Big fleas have little fleas : how discoveries of invertebrate diseases are advancing modern science / Elizabeth W. Davidson.

Tucson : University of Arizona Press, [2006], ©2006.

xiv, 198 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 23 cm

Includes bibliographical references (p. 185-190) and index.

Pasteur, silkworms, and the germ theory of disease -- Of caterpillars and crystals : bacterial toxins as insecticides -- Out of Africa : bacteria against mosquitoes and blackflies -- The virus that cures : the baculovirus gene expression system -- Scourge of the South Pacific : the rhinoceros beetle -- Bug against bug : invertebrate antibiotics -- Saved by a crab : Limulus amoebocyte lysate assay -- Sea sickness : diseases of edible shellfish -- Deadly hitchhikers : crustaceans and cholera -- Cloak and dagger : nematodes aginst insect pests -- Bad news for the good guys : diseases and parasites of bees -- The mysterious reappearing fungus : gypsy moth pathogen -- The sixth plague of Egypt : fungus and the desert locust -- Ad infinitum : insect symbiotic organisms -- Postscript : landmarks that tie our stories together.