Robert N. Wiedenmann and J. Ray Fisher: The silken thread: five insects and their impacts on human history

Abstract

As an entomologist, I always knew the many different ways insects are relevant for humans, though not from a historical point of view. In their book The Silken Thread: Five Insects and Their Impacts on Human History, Wiedenmann and Fisher narrate the relationship between humans and five insect species to highlight how these small animals connected the whole world for thousands of years. The selected species include two that had mostly positive impacts on humans through their products and services (the silkworm Bombyx mori and the western honey bee Apis mellifera), and three that caused millions of deaths due to the transmission of zoonotic diseases (the oriental rat flea Xenopsylla cheopis, the human body louse Pediculus humanus, and the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti).