Entomology (from Greek , ''entomos'', "that which is cut in pieces or engraved/segmented", hence "insect"; and , ''-logia'') is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology. At some 1.3 million described species, insects account for more than two-thirds of all known organisms, date back some 400 million years, and have many kinds of interactions with humans and other forms of life on earth. It is a specialty within the field of biology. Though technically incorrect, the definition is sometimes widened to include the study of terrestrial animals in other arthropod groups or other phyla, such as arachnids, myriapods, earthworms, land snails, and slugs.

Like several of the other fields that are categorized within zoology, entomology is a taxon-based category; any form of scientific study in which there is a focus on insect related inquiries is, by definition, entomology. Entomology therefore includes a cross-section of topics as diverse as molecular genetics, behavior, biomechanics, biochemistry, systematics, physiology, developmental biology, ecology, morphology, paleontology, anthropology, robotics, agriculture, nutrition, forensic science, and more.

History of entomology[link]

Entomology is rooted in nearly all human cultures from prehistoric times, primarily in the context of agriculture (especially biological control and beekeeping), but scientific study began only as recently as the 16th century.

The list of entomologists through recorded history is enormous, and includes such notable figures as Charles Darwin, Jean-Henri Fabre, Vladimir Nabokov, Karl von Frisch (winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine,) and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner E. O. Wilson.

Entomology in popular culture[link]

Gil Grissom on the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation TV show is an entomologist, who is played by actor William Petersen. Similarly, entomologist Jack Hodgins of ''Bones'', portrayed by TJ Thyne, helps his team by analyzing insects (such as ''Hydrotaea'') and "particulates" near to or attached to decomposed victims, often identifying the precise location a murder originally occurred; he is also an expert in botany and mineralogy.

In Arthur Conan Doyle's story, ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'', the villain is a naturalist who collects butterflies, making him an "evil" entomologist.

The Aubrey–Maturin sea novels of Patrick O'Brian have frequent appearances by Sir Joseph Blaine, a Royal Navy intelligence official who is also an avid entomologist. He recruits Dr. Stephen Maturin, one of the principal characters, as a spy. Their conferences on espionage activities invariably make room for their shared interest in naturalist studies.

There are numerous science fiction books which have plots based on humans becoming smaller and having to deal with insects at their level. Some examples are ''The Insect Warriors'' by Rex Dean Levie, ''Atta'' by Francis Rufus Bellamy, ''Bug Park'' by James P. Hogan, ''The Micronauts'' series by Gordon Williams, and ''The Forgotten Planet'' by Murray Leinster. ''The Forgotten Planet''s plot is twisted in that the insects are the size of men (or larger) on a planet "seeded" to prepare it for human habitation. Robert Asprin wrote ''The Bug Wars'', a novel about war between reptiles and insects on an interplanetary scale.

There are quite a few films about insects, or at least prominently featuring them. Widespread attitudes of revulsion and fear toward insects are often exploited by Horror and Science Fiction films through insect/insect-like monsters (Them! is a famous early example), or by showing humans transformed into (The Fly) or attacked by insects. Another more positive type of insect film is animation with anthropomorphized insects as characters.

Identification of insects[link]

Most insects can easily be recognized to order such as Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants) or Coleoptera (beetles). However, insects other than Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) are typically identifiable to genus or species only through the use of Identification keys and Monographs. Because the class Insecta contains a very large number of species (over 330,000 species of beetles alone) and the characteristics separating them are unfamiliar, and often subtle (or invisible without a microscope), this is often very difficult even for a specialist. This has led to the development of automated species identification systems targeted on insects, for example, Daisy, ABIS, SPIDA and Draw-wing

Insect identification is an increasingly common hobby, with butterflies and dragonflies being the most popular.

Taxonomic specialization[link]

Many entomologists specialize in a single order or even a family of insects, and a number of these subspecialties are given their own informal names, typically (but not always) derived from the scientific name of the group:

Apiology (or melittology) - bees

Coleopterology - beetles

Dipterology - flies

Hemipterology - true bugs

Lepidopterology - moths and butterflies

Myrmecology - ants

Orthopterology - grasshoppers, crickets, etc.

Trichopterology - caddis flies

Organizations[link]

Like other scientific specialties, entomologists have a number of local, national, and international organizations. There are also many organizations specializing in specific subareas.

Amateur Entomologists' Society

Deutsches Entomologisches Institut

Entomological Society of America

Entomological Society of Canada

Entomological Society of Japan

International Union for the Study of Social Insects

Netherlands Entomological Society

Royal Belgian Entomological Society

Royal Entomological Society of London

Société Entomologique de France

Museums[link]

Here is a list of selected museums which contain very large insect collections.

Asia[link]

Museum Satwa Jawa Timur Park 2, Malang, Indonesia [jawatimurpark2.com]

Africa[link]

Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

Europe[link]

World Museum Liverpool

The Bugworld Experience, Liverpool

Natural History Museum, London Natural History Museum

Natural History Museum, Vienna Naturhistorisches Museum

Natural History Museum, Paris Muséum national d'histoire naturelle

Natural History Museum, Berlin Humboldt Museum

Royal Museum for Central Africa, Brussels Royal Museum for Central Africa

Natural History Museum, Leiden Natural History Museum, Leiden

Natural History Museum, Sweden Swedish Museum of Natural History

Natural History Museum, St. Petersburg Zoological Collection of the Russian Academy of Science

Natural History Museum, Geneva

The Bavarian State Collection of Zoology Zoologische Staatssammlung München

Natural History Museum, Budapest Hungarian Natural History Museum

United States[link]

Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

American Museum of Natural History, New York City, New York

Auburn University Entomological Museum, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama

Audubon Insectarium, New Orleans, Louisiana

Bohart Museum of Entomology, Davis, California

California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California

Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Essig Museum, Berkeley, California

Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois

Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, California

National Museum of Natural History, Washington, District of Columbia

North Carolina State University Insect Museum, Raleigh, North Carolina

Peabody Museum of Natural History, New Haven, Connecticut

Texas A&M; University, College Station, Texas

University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota

University of Kansas Natural History Museum, Lawrence, Kansas

University of Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln, Nebraska

University of Missouri Enns Entomology Museum, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri

Canada[link]

Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Ontario

Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes, Ottawa, Ontario

E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta

Lyman Entomological Museum, Macdonald Campus of McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec

Montreal Insectarium, Montreal, Quebec

Royal Alberta Museum, Edmonton, Alberta

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario

Newfoundland Insectarium, Reidville, Newfoundland and Labrador

University of Guelph Insect Collection, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario

See also[link]

Ethnoentomology

Insects on stamps

List of entomologists

List of entomological journals

Timeline of entomology – 1800–1850

Timeline of entomology – 1850–1900

Timeline of entomology since 1900

Footnotes[link]

Further reading[link]

Chiang, H.C. and G. C. Jahn 1996. Entomology in the Cambodia-IRRI-Australia Project. (in Chinese) Chinese Entomol. Soc. Newsltr. (Taiwan) 3: 9-11.

Davidson, E. 2006. Big Fleas Have Little Fleas: How Discoveries of Invertebrate Diseases Are Advancing Modern Science University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 208 pages, ISBN 0-8165-2544-7.

Triplehorn, Charles A. and Norman F. Johnson (2005-05-19). Borror and DeLong's Introduction to the Study of Insects, 7th edition, Thomas Brooks/Cole. ISBN 0-03-096835-6. — a classic textbook in North America.

Capinera, JL (editor). 2008. Encyclopedia of Entomology, 2nd Edition. Springer. ISBN 1-4020-6242-7.

External links[link]

USDA Collecting methods.Detailed instructions

Arthropa Extensive photo album sorted by topic (French language).

Virtual Insect Museum

Best of the Bugs Entomology Web sites selected by entomologists

G.D. Hale Carpenter, ''A Naturalist on Lake Victoria, with an Account of Sleeping Sickness and the Tse-tse Fly''; 1920. T.F. Unwin Ltd, London; Biodiversity Archive.

Tereshkin Scientific illustration in entomology Tereshkin, A. 2008: Methodology of a scientific drawings preparation in entomology on example of ichneumon flies (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae). ''Euroasian Entomological Journal'', 7(1): 1-9 + I-VII

Academic institutions

Department of Entomology and Nematology at the University of Florida

Department of Plant, Soil & Insect Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

Department of Entomology at Texas A&M; University

Department of Entomology at Purdue University

Department of Entomology at University of Georgia

Department of Entomology at Iowa State University

Department of Entomology at Michigan State University

Department of Entomology at University of California, Riverside

Department of Entomology at Cornell University

* Category:Subfields of arthropodology

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name	Thomas Truax
background	solo_singer
origin	New York
genre	steam punkoutsider music
years active	2000-
label	SL Records
notable instruments	Own creations (Sister Spinster, Hornicator, Mary Poppins, Stringaling, The Backbeater, Mother Superior), Guitar }}

Thomas Truax (pronounced troo-aks) is an American songwriter, performer, and inventor of experimental musical instruments currently residing in London, England.

Biography[link]

He first came to prominence as a solo performer in the 1990s in New York as one of a group of musicians and songwriters (including Lach, Jeff Lewis, Curtis Eller, and Beck) who made up the antifolk movement based around the Sidewalk Cafe on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Truax's emergence as a solo act came after years of fronting bands (most notably Like Wow). The move was in part to remove the need to rely on other people to perform and to embark in a new direction that would distinguish his act from the hundreds of bands and singer-songwriters active in New York. This new direction involved the construction and playing of unique instruments, as well as more traditional singer-songwriter style songs. The 'inventor' side of his musical act drew on his work as an animator on MTV's Celebrity Death Match and a fascination since early childhood with building objects out of whatever materials he had available. Thomas's use of 'primitive' technology, the often fantastical elements of his songs and gothic overtones (his website talks of his instruments 'as though plucked straight from the mind of Tim Burton') have led to him being linked to the subgenre of steampunk.

Truax's first two instruments were the Cadillac Beatspinner Wheel and the Hornicator, the former being a system of spinning wheels, metal spokes and small cymbals, which, through the use of various contact mics, 'beats out' through the PA a primitive drum beat that forms the backing to songs that Thomas then plays on guitar. Its large size made the Beatspinner Wheel unsuitable for touring, so Truax created a smaller version, entitled 'Sister Spinster' that he uses to this day. The Hornicator started life as an old gramophone record horn, before Truax added a set of strings, a kazoo and a microphone. Here Thomas beats out the rhythm on the horn's metal casing (using a ringed finger to create a 'click' and other fingers to create a contrastive 'thud') which is then repeated through the use of a looper pedal that records the beat and loops it over the PA, allowing Thomas to add more layers of other instrumentation (through the strings and other implements attached to the Hornicator). Finally Thomas sings a vocal through a microphone attached to the instrument.

Other instruments work as variations on automatic rhythms and looped beats: the Stringaling features a vaguely bongo-like drum at the top of a length of clothes' drier tubing to which is attached a variety of musical devices with pull-strings; Mary Poppins features a metal column attached to which are two arms that fly out to the side and spin, creating a train-like rhythm; the Backbeater, made up of several rotating spokes, straps on to Thomas' back and spins to create a low rhythm. Some songs do not feature any of his inventions, most notably 'Inside the Internet' which is played solely on guitar, and 'The Butterfly & The Entomologist', which is again played on a guitar, albeit with the use of a pocket fan that Thomas uses to hit the strings to produce an eerie effect. Common themes in Thomas's songs include love, loneliness, travel, the animal kingdom, nature and technology.

Truax was once challenged to show how he makes an instrument. Given many items retrieved from a recycle bin, within 15 minutes he created a rhythmic invention which he looped through effects with water and rubber bands.

Though Truax usually only performs solo, his records contain songs with full band arrangements, along with his invented instruments. He has been featured in several music documentaries including Adam Clitheroe's 'One Man In The Band' (2008) and Gabriel Shalom's 'Instrumental'(2005).

Singles[link]

''"The Haunted Thrift Shop"'', ''"Inside the Internet"'', ''"Sucked Inside"'' CD 'Singles Club 9' single on Homesleep Records(Italy) rec2016s09 (2004)

''"Hornicating With Sister Spinster"'' 5 Songs + 2 episodes of the Wowtown News radio show. Limited edition tour-Only EP, self released (2004)

''"Have We Been Left Behind"'' b/w ''"Lessons In Art"'' aA2W/021 Limited Edition 7" vinyl, Akoustik Anarkhy Records, Manchester (2006)

''"There Is A Light That Never Goes Out"'' b/w ''"Like A Fallen Tree"'' SL Records (2007)

''"Stranger On A Train"''(remix) b/w ''"One Piece At A Time"'' SL Records (2008)

''"Joe Meek Warns Buddy Holly"'' b/w ''"We're So Heavy"'' SL Records (2009)

Compilation Tracks:

"Chicken Coop Cooper" -The Wild West Most Wanted' Smoking Gun Records Compilation (2004)

"Shooting Stars" Remixed version Truck Records festival compilation 'Truck Seven' (2004)

"John The Waiter" Luv-A-Lot Records (LV-12) 'A Luv-a-lot Compilation' (2003)

AS GUEST: The Leg (artist) "A Musical Tribute to the Forest of Dean" (8 song vinyl lp - 2006) Thomas plays Stringaling

AS GUEST: Duke Special (artist) On the album 'I Never Thought This Day Would Come' (Universal/V2 2008) Thomas appears as guest vocalist in the song "Flesh and Blood Dance", portraying the ringleader in a ballroom of skeletons. He also added some Stringaling.

"Audio Addiction" Ballroom of Romance compilation Count Records Dublin (July 2007)

"Our Trip To Blunderland" (Truax/Cynics) 'Newest One 08' Thomas contributed piano to this Kitchen Cynics song-a-day song compilation (2008)

"Moon Catatonia" was featured on Stranger Than Paradise/Gyspy Madness compilation (2008)

AS SONGWRITER: Duke Special 'The Silent World Of Hector Mann' (Reel to Reel Recordings, 2009) Truax wrote the song 'The Prop Man' on Hornicator, it was performed by Duke Special and features a full band.

Albums[link]

"Full Moon Over Wowtown" (Psycho Teddy Records, US/Breakin' Beats, Europe - 2002)

"Audio Addiction" (Psycho Teddy Records, US/Breakin' Beats, Europe - 2005)

"Why Dogs Howl at the Moon" (SL Records - 2007)

"Songs from the films of David Lynch" (Psycho Teddy Records, SL Records - 2009)

"Sonic Dreamer" (Psycho Teddy Records, SL Records - 2010)

"Monthly Journal" (Blang - 2012)

References[link]

External links [link]

ThomasTruax.com

Interview with Thomas Truax, May 2009

Category:American male singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Living people