- Paperback: 280 pages
- Publisher: Cornell University Press; 1 edition (Feb 21 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0801489482
- ISBN-13: 978-0801489488
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.6 x 1.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 544 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #573,801 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Orthoptera, or grasshoppers and their relatives, are more frequently heard than seen. But once one starts looking, the most "obvious (abundant, large, colorful, noisy)" of insect groups, as the authors describe them, becomes readily apparent. The problem is, as the authors point out in the preface, many orthoptera are either "cryptically colored" (showing their stripes only in flight, or blending in with surrounding flora) or "cryptic in behavior (noctural)"; only the more dedicated amateur naturalists-for whom the book is designed-will seek them out. For those who do, this book is a perfect companion. Scott is a biologist and scientific illustrator; Capinera and Walker are professors of entomology and nematology at the University of Florida and have spent long hours in the fields differentiating the pygmy spurthroated grasshopper from the round-winged spurthroated grasshopper. After introductions to the parts of the orthoptera body, and to its life cycle, ecological impact, sound production capabilities and viability as a pet, the authors evaluate the orthoptera species by species. Each entry includes the "distribution" of a species (where it's found, shown on individual shaded maps), major means of identification, the ecology (what kinds of places a species likes) and the species that can be called cousins. In addition, Capinera's and Walker's department maintains a Web site (buzz.ifas.ufl.edu) where readers can match the "songs" they hear in the field with recordings, using the book's terrific color "pictorial key" to the various noisemakers as a visual guide. But the highlight is certainly the 50 pages of Scott's color illustrations-this is apparently the first book to feature the full spectrum of North American orthoptera in color. For those who want to know what's plaguing them when locusts descend, this is the book.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Book Description
This is an introduction to the biology, behavior and ecological significance of one of the most obvious (abundant, large and colourful) and important (Ecologically and economically significant) insect groups in North America, the order Orthoptera. Introduces over 300 of the most common species of Orthoptera in this first guide to one of the most abundant, colorful, and ecologically significant insect groups in North America.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.4 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Small things make the world go round, Aug 18 2005
By Christen Wemmer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Field Guide to Grasshoppers Katydids & Crickets of the U.S. (Paperback)
If you are interested in "the small things that make the world go round', this new field guide is a "keeper". Capinera, Scott, and Walker's user-friendly reference covers most of the common "orthops" in the US. That's about a third of the American grasshoppers, katydids, and crickets known in the lower 48. The book relies on 48 excellent color plates to aid identification. How do you use the book? Well, learning about grasshoppers and their kin is a little different from birding. You've got to have a specimen in hand, dead or alive. So, go check out your car's radiator grill for a grasshopper, or turn on the back porch lights to attract some katydids. Okay, with your dried grasshopper or a cricket in a jar you can begin by using the pictorial key. It will help you to learn what suborder and family your critter belongs to. After you do that a few times you'll be able to distinguish a spur-throated from a banded-wing hopper, or a cone-headed katydid from a hump-winged grig. When you reach this stage, which is a no-brainer, you use the book pretty much like a bird guide. Just compare your specimen with the plates. Wing and hind leg color are key characters for grasshoppers, while more subtle features distinguish katydids and crickets. When you find a good match, go to the species accounts to see if the critter occurs in your state. Don't be discouraged if it doesn't. Go back to the plates and keep looking. A lot of species look alike till you get up close and personal, which is the only way you are going to identify most orthops. It's amazing how quickly you can start to recognize species when you know their key characters. It's also quite satisfying. But very few of your hiking friends will believe you when you start spouting off the names of trailside orthops.I hope that future editions will print the page number of the species account next to the species' picture in the plate. But you can always write the page in, as I do for those species I have identified. Did you ever wonder what makes those chirps and buzzing sounds on a summer night? Well, get out there with your flashlight and a jar and have some fun. There is a wealth of information in this field guide, and it can open up a new world of biological pursuit, whether you're a recreational naturalist or a professional entomologist.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
pretty good beginning, Aug 5 2008
By D. Gregg - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Field Guide to Grasshoppers Katydids & Crickets of the U.S. (Paperback)
This book sounds great when you read the description and when you get it, it looks like it will be another in the current wave of amazing field guides for previously obscure insect taxa exemplified by Ed Lam's 2004 Damselflies of the Northeast. When you try to use it, however, as I did on several recent occasions, you run into limitations. The keys are great to a point but I kept getting stuck at genus level or higher. Also, because you're often trying to identify a congener to the species illustrated, you have to "squint" a bit. Of course once you've had to do that once or twice you lose faith in the fine points of the illustrations even when you're pretty sure you're looking at the same species as illustrated. This book is great if you want to learn to separate the higher organization of the katydids, grasshoppers, and crickets and it is very useful for the information it provides on a particular species (habitat, life history, etc.) once you've got one identified, but for IDing a lot of grasshoppers to species, you'll need more.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Introduction to American Orthoptera, Feb 9 2006
By David B Richman - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Field Guide to Grasshoppers Katydids & Crickets of the U.S. (Paperback)
Grasshoppers, crickets and kadydids are well-known, but often overlooked by amateur naturalists because of the apparent lack of good guides. Actually Helfer wrote a very good guide to the orthopteroid orders many years ago, which is still available from Dover, but the taxonomy is a bit out of date.John Capinera et al., have now produced a beautiful guide a selection of the U. S. species to the true Orthoptera (minus walkingsticks, mantids, and cockroaches) that will serve as an good introduction. I am surprised at some of their choices, but then one never totally agrees with the authors of books containing selected species descriptions. Those who would like more can get Helfer, which is still very useful, if dated, and is much more complete (it not only includes most of the known grasshopper, katydid, and cricket species, but also the other orders formally placed in the Orthoptera, and the termites and earwigs as a bonus!). However the color illustrations in "Field Guide to Grasshoppers, Katydids, and Crickets of the United States" are reasonably accurate and beautiful. Why not get both books (the Helfer book is still available for less than $15.00) if you really want to identify your fauna of grasshoppers and their relatives?
I recommend this book to anyone interested in the fauna beyond their back door. I hope, however, that a revised and updated version of something like Helfer's book will eventually be published.
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