Insects are a diverse, numerous and important group in aquatic habitats, occupying key functional and ecological roles. This edited volume brings together acknowledged experts in often disparate fields ranging from physiology through ecology to evolution to consider in a unified manner the challenges facing insect populations in aquatic environments and how they have adapted to achieve such prominence in virtually all habitats. It will be of central interest to researchers and students in aquatic insects and general entomology.

Based on over 2,500 specimens representing all the species of Leptinotarsa in Canada, the United States, and Mexico, this book includes studies on 31 of the 41 known species of the world. Included are host records, when available, and distribution data. The most complete information is available for nine species found in the United States.

In Butterfly Biology Systems Roger Dennis explores key topics and contentious issues in butterfly biology, specifically those in life history and behaviour. Uniquely, using a systems approach, the book focuses on the degree of integration and feedback between components and elements affecting each issue, as well as the links between different issues. The book comprises four sections. The first two sections introduce the reader to principles and approaches for investigating complex relationships, and provide a platform of knowledge on butterfly biology. The final two sections deal in turn with life history and behaviour, covering key issues affecting different stages of development from eggs to adults. The book is extensively illustrated with original diagrams and models, all of which have detailed legends, produced to enhance a broader understanding, and to provide templates for future research. It includes a detailed bibliography and glossary providing an essential gateway to the extensive literature on butterfly biology. Butterfly Biology Systems is essential reading for graduate students and researchers in insect ecology, evolution, behaviour and conservation. It will also be of great value to anyone interested in butterflies. Introduces a systems approach to butterfly biology Includes succinct reviews of the key interrelationships in butterfly life history and behaviour Illustrates more than 100 models to advance research into butterfly biology systems

Nematodes are the most abundant and diversified group in the animal kingdom, with four out of five animals on earth being nematodes. Nematology was first recognized as an independent discipline during the early part of the century and since that time has made unparalleled advances to become an integral part of biological sciences.Written as two volumes, this title provides a broad overview of our current knowledge of nematology. The first volume addresses basic biology, while the second volume covers applied aspects of nematodes as parasites of plants, humans and other animals, or as disease vectors, and the control of pest nematodes. The contributors to this work include the world 's leading authorities from Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, New Zealand, UK and USA. It will provide essential reading for researchers and students with an interest in nematology.

Represents the first comprehensive study of these moths in North America north of Mexico using modern systematic procedures involving assessment of a number of morphological and biological characters in relation to their phylogenetic status. This study also represents a worldwide generic study made in conjunction with the revision of the North American species, primarily to ascertain realistic generic limits and the placement of the various genera once included in the heterogeneous concept of the family. Extralimital genera are noted in a catalog of generic names associated with the Glyphipterigidae.

This book provides updated information on this intriguing and exciting group of insects: Neotropical Social Wasps. These insects have a particular biology and their colonies are formed by a few cooperative females living in either small or massive, structured nests where stinging individuals organize their activities and defend their offspring. Topics include evolutionary aspects, biogeography, post-embryonic development, community behavior and ecology, economic importance, and research methods.

Domestic livestock in Africa are of importance not only as a source of milk and meat but also as a source of animal traction enabling farmers to cultivate larger areas, with crops providing the staple foods. Trypanosomosis, a parasitic disease transmitted cyclically by the tsetse fly (Glossina spp.), is arguably still the main constraint to livestock production on the continent, preventing full use of the land to feed the rapidly increasing human population. Sleeping sickness, the disease caused in humans by species of Trypanosoma, is an important and neglected disease posing a threat to millions of people in tsetse-infested areas. Often wrongly thought of as a disease of the past, the prevalence of human sleeping sickness is increasing in many areas.Although alternative methods to control the disease are being investigated, such as immunological approaches, use of chemotherapy or exploitation of the trypanotolerance trait, it is only control or eradication of the tsetse fly vector which will remove the threat of the disease rather than providing a better means of "living" with it. As a result of the economic impact of tsetse-transmitted Trypanosomosis, a large amount of research literature has been produced. This book provides a comprehensive review of this literature. The text is divided into four parts: tsetse biology and ecology, epidemiology, vector control and control of trypanosomosis. The book is invaluable for medical and veterinary entomologists, parasitologists and epidemiologists.

"Insect Sampling in Forest Ecosystems" highlights the problems faced by entomologists working in forest ecosystems. It suggests ways in which their methodology can be modified so as to be understood by ecologists and become accepted within the general fields of ecology and entomology.

Insect sampling, although firmly based on standard ecological census techniques, presents special problems that are not faced by other ecologists. With the small size, varied life cycles, rapid rates of increase, and ingenious adaptations to habitats of insects, ecological entomologists face problems that are somewhat different to those faced by vertebrate or plant ecologists. Furthermore, forest ecosystems, whether natural or manmade, present special problems to the ecologists working beneath their canopies.

This book will be essential reading for advanced students and researchers as well as teachers across the whole spectrum of education.

One of the classic works of marine biology, a favorite for generations, has now been completely revised and expanded. "Between Pacific Tides" is a book for all who find the shore a place of excitement, wonder, and beauty, and an unsurpassed introductory text for both students and professionals.
This book describes the habits and habitats of the animals that live in one of the most prolific life zones of the world--the rocky shores and tide pools of the Pacific Coast of the United States. The intricate and fascinating life processes of these creatures are described with affectionate care. The animals are grouped according to their most characteristic habitat, whether rocky shore, sandy beach, mud flat, or wharf piling, and the authors discuss their life history, physiology, and community relations, and the influence of wave shock and shifting tide level.
Though the basic purpose and structure--and much of the text--of the book remain the same, content has been increased by about 20 percent; a multitude of changes and additios has been made in the text; the Annotated Systematic Index and General Bibliography have been updated and greatly expanded (now almost 2,300 entries); more than 200 new photographs and drawings have been incorporated; and an entirely new chapter has been added--a topical presentation of the several factors influencing distribution of organisms along the shore. This edition also includes John Steinbeck's Foreword to the 1948 edition.

Bumblebees are familiar and charismatic insects, occurring throughout much of the world. They are increasingly being used as a model organism for studying a wide range of ecological and behavioural concepts, such as social organization, optimal foraging theories, host-parasite interactions, and pollination. Recently they have become a focus for conservationists due to mounting evidence of range contractions and catastrophic extinctions with some species disappearing from entire continents (e.g. in North America). Only by improving our understanding of their ecology can we devise sensible plans to conserve them. The role of bumblebees as invasive species (e.g. Bombus terrestris in Japan) has also become topical with the growing trade in commercial bumblebee nests for tomato pollination leading to establishment of non-native bumblebees in a number of countries.
Since the publication of the first edition of the book, there have been hundreds of research papers published on bumblebees. There is clearly a continuing need for an affordable, well-illustrated, and appealing text that makes accessible all of the major advances in understanding of the behaviour and ecology of bumblebees that have been made in the last 30 years.

This revised and updated edition of Majerus & Kearns (1989) Ladybirds provides a succinct but comprehensive and accessible overview of the biology of ladybirds and their parasites, focusing on ecology in an evolutionary context. It provides the latest information, coverage of recent additions to the British list including the harlequin ladybird, and makes suggestions for further research, both short and long term, highlighting gaps in knowledge and showing readers how to get involved with recording and studying ladybirds. It includes updated keys for the identification of ladybirds at late-instar larval and adult stages, and techniques for studying ladybirds and their parasites in both laboratory and field. The authors hope that this book will be a valuable resource, not only for students, from school to university and beyond, but also for anyone with an interest in natural history, whether professional or recreational.

'A funny and beautifully written welcome to the enigmatic, weird and wonderful world of wasps' DAVE GOULSON, author of SILENT EARTH There may be no insect with a worse reputation than the wasp, and none guarding so many undiscovered wonders. Where bees and ants have long been the darlings of the insect world, wasps are much older, cleverer and more diverse. They are the bee's evolutionary ancestors - flying 100 million years earlier - and today they are just as essential for the survival of our environment. A bee, ecologist Professor Seirian Sumner argues, is just a wasp that has forgotten how to hunt. For readers of Entangled Life, Other Minds and The Gospel of Eels, this is a book to upturn your expectations about one overlooked animal and the wider architecture of our natural world. With endless surprises, this book might teach you about the wasps that spend their entire lives sealed inside a fig, about stinging wasps, about parasitic wasps, about wasps that turn cockroaches into living zombies, about how wasps taught us to make paper. It offers up a maligned insect in all its diverse, unexpected splendour; as both predator and pollinator, the wasp is an essential pest controller worldwide. Inside their sophisticated social worlds is the best model we have for the earth's major evolutionary transitions. In their understudied biology are clues to progressing medicine, including a possible cure for cancer. The closer you look at these spurned, winged insects - both custodians and bouncers of our planet - the more you see. Their secrets have so far gone mostly untapped, but the potential of the wasp is endless.

The measurement of metabolic rates is central to important questions in many areas of physiological research. Unfortunately these measurements are anything but straightforward, with numerous pitfalls awaiting both the novice and even the experienced investigator. The original edition of this work, published in 2008, quickly became the principle "how to" manual for the field. It successfully de-mystified the topic, explaining every common variation of metabolic rate measurement. Background information on different analyzer and equipment types allowed users to choose the best instruments for their application. Respirometry equations, normally a topic of terror and confusion to researchers, were derived and described in sufficient detail to facilitate their selection and use. In this new edition, the content has been thoroughly updated and a decade of new literature incorporated. New chapters on room calorimetry, human metabolic measurement, and metabolic phenotyping have also been added. Measuring Metabolic Rates is aimed at experimental biologists, physiologists, and any professional scientist involved with metabolic measurement. This practical handbook will also be of relevance and use to graduate students.

Since the second half of the 20th Century, our agricultural bee pollinators have faced mounting threats from ecological disturbance and pan-global movement of pathogens and parasites. At the same time, the area of pollinator-dependent crops is increasing globally with no end in sight. Never before has so much been asked of our finite pool of bee pollinators. This book not only explores the evolutionary and ecologic bases of these dynamics, it translates this knowledge into practical research-based guidance for using bees to pollinate crops. It emphasizes conserving wild bee populations as well as culturing honey bees, bumble bees, and managed solitary bees. To cover such a range of biology, theory, and practice from the perspectives of both the pollinator and the crop, the book is divided into two volumes. Volume 1 focuses on bees, their biology, coevolution with plants, foraging ecology and management, and gives practical ways to increase bee abundance and pollinating performance on the farm. Volume 2 (also available from CABI) focuses on crops, with chapters addressing crop-specific requirements and bee pollination management recommendations. Both volumes will be essential reading for farmers, horticulturists and gardeners, researchers and professionals working in insect ecology and conservation, and students of entomology and crop protection.

The weird and wonderful world of insects boasts some of the strangest creatures found in nature, and caterpillars are perhaps the most bizarre of all. While most of us picture caterpillars as cute fuzzballs munching on leaves, there is much more to them than we imagine. A caterpillar's survival hinges on finding enough food and defending itself from the array of natural enemies lined up to pounce and consume. And the astounding adaptations and strategies they have developed to maximize their chances of becoming a butterfly or moth are only just beginning to be understood, from the Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillar that resembles a small snake to the Eastern Carpenter Bee Hawkmoth caterpillar that attempts to dissuade potential predators by looking like a diseased leaf. The Book of Caterpillars unveils the mysteries of six hundred species from around the world, introducing readers to the complexity and beauty of these underappreciated insects. With the advent of high-quality digital macrophotography, the world of caterpillars is finally opening up. The book presents a wealth of stunning imagery that showcases the astonishing diversity of caterpillar design, structure, coloration, and patterning. Each entry also features a two-tone engraving of the adult specimen, emphasizing the wing patterns and shades, as well as a population distribution map and table of essential information that includes their habitat, typical host plants, and conservation status. Throughout the book are fascinating facts that will enthrall expert entomologists and curious collectors alike. A visually rich and scientifically accurate guide to six hundred of the world's most peculiar caterpillars, this volume presents readers with a rare, detailed look at these intriguing forms of insect life.

The Eponym Dictionary of Odonata is a comprehensive listing of all people after whom damselflies and dragonflies have been named in scientific or common names. Each entry provides details of the species and a brief biography of the person. It is also cross-referenced so that the relationships between scientific authors, entomologists and others can be followed. Many entries have been contributed by the people so honoured who are not necessarily odonatologists, entomologists, zoologists or even great men of science. Many damselflies and dragonflies are named for the author's family members, friends and those who collected the species holotypes, while others are figures from myth or history. In fact, it could be anything from the author's mother to a favourite musician! Because entries may include details of dates, places, educational and work institutions, it is possible to discover information about each person and for a picture to be built of how the science sometimes follows groupings of colleagues or those significantly influenced by charismatic teachers. The Dictionary includes other names which might, at a glance, be thought to be eponyms yet are not in the truest sense. These may be species named after characteristics embodied in characters from literature, whole peoples, acronyms or toponyms, etc. To some extent it can read like a canon of the great women and men of science over the last several centuries. Interestingly there are species named after as many as three generations of the same family, veiled references to old lovers, sycophantic homage, financial patronage, etc., as well as all the more `legitimate' reasons for naming species. Not surprisingly, odonatologists exhibit a range of opinion on the practice, from naming all species after people, to wanting all eponyms banned; they can be totally humourless and pedantic or full of fun and irreverence. Like all of us they have as many reasons for their namings as ordinary folk have for naming their children or pets! Underlying all this, however, is the value of this volume in cataloguing this fascinating aspect of science for all users, whether scientists or interested lay readers.

Insect and other pests cause major economic damage on fruit crops in the tropics. However, some insects are beneficial and have a role in pollinating flowers and thus enabling fruit set. This book, written by authors from around the world, reviews these injurious and beneficial organisms and how they might be controlled to enhance fruit production and quality.

Nannochoristidae (=Nannomecoptera) and Boreidae (=Neomecoptera) are traditionally assigned to the holometabolan order Mecoptera. Both are presently in the focus of insect systematists. They differ strikingly from the "typical" mecopteran pattern, not only in their larval and adult morphology, but also in their life style and reproductive biology. Phylogenetic affinities between Boreidae ("snow fleas") and fleas have been postulated mainly based on molecular data, while morphological characters related to food uptake and larval features suggest a close relationship between Nannochoristidae and true flies. Both groups display fascinating features such as preferred temperatures around 0 C, extremely slender larvae adapted to running water, and a highly unusual mating behaviour. Despite the extremely low number of known species, there is no doubt that both groups are key taxa and in their own way highlights in the evolution of the extremely successful Holometabola. Their interesting characteristics and the impressive number of recent studies on various aspects of Nannochoristidae and Boreidae justifies a new volume in the Handbook of Zoology series dedicated to these highly unusual taxa."

Honeybees make decisions collectively--and democratically. Every year, faced with the life-or-death problem of choosing and traveling to a new home, honeybees stake everything on a process that includes collective fact-finding, vigorous debate, and consensus building. In fact, as world-renowned animal behaviorist Thomas Seeley reveals, these incredible insects have much to teach us when it comes to collective wisdom and effective decision making. A remarkable and richly illustrated account of scientific discovery, "Honeybee Democracy" brings together, for the first time, decades of Seeley's pioneering research to tell the amazing story of house hunting and democratic debate among the honeybees.

In the late spring and early summer, as a bee colony becomes overcrowded, a third of the hive stays behind and rears a new queen, while a swarm of thousands departs with the old queen to produce a daughter colony. Seeley describes how these bees evaluate potential nest sites, advertise their discoveries to one another, engage in open deliberation, choose a final site, and navigate together--as a swirling cloud of bees--to their new home. Seeley investigates how evolution has honed the decision-making methods of honeybees over millions of years, and he considers similarities between the ways that bee swarms and primate brains process information. He concludes that what works well for bees can also work well for people: any decision-making group should consist of individuals with shared interests and mutual respect, a leader's influence should be minimized, debate should be relied upon, diverse solutions should be sought, and the majority should be counted on for a dependable resolution.

An impressive exploration of animal behavior, "Honeybee Democracy" shows that decision-making groups, whether honeybee or human, can be smarter than even the smartest individuals in them.

Overviews of biochemical, genetic, and molecular perspectives of plant-insect interactions with added emphasis on bioinformatic, genomic, and transcriptome analysis are comprehensively treated in this book. It presents the agro-ecological and evolutionary aspects of plant-insect interactions with an exclusive focus on the climate change effect on the resetting of plant-insect interactions. A valuable resource for biotechnologists, entomologists, agricultural scientists, and policymakers, the book includes theoretical aspects as a base toward real-world applications of holistic integrated pest management in agro-ecosystems.

Anisoptera is the first of two volumes on the Odonata in the series Encyclopedia of South American Aquatic Insects. The second will treat the Zygoptera. The Anisoptera volume encompasses the large dragonfly species. A brief review of the biology of the group includes illustrations of the main morphological features as well as explainations of alternative systems for naming the wing veins and other structures. This will prepare the user of the volume to understand the different names for the same structures that he will encounter in the literature. The review is then followed by keys to facilitate identification of the adult dragonflies and the known larvae, allowing the user a high probability of identifying his specimens correctly. In addition to anatomical features, the keys include the known ranges of the species, synonyms, and citations of literature in which more information about each individual species can be obtained.

Over the course of his photography career, Daniel Kariko came to realise that many of his most stunning subjects could be found in his own home. Kariko utilises a combination of a Scanning Electron Microscope and optical Stereo Microscope to achieve a portrait-like effect for insects and arthropods. Vibrant in colour and surprising in personality, these images reveal such details as the glittering eyes of a horsefly, the strong legs of a centipede and the fetching smile of a honeybee. Each photograph comes with a full-body illustration from artist Isaac Talley and character descriptions from entomologist Tim Christensen. Blurring the lines of art and science, Aliens Among Us is a guidebook for anyone interested in putting a face to the creepy-crawlies under the couch.