Cornell Series in Arthropod Biology
While social wasps, like hornets and yellow jackets, garner most of the publicity (most of it negative), the vast majority of wasp species, including digger wasps, spider wasps, and mud-daubers, are solitary. Elegant in appearance and distinctive in...
The Saturniidae are among the largest and showiest moths in North America. This comprehensive work covers the life history and taxonomy of a hundred species and subspecies of these Lepidoptera. The beautiful adults and larvae of all species are illustrated in thirty color plates, which are supported by line drawings of cocoons, distribution maps, and photographs of behavior.
More than a natural history guide, this book includes chapters in population biology, life history strategies, disease and parasitoids, and the importance of silk moths of human culture. The systematic account emphasizes genetic differences among populations and the process of speciation and presents new information on experimental hybridization and life histories. For the student, researcher, and naturalist, here is practical information on collecting, rearing, and conducting original research. The entire text is referenced to an extensive bibliography.
Cooperative predators, army ants in unison can attack stoutly defended social insect colonies and can hunt down and devour insects much larger than themselves. Yet from folktales to fieldnotes, the image of army ants has too often magnified their aggression and ignored their magnificent capacity for social cooperation. In the words of one terrified explorer, "They seem to understand and act upon the tactics of Napoleon.... The mouse, or dog, or leopard, or deer, is overwhelmed, killed, eaten, and the bare skeleton only remains."
A veteran of thirty years of research on army ants in Africa, Malaysia, Australia, Mexico, and Trinidad, William H. Gotwald, Jr., offers the first comprehensive account of their behavioral ecology and evolution. The definitive work on army ants around the world, this richly illustrated book is as engaging as it is thorough.
The author introduces us to a sophisiticated society of highly specialized worker ants; menacing looking—but harmless—flying males; and a queen whose shape is so unusual that even entomologists may have trouble recognizing her as an ant. Although renowned for their mass migrations in long, orderly columns, few army ant species actually forage of emigrate on the surface. Most live underground, but what is now known about them suggests that they play a significant role in tropical ecosystems.
Gotwald describes the adaptive syndrome through which army ants have flourished, and he details their classification and distribution. Defining all specialized terminology, he examines army ant evolution, morphology, and ontogeny. He pays considerable attention to the symbionts and predators who live in community with army ants, as well as the economic impact of army ants and their role in maintaining species diversity. His vivid observations on their communication, mating behavior, foraging, and emigration create an unforgettable portrait of nature's quintessential social predators.
Synthesizing some 150 years of research, this is the only book to cover the biology and behavioral ecology of tent caterpillars. Terence D. Fitzgerald discusses the systematics, distribution, and host range of North American and Eurasian species of tent caterpillars. He then considers the anatomy and physiology of the egg, larva, pupa, and adult, with particular emphasis on sensory physiology, silk production, reproductive behavior, overwintering adaptations, and the energetics of adult and larva locomotion.
