Entomologist Justin O. Schmidt is on a mission. Some say it's a brave exploration, others shake their heads in disbelief. His goal? To compare the impacts of stinging insects on humans, mainly using himself as the gauge. In The Sting of the Wild, the colorful Dr. Schmidt takes us on a journey inside the lives of stinging insects, seeing the world through their eyes as well as his own. He explains how and why they attack and reveals the powerful punch they can deliver with a small venom gland and a "sting," the name for the apparatus that delivers the venom. We learn which insects are the worst to encounter and why some are barely worth considering. The Sting of the Wild includes the complete Schmidt Sting Pain Index, published here for the first time. In addition to a numerical ranking of the agony of each of the eighty-three stings he's sampled so far (from below 1 to an excruciatingly painful 4), Schmidt describes them in prose worthy of a professional wine critic: "Looks deceive. Rich and full-bodied in appearance, but flavorless" and "Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch nail embedded in your heel." Schmidt explains that, for some insects, stinging is used for hunting: small wasps, for example, can paralyze huge caterpillars and then lay their eggs inside so that their larvae can feast within. Others are used to kill competing insects, even members of their own species. Humans usually experience stings as defensive maneuvers used by insects to protect their nest mates. With colorful descriptions of each venom's sensation and a story that leaves you tingling with awe, The Sting of the Wild's one-of-a-kind style will fire your imagination.

The first edition of Tanada and Kaya s "Insect Pathology" is the standard reference in the field for researchers and both undergraduate and graduate students and is well known worldwide among entomologists. However, the field has seen rapid advances in the 20 years since its original publication, and the new edition brings together an essential and updated resource for researchers with 13 chapters edited by Fernando E. Vega and Harry K. Kaya.

Many of these advances involve new insights on ecology as well as phylogenetics and molecular biology of viruses, bacteria, fungi, microsporidia, nematodes, and protists. All these aspects, as well as basic biology, diagnosis, infectious process and pathogenesis, host response, transmission and more, are covered by renowned experts in their respective fields. The second edition of "Insect Pathology" includes chapters on the history of this discipline, principles of microbial control and epizootiology, diseases of beneficial insects, host resistance, and Wolbachia. This thoroughly illustrated and up-to-date revision will provide insect pathologists, entomologists, microbiologists, mycologists, nematologists, protistologists, ecologists, and practitioners of biological control of insect pests with a solid and much-needed reference.
Covers all major groups of insect pathogens Includes chapters on the history of insect pathology, principles of microbial control and epizootiology, host resistance, Wolbachia and diseases of beneficial insectsIncludes contributions from the leading researchers and emerging leaders in their fields"

Written in easy to follow language, the book presents cutting-edge agriculturally relevant plant biotechnologies and applications in a manner that is accessible to all. This book updates and introduces the scope and method of plant biotechnologies and molecular breeding within the context of environmental analysis and assessment, a diminishing supply of productive arable land, scarce water resources and climate change. New plant breeding techniques including CRISPR-cas system are now tools to meet these challenges both in developed countries and in developing countries. Ethical issues, intellectual property rights, regulation policies in various countries related to agricultural biotechnology are examined. The rapid developments in plant biotechnology are explained to a large audience with relevant examples. New varieties of crops can be adapted to new climatic conditions in order to reduce pest-associated losses and the adverse abiotic effects

A unique and personal insight into the ecology and evolution of pollinators, their relationships with flowers, and their conservation in a rapidly changing world. The pollination of flowers by insects, birds and other animals is a fundamentally important ecological function that supports both the natural world and human society. Without pollinators to facilitate the sexual reproduction of plants, the world would be a biologically poorer place in which to live, there would be an impact on food security, and human health would suffer. Written by one of the world's leading pollination ecologists, this book provides an introduction to what pollinators are, how their interactions with flowers have evolved, and the fundamental ecology of these relationships. It explores the pollination of wild and agricultural plants in a variety of habitats and contexts, including urban, rural and agricultural environments. The author also provides practical advice on how individuals and organisations can study, and support, pollinators. As well as covering the natural history of pollinators and flowers, the author discusses their cultural importance, and the ways in which pollinator conservation has been portrayed from a political perspective. The book draws on field work experiences in South America, Africa, Australia, the Canary Islands and the UK. For over 30 years the author has spent his career researching how plants and pollinators evolve relationships, how these interactions function ecologically, their importance for society, and how we can conserve them in a rapidly changing world. This book offers a unique and personal insight into the science of pollinators and pollination, aimed at anyone who is interested in understanding these fascinating and crucial ecological interactions.

DIRECTLY APPLIES TO LIFE ON LAND SDG and CLIMATE CHANGE SDG. International organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization and World Organization for Animal Health have all reminded us that health impacts of climate change will become some of societies' greatest challenges. How we respond or adapt to climate change will have profound implications for people, animals, biodiversity, economies and ecosystems today as well as in the future. The book provides, in one easy reference, all of the information Animal Health practitioners need from defining the climate change concept, providing science-based evidence of climate change degradation of animal (ecosystem) health and successful mitigation and reversal strategies. Despite being arguably the most important challenges of the 21st century, engagement, and leadership from the animal health sector on climate change remains hard to find. This book attempts to support animal health professionals by providing information, knowledge, and experiences they can use to remedy this situation. There is no other book that covers anything like the proposed subject matter to this level of completeness and detail. The publishing of a text of this nature could help erode the power of the climate denialism lobby, shifting the debate and allowing mitigation efforts to gain higher priority. The tone of the book has an understated sense of urgency, leaning slightly toward presenting as a 'Manual for the apocalypse'. This has potential to be a benchmark publication. The text not only defines climate change but takes a proactive approach with intervention and corrective action examples: each chapter ends with suggestions on teachable and actionable ideas that could be used to mobilize concepts and information provided into education or advocacy. In this way, the book not only brings key ideas, principles and information to understand the implications for climate change for animal health, but will help translate the book's offerings into education and intervention. Teachers and researchers could use this one-of-a-kind book to frame a course or seminar series heightening student career engagement and stewardship of a more sustainable and healthier planet.

The use of hermit crabs as an experimental model for motivational studies is discussed in this book by expert behavioural ecologists. The book is timely since there is a growing recognition that the integration of causal and functional studies are needed, which is discussed by the authors. This book should be of interest to a wide range of behavioural ecologists.

Viruses that are pathogenic to beneficial insects and other arthropods cause millions of dollars of damage every year to industries, such as sericulture, apiculture, and aquaculture (e.g. infecting honeybees and silk worms). On the other hand, viruses that are pathogenic to insect pests can be exploited as attractive biological control agents. Another fascinating feature of these viruses is that some, e.g. baculoviruses, have been commercially exploited for use as gene expression and delivery vectors in both insect and mammalian cells. All of these factors have led to an explosion in the amount of research into insect viruses in recent years, generating impressive quantities of information on the molecular and cellular biology of these viruses. This timely book reviews the exciting new developments in the field of insect virology. Written by internationally renowned insect virologists, the chapters review the current molecular biology of all the major groups of insect pathogenic viruse

Vertebrates and Invertebrates of European Cities: Selected Non-Avian Fauna is the first known account of the vertebrate and invertebrate fauna of several cities in Europe and throughout the rest of the world. It excludes birds, which are described in a companion volume. The book contains eleven chapters about nine cities distributed throughout Europe. The chapters start with the history of the cities, which is followed by a description of the abiotic features such as geology, climate, air and water quality and then a brief account of the habitats. The vertebrate chapters describe the fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals that are known to occur in each city together with their status and the habitats in which they occur, for example housing, industrial areas, parks, transport routes and rivers. The invertebrate chapters contain an account of the presence, status and habitats occupied by 6 - 8 of the major invertebrate groups including butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies, crickets and grasshoppers, beetles, molluscs, spiders, mites and springtails. This volume has been written and edited to be accessible to a wide range of interests and expertise including academic biologists, urban ecologists, landscape architects, planners, urban designers, undergraduates, other students and people with a general interest in natural history (especially cities) - not only in Europe but throughout the world.

Seit C. BRUNNER von WATTENWYL 1882 seinen Prodromus der europaischen Orthopteren veroffentlichte, ist keine zusammenfassende Arbeit mehr auf diesem Gebiet erschienen. Viele Anderungen haben sich seither in Syste- matik und Nomenklatur ergeben, zahlreiche neue Arten wurden beschrie- ben, andere eingezogen. Viele dieser Anderungen ergaben sich aus klei- neren Arbeiten, die zerstreut in den verschiedenen wissenschaftlichen Zeitschriften Europas in den vergangenen 86 Jahren erschienen, was ein umfassendes Arbeiten mit den Orthopteren Europas ungemein erschwerte. Urn eine neue Arbeitsgrundlage ftir diese uralte, im Verhalten und auch anderweitig hochinteressante Insektengruppe zu schaff en, habe ich in jahrelangen Vorarbeiten die Literatur und Material aus ganz Europa einge- hend studiert; nur ganz wenige Arten (sie sind im Textjeweils mit einem * gekennzeichnet) konnte ich nicht untersuchen, weil sie nicht zu erhalten waren. Meine liebe Frau stand mir bei der Arbeit unentwegt zur Seite und hat auch viele Tausend Messungen durchgefuhrt, urn die Variationsbreite in der GroBe der einzelnen Arten zu erfassen. Meine Untersuchungen im British Museum (Natural History), London, im Instituto Espanol de Entomologia, Madrid, und im Naturhistorischen Museum, Wien, wurden mir von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft, Bad Godesberg, ermoglicht, der ich hiermit nochmals herzlich danke. Mit Material, Literatur und gutem Rat unterstutzten mich die Damen und Herren: ProGBP Dr. z. R. ADAMOVIC, Belgrad, ProGBP Dr. B. BACCETTI, Siena, Prof. Dr. M. BEIER, Wien, ProGBP Dr.

This is a new addition to Glassberg's celebrated Butterflies (and Others) through Binoculars series of field guides. As such, it rivals his earlier--and highly popular--Field and Finding Guide to Butterflies of the Boston-New York-Washington Region by providing an intensive focus on the butterflies and best butterflying sites for another highly populated and heavily traveled region. This time, the terrain in question is the state of Florida--one of the leading tourist destinations in the world. Butterfly enthusiasts, nature lovers, and curious general readers will perhaps be surprised to learn that Florida's specialized butterfly fauna is wholly unique within the United States. And until the appearance of this volume, there has been no adequate field guide for the butterflies of this region. Thus this guide's advantages are many and varied: it identifies butterflies as photographed throughout the state; it simplifies identification by limiting the species considered to those occurring exclusively in Florida; it covers several fascinating tropical species that can be found in both Florida and the Caribbean; and it lastly provides--with unprecedented detail--much useful data on Florida's flight times and abundances.

Immunologists, perhaps understandably, most often concentrate on the human immune system, an anthropocentric focus that has resulted in a dearth of information about the immune function of all other species within the animal kingdom. However, knowledge of animal immune function could help not only to better understand human immunology, but perhaps more importantly, it could help to treat and avoid the blights that affect animals, which consequently affect humans. Take for example the mass death of honeybees in recent years - their demise, resulting in much less pollination, poses a serious threat to numerous crops, and thus the food supply. There is a similar disappearance of frogs internationally, signaling ecological problems, among them fungal infections. This book aims to fill this void by describing and discussing what is known about non-human immunology. It covers various major animal phyla, its chapters organized in a progression from the simplest unicellular organisms to the most complex vertebrates, mammals. Chapters are written by experts, covering the latest findings and new research being conducted about each phylum. Edwin L. Cooper is a Distinguished Professor in the Laboratory of Comparative Immunology, Department of Neurobiology at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine.

This timely book revisits cryptic female choice in arthropods, gathering detailed contributions from around the world to address key behavioral, ecological and evolutionary questions. The reader will find a critical summary of major breakthroughs in taxon-oriented chapters that offer many new perspectives and cases to explore and in many cases unpublished data. Many groups of arthropods such as spiders, harvestmen, flies, moths, crickets, earwigs, beetles, eusocial insects, shrimp and crabs are discussed. Sexual selection is currently the focus of numerous and controversial theoretical and experimental studies. Selection in mating and post-mating patterns can be shaped by several different mechanisms, including sperm competition, extreme sexual conflict and cryptic female choice. Discrimination among males during or after copulation is called cryptic female choice because it occurs after intromission, the event that was formerly used as the definitive criterion of male reproductive success and is therefore usually difficult to detect and confirm. Because it sequentially follows intra- and intersexual interactions that occur before copulation, cryptic female choice has the power to alter or negate precopulatory sexual selection. However, though female roles in biasing male paternity after copulation have been proposed for a number of species distributed in many animal groups, cryptic female choice continues to be often underestimated. Furthermore, in recent years the concept of sexual conflict has been frequently misused, linking sexual selection by female choice irrevocably and exclusively with sexually antagonistic co-evolution, without exploring other alternatives. The book offers an essential source of information on how two fields, selective cooperation and individual sex interests, work together in the context of cryptic female choice in nature, using arthropods as model organisms. It is bound to spark valuable discussions among scientists working in evolutionary biology across the world, motivating new generations to unveil the astonishing secrets of sexual biology throughout the animal kingdom.

Insektopedie lê die betowering en ryke verskeidenheid van die wêreld van insekte bloot. Dit deurgrond hul fassinerende gedrag en biologie – van paring en broeigedrag, metamorfose en beweging tot sig, reuk, gehoor en hul aanpassings by hitte en koue.

’n Hoofstuk oor superorganismes ondersoek die merkwaardige verskynsel van sosiale gemeenskappe; ’n ander een dek die kritieke rol wat dié diertjies speel om die fyn balans van lewe op ons planeet in stand te hou.

Die boek sluit af met ’n 60-bladsy geïllustreerde veldgids wat die meeste insekordes en hul belangrikste families beskryf. Voorheen as Inseklopedie van Suider-Afrika gepubliseer, maar die nuwe uitgawe is nou grondig hersien en herontwerp, met die nuutste inligting, ’n uitgebreide ID-seksie en ’n paar honderd nuwe foto’s.

This book is the second volume of two books about sea urchins (echinoids) since 1953 (Th. Mortensen). The detailed and coloured illustrated descriptions enable the reader to identify all species living today in our oceans. Recent scientific searchings are included. Volume II. describes the Irregularia with bilateral symmetry, including the well known "sand dollars" and "heart urchins", living mostly more or less deeply burrowed in the substrat.

This book as been requested by a number of researchers since the original supplement was published in 2003. There is increasing demand for it. The book contains an identification key and colour plates of the species known from the Sinai Peninsula. Darkling beetles serve as a model group for a wide range of research, e.g. in faunistics, biogeography, phylogeography, and taxonomy. They are of the interest of the active and future researchers and amateurs. Many potential readers in the Middle East countries deal with biogeography and bionomics of Tenebrionidae as a model group. One researcher said "There is an absolute gap in the market concerning professional books dealing with the beetles of the family Tenebrionidae" As well as being a valuable taxonomic reference, the book can be used on the following course/modules: biogeography, desert life, ecology of insects, local faunas of insects.

This book summarizes all currently available information on the ecology, environmental impacts and control methods of the golden mussel in industrial plants. The golden mussel was introduced in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and South America between 1965 and 1990, swiftly spreading in freshwater waterbodies. In most areas invaded it has become the dominant macroinverebrate and a major fouling pest of industrial plants. Limnoperna fortunei attaches to any hard surface, as well as to some less firm substrates. The growth of Limnoperna populations in raw cooling water conduits became a common nuisance in many industrial and power plants that use raw river or lake water for their processes, both in South America and in Asia. This work is written by experts on the golden mussel from Asia, Europe, North America and South America, each chapter critically reviews previously available information, which is in sources of limited distribution, such as internal reports and theses, in various languages.

In my book Introduction to High Altitude Entomology, published in 1962, I summa rized the results of eight years' studies, mainly on the Himalaya. I have since then had the opportunity of studying the collections of high altitude insects from the Alps, Carpathians, Caucasus, Urals, Alai-Pamirs, Tien Shan, Altai and other im portant mountains of the world in different museums and institutions in Europe. Through the courtesy and generosity of the Academy of Sciences of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, I was also able to personally collect insects and make valuable field observations on the Caucasus, the Alai-Pamirs, Ala-Tau and the Tien Shan mountains. Through comparative studies I have tried to synthesize the fundamental principles of high altitude entomology. I have described here the distinctive characters of the high altitude environment, the ecological specializations of the high altitude insects, their ecological inter relations and the outstanding peculiarities of their biogeography. I have also pre sented here an outline of the high altitude entomology of the principal mountains of the world, with brief accounts of their orogeny, geology and vegetation. This book differs from all other contributions in the field in its comparative ecological approach and in the fact that the main emphasis is throughout on the evolution of the high altitude ecosystem as an integral part of the orogeny. High mountains are, in all parts of the world, important and independent centres of origin and differ entiation of distinctive and highly specialized ecosystems and faunas."

Evolution gave rise to a prominent insect diversity at every level of ecological niche. Since then, hordes of insects have threatened human and cattle health as well as most of all green lands and agricultural crops. Now, the insect problem expands from many mutant forms of yellow dengue fever mosquitoes to highly-resistant larvae of most all various phytophageous species. The tremendous expansion of insects is due not only to an increasing resistance capacity to insecticides, but also to a strong capacity for adapting to different climate and environmental changes, including global warming. Obviously insects display a number of rudimentary systems to build an extremely efficient organism to survive in a changing world. In many species, one pheromone molecule is enough to trigger mating behavior. Therefore, insects have become crucial models not only for evolutionary studies, but also for understanding specific mechanisms underlying sensory-based behaviors. Most of insect species such as ants, beetles, cockroaches, locusts, moths and mosquitoes largely rely on olfactory cues to explore the environment and find con-specifics or food sources. A conglomerate of renowned international scientific experts is gathered to expose the insect problem on the various continents of the planet and propose an alternative to the use of toxic insecticides. Sex pheromones, specific chemical signals necessary for reproduction, and pheromone detection in insects are described with full details of the olfactory mechanisms in the antennae and higher centers in the brain. Thus, new synthetic pheromones and/or plant odors with specific molecular target sites in the insect olfactory system are proposed for sustainable development in agricultural and entomological industries. Disrupting insect pheromone channels and plant odor detection mechanisms is solemnly envisioned as a unique way to control invasive insect pest species while preserving human and environment safety.

This is the seventh volume of a ten-volume series on The Natural History of the Crustacea. Chapters in this volume synthesize our current understanding of early crustacean development from the egg through the embryonic and larval phase. The first part of this book focuses on the elemental aspects of crustacean embryonic development. The second part of the book provides an account of the larval phase of crustaceans and describes processes that influence the development from hatching to an adult-like juvenile. The third and final part of the book explores ecological interactions during the planktonic phase and how crustacean larvae manage to find food, navigate the dynamic water column, and avoid predators in a medium that offers few refuges.

Covering all major arthropods of medical importance worldwide, this award-winning resource has established itself as a standard reference for almost 25 years. With the globilization of commerce and the world becoming more intimately connected through the everyday ease of travel, unknown arthropod species are being increasingly encountered. This means access to up-to-date, authoritative information in medical entomology has never been more important. Now in its seventh edition, this book maintains its well-acclaimed status as the ultimate easy-to-use guide to identify disease-carrying arthropods, the common signs and symptoms of vector-borne diseases, and the current recommended procedures for treatment. Includes an in-depth chapter with diagnostic aids to help physicians to recognize and accurately diagnose arthropod-related diseases and conditions more easily Updates all chapters with the latest medical and scientific findings, including Zika virus, red meat allergy, new viruses found in ticks, and vaccine development for malaria and dengue fever Presents a greater medical parasitology emphasis throughout Offers electronic downloads containing additional photographs of arthropod-caused diseases and lesions, as well as instructional videos with pest identification aids, basic entomology, and insect and pest ecology. Illustrated throughout with detailed color images to aid identification, The Goddard Guide to Arthropods of Medical Importance, Seventh Edition will remain an essential guide for physicians, public health officials, and pest control professionals.

Problems of insect enumeration and assessment of needs are addressed in the contexts of rapid and substantial losses and changes to all key Australian terrestrial and freshwater environments and promoting awarenesss of the importance of insects. Further definition of the insect fauna and its peculiarities can aid threat alleviation and practical management to protect and conserve this unique and largely endemic biodiversity. Written for the many environmental managers and naturalists who are not primarily entomologists, the ten chapters expand from considerations of insect decline and diversity to the unique features of the Australian fauna and its characterisation. Cases and examples from throughout the world illustrate the major needs, approaches and priorities to sustaining a poorly known, diverse and ecologically varied insect heritage of global significance.

The system of multicellular animals presented here is an alternative to the traditional classification system which still operates with the categories of Carl Linné, including typological divisions in artificial species groups. In a new approach to the phylogenetic order in nature this book strives for an objective systematization of the metazoa. It seeks a new path in the field of academic research and teaching based on the theory and methodology of phylogenetic systematics. This volume covers the metazoa from the Molluscs up to the Arthropods; the forthcoming volume 3 will cover all the remaining metazoa.