Showing 1–12 of 225 results
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Field Guide to the Dragonflies & Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland (Fifth Edition)
Artist/Author: Brooks, Steve (Author), Steve Cham (Author), Richard Lewington (Illustrator)$40.00 Add to cartThis highly successful title is widely considered as the definitive guide to the dragonflies and damselflies found in Britain and Ireland. This bestseller in its field has been revised and updated to include recent additions to the British list, ensuring it is up to date and lives up to its reputation of being the best guide on the subject.
The comprehensive species descriptions, written by a team of UK experts, include field characters, jizz and similar species, status and conservation, ecology and behaviour, including habitat, larval form, flight season, feeding, territorial and mating behaviour. The superbly detailed artworks by Europe’s leading entomological artist, Richard Lewington, include males and females, immature and over mature forms, as well as dorsal views and details of diagnostic features, making identification much easier.
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The Natural History of Insects: A Guide to the World of Arthropods, Covering Many Insects Orders, Including Beetles, Flies, Stick Insects, Dragonflies, Ants and Wasps, as Well as Microscopic Creatures
Artist/Author: Walters, Martin$19.00 Add to cartA guide to the world of arthropods, covering many insect orders, including beetles, flies, stick insects, dragonflies, ants and wasps, as well as microscopic creatures. It provides a fascinating overview of insects and spiders, including their habitats and classification, all shown in over 195 beautiful photographs and illustrations. All aspects of insect life are covered, such as the way insects defend themselves and how they are able to jump, leap and fly. It describes cryptic coloration, and the way insects can use camouflage to blend into their background and escape attack from predators. It offers various methods of feeding are discussed, from biting and chewing to lapping, sucking, piercing and filter feeding, according to their different mouthparts. It outlines their useful role in pollination of crops, production of honey, and removing insect pests. In the arthropoda phylum, insects are one of the most successful species, and spiders are one of the largest groups. This book studies how they organize their lives. The first section provides information of every aspect of insect life: evolution, anatomy, life cycles, flight and social organization. The last section describes the 30 orders within the class Insecta, demonstrating the huge variety of insects, from microscopic creatures to giant stick insects and large beetles. Typical features of insects in each order are highlighted. With expert text, illustrations and clear photographs, this guide will be enjoyed by all who take an interest in natural history.
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Wasp
Artist/Author: Jones, Richard$30.00 Add to cartFear and fascination set wasps apart from other insects. Despite their iconic form and distinctive colours, they are surrounded by myth and misunderstanding. Often portrayed in cartoon-like stereotypes bordering on sad parody, wasps have an unwelcome and undeserved reputation for aggressiveness bordering on vindictive spite. This mistrust is deep-seated in a human history that has awarded commercial and spiritual value to other insects, such as bees, but has failed to recognise any worth in wasps.
Leading entomologist Richard Jones redresses the balance in this enlightening and entertaining guide to the natural and cultural history of these powerful carnivores. Jones delves into their complex nesting and colony behaviour, their unique caste system and their major role at the centre of many food webs.
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Dragonflies and Damselflies of New Zealand
Artist/Author: Marinov, Milen, Mike Ashbee$57.00 Add to cartDragonflies and damselflies are among the most spectacular organisms on the planet. They have survived on earth for more than 325 million years, through a series of mass extinctions, by being exquisite examples of evolutionary adaptation: superb flyers with extraordinary vision and startling colours. This is a natural history and field guide to New Zealand’s 14 species of dragonflies and damselflies. Easy to observe around wetlands and rivers, dragonflies and damselflies are favourites of New Zealand nature lovers, and this book will be too.
Key features include:
– Expert and up-to-date information on the 14 species breeding in New Zealand.
– Natural history of the group including an introduction to evolution, habitats, biology, behaviour, photography and conservation.
– More than 200 new photographs and hand-drawn illustrations of dragonflies and damselflies at all life stages in their environment.
– Authoritative text on each species covering identification, measurement, behaviour, breeding, flying period and where to observe the species.
– Range maps for all species. -
A Naturalist’s Guide to the Insects of Australia
Artist/Author: Rowland, Peter, Rachel Whitlock$27.00 Add to cartThis easy-to-use identification guide to the 292 species of insect most commonly seen in Australia is perfect for resident and visitor alike. High quality photographs from Australia’s top nature photographers are accompanied by detailed species descriptions, which include nomenclature, size, distribution, habitat and habits. The user-friendly introduction covers modern Australian insects, non-insect hexapods and life cycles. Also included is a checklist of the insect families of Australia listing the number of genera, species and subspecies in each family.
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A Guide to Crickets of Australia
Artist/Author: Rentz, David, You Ning Su$50.00 Add to cartIdentify Australia’s crickets with this detailed and fully illustrated guide.
Cricket song is a sound of the Australian bush. Even in cities, the rasping calls signify Australia’s remarkable cricket biodiversity. Crickets are notable for a variety of reasons. When their population booms, some of these species become agricultural pests and destroy crop pastures. Some introduced species are of biosecurity concern. Other crickets are important food sources for native birds, reptiles and mammals, as well as domestic pets. Soon you might even put them in your cake or stir-fry, as there is a rapidly growing industry for cricket products for human consumption. -
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.
