-
Views
-
Cite
Cite
Kipling W. Will, Entomophiles, Rejoice!, BioScience, Volume 56, Issue 6, June 2006, Pages 538–539, https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2006)56[538:ER]2.0.CO;2
- Share Icon Share
Extract
Evolution of the Insects. David Grimaldi and Michael Engel. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2005. 755 pp., illus. $80.00 (ISBN 9780521821490 cloth).
The field of entomology and the study of insects in general are fortunate to have a history of notable authors who have produced numerous excellent and readable books on a wide range of topics. However, there is room for many more, because (not surprisingly) the book-to-taxon ratio for invertebrates in general, and insects in particular, is extremely low compared with that for animals of larger size and those more closely related to us. This disparity is nowhere clearer than in texts on fossil organisms. In Evolution of the Insects, David Grimaldi and Michael Engel take on the demanding task of producing a high-quality work that covers the breadth of insect systematics, including a much-needed treatment of insect fossils, thus filling an important need in modern biological reference works.