, similar to the drawing of the earwig that appears on our homepage.  Please be patient as we try to shift some of our attention to meeting our commitment to our agent and editor and making good on our promise.  Chances are quite good that if you have a question, using our in site search engine should lead you to an answer.  If your direct question does not receive an answer, please do not take it personally.  It is because of our own time constraints.