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Synopsis Insects and arachnids, more often than not, evoke feelings of revulsion disgust and fear amongst the large majority of us. Butterflies, with their striking colours, are perhaps the only insect family that fascinates and beguiles us; the rest do not merit much of our attention. Nevertheless, insects and arachnids play a more important role in our ecosystem than we would like to imagine. Their presence or absence is as good an indicator of its health as that of any birds or mammals.

Much of our disaffirming perception of insects and arachnids emerges largely due to ignorance and prejudice and it’s about time that people get to know these organisms better and look at these allegedly obnoxious creatures in a more empathetic light. In India, while we have quite a number of filed guides and information on birds, reptiles, mammals and even butterflies for the lay person, we do not have a handy and basic field guide on insects and arachnids. This book seeks to fill this lacuna…

There are over 1 million species of insects and over 100,000 species of arachnids present today, with many more being identified daily. Given such a magnitude, to try and identify every individual specimen is not possible. Instead, an easier approach is to familiarize oneself with the common characteristics and key identification for different families. This book aims to do so-by walking the reader through the different orders, using beautiful photographs of these amazing organisms-and will help identify most of them out in the field. Arachnids abound just as insects, and this book serves as two guides in one book. Though we have limited ourselves to insects and arachnids found in the southern states of India, most species are quite ubiquitous and are found through most parts of India. This guide, therefore, can be used quite easily anywhere in India.