Showing 1–12 of 227 results
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Atlas of Butterflies and Diurnal Moths in the Monsoon Tropics of Northern Australia
Artist/Author: Braby, M.F., D.C. Franklin, D.E. Bisa and M.R. Williams$135.00 Add to cartNorthern Australia is one of few tropical places left on Earth in which biodiversity — and the ecological processes underpinning that biodiversity — is still relatively intact. However, scientific knowledge of that biodiversity is still in its infancy and the region remains a frontier for biological discovery. The butterfly and diurnal moth assemblages of the area, and their intimate associations with vascular plants (and sometimes ants), exemplify these points. However, the opportunity to fill knowledge gaps is quickly closing: proposals for substantial development and exploitation of Australia’s north will inevitably repeat the ecological devastation that has occurred in temperate southern Australia — loss of species, loss of ecological communities, fragmentation of populations, disruption of healthy ecosystem function and so on — all of which will diminish the value of the natural heritage of the region before it is fully understood and appreciated. Written by several experts in the field, the main purpose of this atlas is to compile a comprehensive inventory of the butterflies and diurnal moths of northern Australia to form the scientific baseline against which the extent and direction of change can be assessed in the future. Such information will also assist in identifying the region’s biological assets, to inform policy and management agencies and to set priorities for biodiversity conservation.
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The Book of Caterpillars: A life-size Guide to Six Hundred Species from Around the World
Artist/Author: James, David G (Editor)$60.00 Add to cartButterflies and moths are among the most beautiful and most-studied creatures in nature. Caterpillars, the juvenile stage, are just as diverse, alluring, and fascinating – and deserve to be admired and observed just as closely. Now, with The Book of Caterpillars, they can be. This taxonomic survey profiles 600 key species from around the world, with spectacular imagery and authorative text. Each entry details the notable attributes of the species, uncovers their camouflage and forms, and describes the variety of the defenses that they employ. Glorious photographs show both a life-size view and a magnified close-up that reveals each caterpillar’s intricate structure. Every entry also features a two-tone engraving of the adult specimen, emphasizing the wing patterns and tones, as well as a population distribution map, and table of essential information. A definitive resource for all enthusiasts, this is a visually stunning guide to some of the world’s least-known creatures.
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Australian Longhorn Beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), Volume 2: Subfamily Cerambycinae
Artist/Author: Ślipiński, Stanisław Adam, Hermes E Escalona$160.00 Add to cartLonghorn Beetles – Cerambycidae are one of the most easily recognised groups of beetles, a family that worldwide encompasses over 33,000 species in 5,200 genera. With over 1,400 species classified in 300 genera, this is the sixth largest among 117 beetle families in Australia.
These beetles often attack and kill living forest or orchard trees and develop in construction timber (like the European House borer, introduced to WA), causing serious damage. Virtually all Cerambycidae feed on living or dead plant tissues and play a significant role in all terrestrial environments where plants are found. Larvae often utilise damaged or dead trees for their development, and through feeding on rotten wood form an important element of the saproxylic fauna, speeding energy circulation in these habitats. Many species are listed as quarantine pests because of their destructive role to the timber industry.
This second of three volumes on Australian Longhorn Beetles covers the taxonomy of genera of the Cerambycinae, with comments on natural history and morphology. One hundred and forty-two Cerambycinae genera are diagnosed and described, an illustrated key to their identification is provided, and images illustrate representatives of genera and of actual type specimens. A full listing of all Australian species with synonymies and bibliographic citations is also included.
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A Guide to Stag Beetles of Australia
Artist/Author: Hangay, George, Roger de Keyzer$50.00 Add to cartA comprehensive, stunningly illustrated guide to this unusual and diverse family of beetles.
Most Australian stag beetles live secretive lives, spending the majority of their life cycle inside decaying timber or under logs sunken in the soil. Yet these active recyclers of the forest are admired by beetle-loving people worldwide. Their aesthetic appeal and the rarity of some species make them of great value to collectors: the beetles in the subfamily Lampriminae are splendidly colourful, while others show an amazing variety in male mandible size and structure. -
A Guide to Australian Tiger Beetles
Artist/Author: Golding, Mark R$60.00 Add to cartMany years travelling around Australia combined with a passion for the ‘little’ things which are so important for a healthy life have been compiled to produce this author’s view of the rarely seen group of insect predators, the tiger beetles. As Mark says ‘If we are aware of something, we have a better chance of helping it survive.’
This excellent photographic guide offers people a chance to get familiar with some of the most timid and least seen top order invertebrate predators in Australia – the carnivorous tiger beetles. It is designed to enhance our understanding of our own backyard as there is a massive amount of insect destruction.
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Field Guide to the Butterflies of Sri Lanka
Artist/Author: Van der Poorten, George, Nancy Van der Poorten$68.00 Add to cartA compact easy to carry field guide
- covers all 248 species found in Sri Lankan including 31 endemic species
- 1154 color photographs of live individuals* of each species depicting the upperside and underside
- distribution map for each species
- notes on ecology, flight period and behavior that help with field identification
- close-up photographs of key identification points for hard-to-identify species
- identification keys for difficult groups of species
- list of all known larval food plants for each species
* Exception: color photos for one species are of museum specimens as there are no photographs of live individuals whose identification has been confirmed.
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A Swift Guide to Butterflies of North America (Second Edition)
Artist/Author: Glassberg, Jeffrey$65.00 Add to cartThis is a revised second edition of the most detailed, comprehensive, and user-friendly photographic field guide to the butterflies of North America.
Written by Jeffrey Glassberg, the pioneering authority on the field identification of butterflies, the guide covers all known species, beautifully illustrating them with 3,500 large, gorgeous color photographs – the very best images available.This second edition includes more than 500 new photos and updated text, maps, and species names. For most species, there are photographs of topsides and undersides, males and females, and variants. All text is embedded in the photographs, allowing swift access in the field, and arrows point to field marks, showing you exactly what to look for. Detailed, same-page range maps include information about the number of broods in each area and where strays have been recorded. Color text boxes highlight information about habitat, caterpillar food plants, abundance and flight period, and other interesting facts. Also included are a quick visual index and a caterpillar food plant index. The result is an ideal field guide that will enable you to identify almost every butterfly you see.
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Mariposas Nocturnas: Moths of Central and South America, A Study in Beauty and Diversity
Artist/Author: Gowin, Emmet$120.00 Add to cartAmerican photographer Emmet Gowin (born 1941) is best known for his portraits of his wife, Edith, and their family, as well as for his images documenting the impact of human activity upon landscapes around the world. For the past fifteen years, he has been engaged in an equally profound project on a different scale, capturing the exquisite beauty of more than one thousand species of nocturnal moths in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, French Guiana, and Panama.
These stunning color portraits present the insects – many of which may never have been photographed as living specimens before, and some of which may not be seen again – arrayed in typologies of twenty-five per sheet. The moths are photographed alive, in natural positions and postures, and set against a variety of backgrounds taken from the natural world and images from art history.
Throughout Gowin’s distinguished career, his work has addressed urgent concerns. The arresting images of Mariposas Nocturnas extend this reach, as Gowin fosters awareness for a part of nature that is generally left unobserved and calls for a greater awareness of the biodiversity and value of the tropics as a universally shared natural treasure. An essay by Gowin provides a fascinating personal history of his work with biologists and introduces both the photographic and philosophical processes behind this extraordinary project.
Emmet Gowin is emeritus professor of photography at Princeton University. His photographs are in collections around the world, including at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Tokyo Museum of Art.
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Beetles: The Natural History and Diversity of Coleoptera
Artist/Author: Marshall, Stephen A.$125.00 Add to cartAn accessible but comprehensive overview of beetles, illustrated with 4,500 photographs, in the same vein as Stephen Marshall’s previous popular title Flies: The Natural History and Diversity of Diptera.
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:
– Life Histories of Beetles: Form and Function: Eggs; Larvae; Pupae, Prepupae and Cocoons; Adults; Courtship and Mating Behaviors
– Defense and Deception: Tanks, Tricks and Coleopteran; Chemical Warfare; Brilliance and Bioluminescence in the Beetles
– Freshwater and Marine Beetles: Freshwater beetles; Marine beetles
– Beetle Associations with Fungi, Dung and Carrion: Beetles and Fungi; Beetles and Dung; Beetles and Dead Bodies
– 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
– Beetles and Other Animals: Dangerous Beetles; Coleoptera and Culture; Beetles Indoors; Rare, Endangered and Threatened Beetles; Beetles, Birds and Wild Mammals; Beetles and Other InvertebratesPart 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 long-lipped beetles to the rarest rove beetles. Essential information about importance, range, behavior 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.
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A Guide to Camponotus Ants of Australia
Artist/Author: McArthur, Archie$27.00 Add to cartThis guide presents an authoritative, marvelously illustrated and easily digestible account of more than 130 Camponotus ant species across Australia. Whether a professional scientist, amateur specialist or layperson, this Guide to Camponotus Ants of Australia is sure to fascinate and enthral readers — Ian Whittington
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Monarchs and Milkweed: A Migrating Butterfly, a Poisonous Plant, and Their Remarkable Story of Coevolution
Artist/Author: Agrawal, Anurag A$70.00 Add to cartMonarch butterflies are one of nature’s most recognizable creatures, known for their bright colors and epic annual migration from the United States and Canada to Mexico. Yet there is much more to the monarch than its distinctive presence and mythic journeying. In Monarchs and Milkweed, Anurag Agrawal presents a vivid investigation into how the monarch butterfly has evolved closely alongside the milkweed – a toxic plant named for the sticky white substance emitted when its leaves are damaged – and how this inextricable and intimate relationship has been like an arms race over the millennia, a battle of exploitation and defense between two fascinating species.
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The Contented Bee
Artist/Author: Organic Gardener Magazine$35.00 Add to cartAll the buzz on keeping backyard bees – an informative and inspirational handbook full of advice, experience and stories from experts and enthusiasts.
With bees worldwide in deadly peril, Australians are keen to lend a helping hand. Keeping a hive or three has become a popular lifestyle trend – and it’s more achievable than you might think.
Whether you’re in the inner city, suburbs or on acreage, keeping bees can be easy, low-fuss and fun for the whole family to get involved in – imagine bottling your very own honey! This lively guide features inspirational experiences and gorgeous photos from scores of enthusiasts across Australia who have sweetened their lives by keeping bees. Practical chapters by a range of experts give the low-down on getting started, caring for your bees, harvesting your honey and wax (with recipes), troubleshooting, what to plant to help out your little workers, and great information on the popular option of keeping native stingless bees.
The Contented Bee will inspire you to help out the bees – and enrich your own life, too!
