Insects of the Los Angeles Basin

When you encounter an insect, you need answers to some basic questions: What is it? Why is it here in my house or office or yard? What does it eat? (Is it eating my clothes, my food, my favorite plants?) Will it sting or bite me? Does it carry disease?

In fact, only about 1% of the insect species found in southern California should provoke this kind of alarmed vigilance in the human residents. The other 99% are harmless or actually extremely important to our well-being in that they are pollinators, food for other animals that we value, reducers of organic waste, or regulators of the populations of destructive organisms. These insects should be encouraged, and this book will help you to know them.