Overall Score:

Target Readership	Educator +					For help with criteria, click here
Presentation/Style
Content
Literature
Originality
Overall

Return to main review page

Contents:

1 - The importance, diversity and conservation of insects; 2 - External anatomy; 3 - Internal anatomy and physiology; 4 - Sensory systems and behavior; 5 - Reproduction; 6 - Insect development and life histories; 7 - Insect systematics,: phylogeny and classification; 8 - Insect biogeography and evolution; 9 - Ground-dwelling insects; 10 - Aquatic insects; 11 - Insects and plants; 12 - Insect societies; 13 - Insect predation and parasitism; 14 - Insect defense; 15 - Medical and veterinary entomology; 16 - Pest management; 17 - Methods in entomology: collecting, preservation, curation and identification.

Review:

Globalisation has had a range of consequences not least of which is the universal spread of insects (often occurring as pests). This economic element and the ubiquity of insects make them a key study. For an introductory text, this means that the topics need to be diverse (showing where insects impact upon the ecosystem and human action) and detailed ( to show beginners the main areas of study). This text has made it through to three editions with this aim in mind. It seems reasonable to review the new material and show new readers what they might expect.

We start with a basic overview of entomology from the range of the subject through its importance to humans to the ways it has developed. There follows five chapters which could be said to cover a common theme: insect biology. Thus chapter two looks at external anatomy which, along with a large number of excellent drawings, helps us to understand the structure of the insect we are looking at. Since classification is largely from external characters we also get a reference set of parts names. Chapter three goes inside to look at internal anatomy. Again we have the same excellent diagrams and careful layout that makes this specialist work more comprehensible. Chapter four examines one area - sensory systems - more closely. Chapters five and six describe, respectively, reproduction and life cycles. Whilst reproduction might seem a more specialist area no-one can doubt the value of understanding life histories especially in light of their value in insect control. In common with so much ecology today, the latter chapter includes work on molecular genetics. There's also a useful section towards the end showing the range of environments that insects can live in and how they are adapted to them. So far, we have been looking at the individual insect. Chapter seven tries to gather this together in terms of classification. Given that one of the key advances since the last edition is the 'discovery' of a new order - Mantophasmatodea, this must be seen as a vital area. As well as the theory of phylogenetics we also get a brief description of the orders and divisions within Insecta. From chapter 8 the book takes a more outward-looking focus with a (sadly, brief) chapter on biogeography and evolution. Chapters 9 and 10 describe the two main types of insects - those living on/in the ground and those in water. This is followed by a more specialised chapter dealing with the inter-relationship between insects and plants (seen as both pest and protector). Insects do not work alone - they are social creatures. This very sociability makes them formidable beyond their size. The value of insect societies is the focus of chapter 12. Since insects are found in a huge range of niches we must include the parasite side (chapter 13) and look at how they defend their own spaces (chapter 14). A large penultimate chapter looks at the interaction of insects with people and their plants/animals. This is a crucial area especially in continents like Africa but also in other areas given the spread in insect populations through globalisation. Finally, there's a chapter on collection and preservation.

This is an excellent introductory text. It's work is helped enormously by the high quality of presentation - very large number of excellent drawings (better than images in cases like these), boxes for additional information, references (and glossary with identification keys at the back). The book covers a very wide range of material with much to interest the beginner. However, the detail is probably beyond all but the best in schools but should be a set text in suitable university courses and for those whose subject area (as amateur or professional) this is.