Mudlark
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First published by J.M. Stenersens Forlag AS 2018
This UK edition published by Mudlark 2019
FIRST EDITION
Text © Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson 2018
Translation © Lucy Moffatt 2019
This translation has been published with the financial support of NORLA, Norwegian Literature Abroad
Chapter illustrations © Tuva Sverdrup-Thygeson 2018
Cover layout design by Holly Macdonald © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019
Cover photographs © Shutterstock.com
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
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Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at www.harpercollins.co.uk/green
Source ISBN: 9780008316358
Ebook Edition © April 2019 ISBN: 9780008316389
Version 2020-02-11
Contents
Chapter 1: Small Creatures, Smart Design: Insect Anatomy
Chapter 2: Six-legged Sex: Dating, Mating and Parenting
Chapter 3: Eat or Be Eaten: Insects in the Food Chain
Chapter 4: Insects and Plants: A Never-ending Race
Chapter 5: Busy Flies, Flavoursome Bugs: Insects and Our Food
Chapter 6: The Circle of Life – and Death: Insects as Caretakers
Chapter 7: From Silk to Shellac: Industries of Insects
Chapter 8: Lifesavers, Pioneers and Nobel Prize-winners: Insights from Insects
Chapter 9: Insects and Us: What’s Next?
About the Publisher
Nature is nowhere as great as in its smallest creatures
PLINY THE ELDER
Naturalis historia 11, 1.4,
Ca. 79 CE
Golden ringed dragonfly (Cordulegaster boltonii)
Indian stick insect (Necroscia sparaxes)
Spotted predatory katydid (Chlorobalius leucoviridis) eating a cicada
Leaf-cutter ant worker
Solitary bees
Sawyer beetle (Prionus coriarius, ovipositing and larvae), stag beetle (Lucanus cervus, large larva at bottom), rose chafer (Cetonia aurata, larva above Lucanus larva), darkling beetle (Tenebrionidae, larvae top-right)
Dance fly (Empis tessellata)
Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)
I’ve always liked spending time outdoors, especially in the forest. Preferably in places where signs of human life are few and far between, and evidence of our modern impact scarce; among trees older than any living person, trees that have toppled headlong, nose-diving into the springy moss. Here they lie, in prostrate silence, as life continues its eternal round dance.
The