othergroups

An intriguing journey into the micro-world of one of the most maligned creatures on the planet, the termite. After years of keen observation in Western Australia’s Kimberley region, Pat Lowe shows that there is more to these industrious insects than their propensity to eat houses and furniture. Termites are the earthworms of the tropics, providing nutrients to arid soils. They have been an important food for people and other animals throughout the centuries, and their nests have been used in many human endeavours. Our Friends the Termites will enlighten anyone who has travelled through northern Australia and wondered at the strange mounds that dot the landscape. It is a fascinating and delightful read for backyard naturalists, entomologists and the simply curious.

The first comprehensive guide to all 620 species of dragonflies of New Guinea and the neighbouring islands, which is home to ten percent of the world’s dragonfly fauna. Nearly half of the species are found nowhere else on Earth. The book includes 1275 illustrations and eight pages of color plates showing representative species and habitats, introductory sections on structure, habitat, history, collection and photography, as well as appendices discussing taxonomic questions and a full bibliography. Also included are illustrated keys to all taxa, and illustrations of larval forms where known.

This book is an account of two years spent getting to know Britain’s most dazzling and enigmatic insects – the dragonflies and damselflies. The quest to find, photograph, watch and learn about dragons and damsels took the author on a tour of diverse and lovely wetlands up and down Britain, from the rugged wild peat bogs of north-west Scotland to the languid meanders of the Oxfordshire Thames. The account describes close encounters with the dragons and damsels themselves, set against backdrops of rich and vital habitats teeming with a range of other wildlife. It is also packed with background detail on dragonfly and damselfly natural history, and wetland ecology in general. The text is enlivened with line drawings and a section of colour photographs.

Supremely colourful, among the most voracious predators of the insect world and on the wing for more than 300 million years, dragonflies and damselflies capture the imagination in so many ways. Yet many aspects of their fascinating lives are little-known to humans. This book provides an insight into a hidden world through engaging text and stunning close-up photography. This book combines insightful writing with rarely seen images of the life and behaviour of the world’s dragonfly and damselfly species. There are chapters on subjects such as hunting, courtship and the emergence of the nymphs and their subsequent transformation into adult dragonflies. These insects are further brought to life through the personal experiences of the author and photographers, and these are woven into the text.

The armoured scale insect family Diaspididae is one of ten families of plant-sucking scale insects present in New Zealand, and this family has three unique features. The first feature is that the stomach of armoured scale insects is not directly connected to the hind gut, so they do not produce honeydew; the second is their armour or scale cover, in which they incorporate the cast skins of their juvenile moults; and the third feature is the fused segments of the posterior part of the abdomen called the pygidium. In this Fauna the adult females of all 49 species of Diaspididae known from New Zealand, except the Leucaspidini, are described and illustrated. Four new genera and seven new species are described, and nomenclatural changes are noted. The 1st- and 2nd-instar nymphs of all the endemic species and of four Australian species that are of systematic interest are also described and illustrated. Keys to allow separation of adult females of all genera and species are included.
Additional features of this Fauna include: a brief review of earlier work on the Diaspididae in New Zealand; discussion of the biology and life cycle, scale cover formation, natural enemies, distribution, host plant associations including galls, and economic importance; a guide to methods for slide-mounting Diaspididae as used in the NZ Arthropod Collection.

New Naturalist 120. A detailed and up-to-date account of the behaviour and ecology of grasshoppers and crickets. In this latest New Naturalist volume, Ted Benton offers a comprehensive account of the appearance, variations, behaviour, habitat, life-cycles and distribution of all the native British species of bush-crickets, crickets, groundhoppers and grasshoppers. Many details from direct field observation are included, which are published here for the first time. With up-to-date information on newly arrived and recently established species, as well as long-established non-native species — such as the house cricket and greenhouse camel cricket — Benton pays special attention to a key area of evolutionary thought that has stimulated an international research focus on grasshoppers and crickets. Recent approaches to mating and reproduction emphasise differences and even conflicts of interest between males and females.
The sexually selected adaptations and counter-adaptations to such conflicts of reproductive interest are used to explain the astonishing diversity of reproductive behaviour exhibited by grasshoppers and crickets: male territorial behaviour, coercive mating, complex songs, elaborate courtship performances, the donation of edible ‘nuptial gifts’, the reversal of sex-roles, mate-guarding, keeping of ‘harems’ and, in a few species, parental care of the offspring. These chapters provide an introduction to the theoretical issues and an overview of many case studies drawn from research on orthopterans from across the world (but including British species where relevant). A unique DVD features many aspects of the behaviour of nearly all British species, including song, conflict, courtship behaviour, sex-role reversal and egg laying. The book is lavishly illustrated with colour photographs and line drawings, covering all the British species (including immature stages in most cases), key habitats and many aspects of behaviour. Also available in paperback [stock id 33718].