Malaria, Chagas disease, tularemia, dysentery, and even pinkeye are just some of the diseases transmitted to humans by insects. Dr. John Meyer may have created this Web site for his entomology students at North Carolina State University, but its interesting material and straightforward format make this a great site for the general visitor as well. For each family of insect described, the Web site...

Provided by the London Museum of Natural History, this site indexes the bumblebees (genus Bombus) of the world. The list is searchable by biogeographic region or species name. The introduction page features a clickable map showing bumblebee densities of the world, a scatterplot showing the relationship between date of first description, taxonomic synonymies and range size (to demonstrate possible...

As carriers of many serious diseases throughout time, insects have certainly played a significant role in shaping world history. Edited by Drs. Gary Miller and Robert Peterson, this website from Montana State University devotes itself to understanding the impact of insect-borne diseases on world history. The site contains several feature articles including: The Role of Insects as Biological...

First published by Entomological Information Services in 1996-97 in four volumes, this online checklist is a complete listing (minus synonyms) of the approximately 90,000 species of insects of North America north of Mexico. The checklist is arranged alphabetically, by taxonomic rank. Detailed information includes "the current generic name, the species name, the author or authors of the name, the...

This Web site focuses on "one of the largest and most abundant families of present day insects" -- the Robber Flies. Maintained by Fritz Geller-Grimm of the Museum Wiesbaden in Germany and Cornell University graduate student Torsten Dikow, the site includes a variety of information on many aspects of these insects. The Asilidae section contains many resources that are most appropriate for an...

Yet another great site from PBS's NOVA Online. Tales from the Hive offers an up-close look at the interactions and social organizations of honey bees. Lots of vivid photographs and detailed descriptions of behavior help the visitor enjoy learning from the site. After learning how to interpret the dances bees use to tell their hivemates where to find nectar, users can test their understanding...

In many regions of North America, summer means interacting with a great variety of insects, including mosquitos, fireflies, ants, and bees. This playlist from TED Talk features 11 videos that explore the science behind a number of insects. In one video MacArthur Fellow and entomologist Marla Spivak explores why bee colonies are rapidly dying out and what this change might mean for humans (for one,...

The Termite Emulation of Regulatory Mound Environments by Simulation (TERMES) project at Loughborough University seeks to understand the complex architecture of termite mounds, focusing in particular on the Sandkings found in Africa. The work is intended to "serve as both the foundation for future basic research, and as inspiration for more tangible and immediate innovations in architecture,...

This Web site, edited by Mark Swanson, is "a collection of resources related to the fascinating antlion, or doodlebug." In addition to providing general information about antlions, this site contains "videos of antlion feeding behavior and metamorphosis, as well as information on how and where to find antlions." Frequently updated, the site recently added the Doodlebug Oracle, which answers...

Housed in the Department of Entomology at Purdue University, Mayfly Central is dedicated "to the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge about mayflies, or the insect order Ephemeroptera." The Mayflies of North America, a major project of Mayfly Central, contains a comprehensive species and species distribution list (674 entries as of May 2003). Mayfly Central regularly reviews the literature to...