Terrestrial arthropods, which include insects, spiders, and millipedes, comprise an estimated 80% of all species on earth.

Nobody can know them all, for there are over one million described species and many more to be discovered. Instead, taxonomists and other workers need to specialize in various groups. This book illustrates 50 species of terrestrial arthropods from California. Insects are the most diverse group and are well represented in this book. With species of a dragonfly, grasshopper, mantis, ten species of bugs, snakefly, moth, four species of flies, five species of bees and wasps, and six species of beetles. Arachnids are the second most diverse, and this book illustrates a wind scorpion, scorpion, and six species of spiders. Lastly, a millipede represents the Myriapods, a group that also includes centipedes.

For each illustration there is information on size, habitat, seasonality, life cycle, diet, and distribution. We provide suggestions on how to color the organism, so that the learner might recognize the species in the field. With so many species, this book introduces the learner to a broad diversity of terrestrial organisms. What branches of the tree of life interest you? There is still so much that we don’t know about terrestrial arthropod diversity and what they do in nature, but there is a lifetime to explore it!