Review by Choice Review
Selecting 600 beetles to represent scientifically compelling, culturally significant, physically impressive, rare and threatened, or otherwise interesting specimens out of approximately 400,000 known species was certainly an ambitious undertaking. Each species entry in this volume features a worldwide distribution map, a brief description of natural history and related species, and three images. Images include a small, stippled black-and-white line drawing (mostly dorsolateral views), a life-size color photograph (dorsal view), and a highly magnified enlargement. These provide nice representative examples of many beetle groups. The enlargements are generally of good quality, although surface detail in many of the dark-colored specimens is lost. The principal attraction of the work is the wealth of photographs, which highlight the remarkable diversity of beetles; however, varying portions of most enlargements have been cropped out so the images will fit on the page. Though this does not diminish their utility, it does detract from the overall aesthetics of the book. A 24-page introduction provides a nicely written primer on beetle natural history; a short glossary of terms and a listing of all beetle families are helpful additions. This book, edited by Bouchard (Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids, and Nematodes), will interest beetle enthusiasts and naturalists. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; general audiences. --Danny A. Brass, independent scholar
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
"Beetles are diverse, beautiful, and worth study!" claims Bouchard (curator of Coleoptera: Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids, and Nematodes; Tenebrionid Beetles of Australia). This work features crisp, detailed macros of 600 specimens that range from "big pretties" to brown insects barely a millimeter in length, and are so lifelike that one forgets that these insects are dead. Unfortunately, only one contributor has written for nonscientists. Explaining coleoptera collection and identification would have given pages of technical prose richer context, while discussing cladistics would have put more meaning behind taxonomy. The glossary omits terms such as appressed, decumbent, and paraphyletic, while some descriptions contradict the glossary, describing beetles as both glabrous (hairless) and setose (hairy). The book's maps sometimes contain errors, placing tropical forests in the Atacama Desert, and Argentina's Rio Negro Province in Brazil. Arthur V. Evans's National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Insects, Spiders and Related Species and Beetles of Eastern North America add a deeper background and context to their descriptions. VERDICT Amazing images make this work a must for anyone ready to appreciate coleoptera. Those wishing to learn more will need to read further, however.-Eileen H. Kramer, Georgia Perimeter Coll. Lib., Clarkston (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
