07973nam a2200193 4500008004100000245003900041210003900080260003100119300001200150490000600162520737200168100002507540700001607565700001807581700001507599700001807614700001807632856012907650 2010 eng d00aManual of Central American Diptera0 aManual of Central American Diptera aOttawabNRC Research Press a279-2920 v13 a

Brown, B.V., Borkent, A., Cumming, J.M., Wood, D.M., Woodley, N.E., and Zumbado, M.A. (eds)
NRC Research Press, Ottawa
2010; 714 pp.
ISBN 978-0-660-19833-0
US$ 94.95, CAN$ 94.95 (hardcover)

 

Diptera, with 153,000 described species (www.diptera.org), is one of the most diverse and successful taxa of holometabolous insects. In order to deal with such a large diversity of species, the Diptera community is fortunate to have access to Diptera manuals for the Nearctic and Palaearctic regions, i.e., Manual of Nearctic Diptera (1981–1989, 3 volumes, freely available as PDF download at www.esc-sec.ca/aafcmono.html) and Contributions to a Manual of Palaearctic Diptera  (1997–2000, 4 volumes). These manuals aimed to summarize what is known about the Diptera fauna in the regions covered and to provide introductory information for mosquitoes, gnats, midges, and flies in general. Furthermore, every family is introduced individually and identification keys to the families for both larvae and adults, as well as genera occurring in the regions, are provided.

This successful format has now been extended with the publication of Volume 1 of the Manual of Central American Diptera (www.mcadiptera.net), which for the first time addresses a tropical Diptera fauna. (Note that a Manual of Afrotropical Diptera (www.afrotropicalmanual.net) is currently in preparation.)

The Manual of Central American Diptera comprehensively treats the known (described) Diptera fauna of an extremely diverse region, defined as tropical Mexico and Central America south to the Panama-Colombia border, making the future study of this Diptera fauna much more accessible to dipterists, entomologists, and many other interested parties. The book is divided into 49 chapters, of which the vast majority are occupied by the individual family treatments (Chapters 8–49). All “Nematocera” families (22 families plus the Ohakunea group of Sciaroidea) as well as the lower Brachycera (17 families) and Dolichopodidae and Empididae are dealt with in Volume 1. Volume 2, published in late 2010, includes all remaining families of Muscomorpha.The introductory chapters on Adult Morphology and Terminology (2), Natural History (3), Economic Importance of Diptera (4), and Phylogeny of Diptera (5) provide up-to-date summaries of general issues.

The present adult morphology chapter by Cumming and Wood follows the high standard set by McAlpine (1981; Manual of Nearctic Diptera) and incorporates the literature of the past 30 years and should be applied as the new standard for Diptera terminology worldwide. Of particular value is the glossary of terms for each separate tagma, which makes the information more accessible and retrievable than in McAlpine’s (1981) chapter. A detailed morphological chapter has not been provided for larvae, and one could argue that this is a shortcoming of the present book. However, the chapter published in the Manual of Nearctic Diptera (Teskey 1981) can still provide an adequate introduction. The two keys to Diptera families (adults in Chapter 6, larvae in Chapter 7) are richly illustrated and key out all 105 families occurring in Central America. Nine families have not been included in the key to larvae, as the immature stages of these small taxa are unknown. The key to adults is followed by 12 pages of color photographs of Diptera species predominantly taken in the wild by Stephen A. Marshall (University of Guelph), who has recently published several other books with high-quality insect images. The photographs provide a glimpse of the morphological diversity of Diptera and introduce all families with at least one image. Even though not all diagnostic features might be visible in each image, these photographs provide a great overview and will be informative for dipterists and non-dipterists alike.

The individual family chapters are divided into six sections: Diagnosis, Biology (including economic importance), Classification, Identification with an accompanying key to genera, Synopsis of the fauna, and Literature Cited, and they also feature a drawing or digital illustration of a selected species as a frontispiece. The identification keys are not necessarily restricted to Central America, but in some instances also cover surrounding areas; e.g., Mycetophilidae and Stratiomyidae, the entire Neotropical Region, e.g., Psychodidae and Xylophagidae, or the entire world, e.g., Athericidae and Scatopsidae. For Culicidae and Rhagionidae, a key to larvae and for Anisopodidae, Blepharoceridae, and Simuliidae keys to larvae and pupae are provided as well. All keys are well illustrated and make reference to the numerous drawings and illustrations in each family chapter. Of particular interest are the short synopses dedicated to each genus, which is a new feature for Diptera manuals. Here, the number of known species in Central America (and the world) is discussed, although the number of yet undescribed species might be mentioned, biological and morphological information is summarized, and pertinent further references are provided. The Phylogeny of Diptera chapter and the Classification section within each family chapter provide a detailed account, including recent findings based on DNA evidence, of phylogenetic relationships and classification.

All authors are expert dipterists on their respective groups and the information provided in the Manual of Central American Diptera is both exhaustive and up to date. The publication quality is in general very good, although the text and drawings appear slightly offset on several pages. In contrast to the Manual of Nearctic Diptera, which predominantly featured illustrations by the same artist (Ralph Idema), the present volume incorporates illustrations from a variety of artists and authors. The absence of uniformity of the illustrations can in my opinion distract from the otherwise excellent content. Many of R. Idema’s excellent illustrations are reproduced and properly cited, but many illustrations are added to include species/features found only in Central American Diptera.

Overall, I can only recommend this book to taxonomists and systematists focusing on Central American Diptera or even on faunas elsewhere in the world. For entomologists and ecologists in general, the volume is a great resource to learn about Diptera diversity in a tropical region.

 

References Cited

McAlpine, J.F. 1981.Morphology and terminology–adults, pp. 9–63. In: J.F. McAlpine, B.V. Peterson, G.E. Shell, H.J. Teskey, J.R. Vockeroth, D.M. Wood (eds), Manual of Nearctic Diptera. Volume 1. Research Branch Monograph No. 27. Agriculture Canada, Hull (Quebec), Canada.

Teskey, H.J. 1981.Morphology and terminology–larvae, pp. 65–88. In J.F. McAlpine, B.V. Peterson, G.E. Shell, H.J. Teskey, J.R. Vockeroth, D.M. Wood (eds), Manual of Nearctic Diptera. Volume 1. Research Branch Monograph No. 27. Agriculture Canada, Hull (Quebec), Canada.

 

Torsten Dikow
Biodiversity Synthesis Center
Field Museum of Natural History
Chicago, IL, USA
E-mail: torsten@tdvia.de

American Entomologist
Vol. 57, No.2, Summer 2011

1 aBrown, Brian, Victor1 aBorkent, A.1 aCumming, J.M.1 aWood, D.M.1 aWoodley, N.E.1 aZumbado, M.A. uhttp://books.google.com.ua/books?id=dErvlFrtqhMC&printsec=frontcover&hl=ru&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false