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Evolution of the insects

Natural History, Sept, 2005

You might learn to love insects after perusing a new 768-page reference book coauthored by Museum scientist David Grimaldi. It is the first comprehensive synthesis of all aspects of insect evolution. Dr. Grimaldi has traveled to 40 countries on six continents, collecting and studying recent species of insects and conducting fossil excavations.

Evolution of the Insects, by Dr. Grimaldi, Curator in the Museum's Division of Invertebrate Zoology, and Michael S. Engel, Assistant Professor in the Division of Entomology, University of Kansas, is a stunning accomplishment. Published by Cambridge University Press, it chronicles the complete evolutionary history of insects--their living diversity, relationships, and 400 million years of fossils.

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Introductory chapters include the living species diversity of insects, methods of reconstructing evolutionary relationships, basic insect morphology, and the diverse modes of insect fossilization and major fossil deposits.

Major sections cover the relationships and evolution of each order of hexapods, or six-legged creatures. Evolution of the Insects also chronicles the main episodes in the evolutionary history of insects: their modest beginnings in the Devonian, the origin of insect wings hundred of millions of years before those of pterosaurs and birds, the effect of mass extinctions and the explosive radiation of angiosperms on insects, and how insects evolved the most complex societies in nature.

The book is replete with 955 photo-and electron micrographs, drawings, diagrams, and field photos, many in full color. Many of the incredibly intricate line drawings are by Dr. Grimaldi, who was torn between science and art careers early on.

Along with open-minded insect avoiders, Evolution of the Insects will appeal to anyone intrigued by insect diversity, from professional entomologists and students to collectors and naturalists.

Evolution of the insects

Natural History, Sept, 2005

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