An accessible but comprehensive overview of beetles, illustrated
with 4,500 photographs. Among Stephen Marshall's many other natural
history titles are Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity and
Flies: The Natural History and Diversity of Diptera, two of the
most respected books on the insect world published in the last 20
years. More admirable than the books' rigorous science, however, is
that they are wholly suitable for a lay audience, including student
readers from high school on. The books have been adopted as
classroom texts and assigned as required reading at the university
level and are on the references shelves of many practicing
entomologists. In Beetles: The Natural History and Diversity of
Coleoptera, Marshall has again applied his deep knowledge of the
insect world. Comprehensive and packed with 27 pages of richly
illustrated keys and 4,500 colour illustrations, it provides the
reader with a colourful and enjoyable introduction to the natural
history of a huge group of organisms, along with an overview of the
diversity of fascinating families included in the group. The
subject of this book is an enormous one, since the beetles, or
Coleoptera, include almost 400,000 named species. Marshall opens
with a description of what makes a beetle a beetle, and then
introduces the natural history of the order with copious examples
and explanations. Part one of the book includes: 1. Life Histories
of Beetles: Form and Function: Eggs; Larvae; Pupae, Prepupae and
Cocoons; Adults; Courtship and Mating Behaviors. 2. Defense and
Deception: Tanks, Tricks and Coleopteran; Chemical Warfare;
Brilliance and Bioluminescence in the Beetles. 3. Freshwater and
Marine Beetles: Freshwater beetles; Marine beetles. 4. Beetle
Associations with Fungi, Dung and Carrion: Beetles and Fungi;
Beetles and Dung; Beetles and Dead Bodies 5. Beetles, Plants and
Plant Products: Beetles and Flowers; Phytophagy and Beetle
Diversity; Aposematic Beetles and Their Plant Hosts; Beetles as
Agricultural and Garden Pests; Beetles and Biological Control of
Weeds; Beetles and Trees 6. Beetles and Other Animals: Dangerous
Beetles; Coleoptera and Culture; Beetles Indoors; Rare, Endangered
and Threatened Beetles; Beetles, Birds and Wild Mammals; Beetles
and Other Invertebrates. Part two of Beetles is a guided tour of
the diversity of the order, with fascinating stops for all of the
world's 180 or so families of beetles as well as most of the
significant subfamilies. Thousands of photos, almost all taken in
the field by the author, are used to capture the range of form and
function in each family, with pages of examples of the popular
groups - such as fireflies, tiger beetles, jewel beetles - but also
with unique photographs of little-known groups ranging from
longlipped beetles to the rarest rove beetles. Essential
information about importance, range, behaviour and biology is
provided for each group, and easily used photographic keys to most
families are provided for those wishing to use the book as an
identification guide. The profusely illustrated keys in Beetles,
linked to the unprecedented photographic coverage of the world's
beetle families and subfamilies, enable readers to identify most
families of beetles quickly and accurately, and to readily access
information about each family as well as hundreds of distinctive
genera and species. Like its companion titles, Insects and Flies,
Beetles will be welcomed by the scientific, academic and naturalist
communities, including the next generation of students of
entomology.
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