A comprehensive guide to all 44 species of North Woods damselflies, exclusively for Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. The book's innovative format shows: 120 color photos of all North Woods, easy-to-use phenograms, and bars on photos which indicate damselfly length.

Learn about all 102 species of dragonflies in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ontario in this third edition of the best-selling Dragonflies of the North Woods, which won a National Outdoor Book Award.

"A handy field guide to 444 of our most distinctive and interesting insects"--Cover.

This book brings these insects to life. As well as providing a broad introduction to their natural history, it features profiles of sixty of the most interesting and beautiful species from around the world.

This monograph is the first of its kind devoted entirely to the dragonfly nymphs of North America north of Mexico, the focus being accurate identification of the 330 species of Anisoptera that occur in the region. Nymphal external morphology is described and illustrated in detail, and all terms needed to navigate the dichotomous keys are defined. Species are tabulated with references that provide the most detailed, accurate descriptions for each; species that are inadequately described are so indicated. The key separating the seven families in the region contains several new characters. The families are then covered separately: Aeshnidae (13 genera), Gomphidae (17 genera), Petaluridae (2 genera), Cordulegastridae (2 genera), Macromiidae (2 genera), Corduliidae (7 genera), and Libellulidae (29 genera). Each family is further characterized, followed by a generic key. A drawing of the habitus and diagnostic details for each genus are provided, along with additional diagnostic remarks and notes on habitat and life cycle; for each genus, a map shows its geographic distribution in North America. Full-grown nymphs of all known species of each genus are keyed and diagnosed; characters that apply to earlier instars are noted. Morphological variation in character states was analyzed in order to assess the reliability of previously utilized characters and to discover new characters. Most of the characters used to distinguish all levels of taxa are illustrated; a total of 702 figures, comprising 1,800 original drawings, along with selected photographs where necessary for clarity, accompany the keys. Measurements of total length, head width, and other variables for each species are provided in tables. Difficulties with past keys and descriptions, including errors, omissions and other shortcomings, are addressed. The importance of nymph characters in helping solve generic and specific distinctions and their role in phylogenetic studies is emphasized. Methods for collecting, rearing, and preserving dragonfly nymphs and exuviae are presented. The final chapter discusses research opportunities on North American Anisoptera nymphs, including taxonomic needs, studies on structure and function, life history and microhabitat, water quality indices and conservation efforts. The habitus drawings of all genera are arranged according to family in five plates (Appendix I); although the book is intended as a lab manual, these plates conveniently allow for comparison based on nymph shape making field identification to genus possible in many cases. Appendix II contains a brief history of dragonfly nymph studies in North America. A glossary and an index to scientific names are included.

This first-of-its-kind field guide presents over 300 species of moths of the North. The innovative format, complete with neat-to-know information, makes field identification a snap, and 700-plus color photos illustrate how colorful moths can be.

Dragonflies and Damselflies documents the latest advances in odonate biology and relates these to a broader ecological and evolutionary research agenda. Despite being one of the smallest insect orders, dragonflies offer a number of advantages for both laboratory and field studies. In fact, they have been crucial to the advancement of our understanding of insect ecology and evolution. This book provides a critical summary of the major advances in these fields. Contributions from many of the leading researchers in dragonfly biology offer new perspectives and paradigms as well as additional, unpublished, data. The editor has carefully assembled a mix of theoretical and applied chapters (including those addressing conservation and monitoring) and achieves a balance of emerging and established research topics, providing suggestions for future study in each case. This accessible text is not about dragonflies per se but an essential source of knowledge that describes how different sets of evolutionary and ecological principles/ideas have been tested on a particular taxon. It will therefore be suitable for graduate students and researchers in entomology, evolutionary biology, population and behavioural ecology, and conservation biology. It will of course be of particular interest and use to those working on insects and an indispensable reference text for odonate biologists.