Bagging Big Bugs ─ How to Identify, Collect and Display the Largest and Most Colorful Insects of the Rocky Mountain Region

Collecting bugs provides children and teenagers an avenue to discover the diversity and beauty of nature as well as the methodology of science. Many local organizations, such as 4-H clubs, hold display competitions, and often an amateur collector can "scoop" the experts by finding a particularly rare, even unstudied, specimen!
Most field guides, however, cover geographical ranges that are too large to allow for the detailed information that is essential to proper insect identification. Entomology professors Whitney Cranshaw and Boris Kondratieff have provided a detailed guide to the largest, most colorful and impressive insects and other arthropods of the Rocky Mountain region, including northern New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and sections of southern Canada.
Replete with information about each insect's life habits, distribution, regional history and related species, Bagging Big Bugs also provides guidelines for collecting, labeling, and displaying insect specimens. Latin names as well as common names are provided for each species (along with a pronunciation guide), and more than 250 photographs and line drawings make identification a snap. There is even a section highlighting commonly confused insect species and specimens!

Whitney Cranshaw is associate professor of entomology at Colorado State University.