Includes bibliographical references (p. 662-732) and index.
Contents:
Diversity and evolution -- Fossil insects -- Arthropods and the origin of insects -- The insects -- Earliest insects -- Insects take to the skies -- Polyneoptera -- The Paraneopteran orders -- The Holometabola -- Coleoptera and Strepsiptera -- Hymenoptera : ants, bees, and other wasps -- Panorpida : Antliophora and Amphiesmenoptera -- Amphiesmenoptera : the caddisflies and Lepidoptera -- Insects become modern : the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods.
Summary:
"This book chronicles, for the first time, the complete evolutionary history of insects: their living diversity, relationships, and 400 million years of fossils. Whereas other volumes have focused on either living species or fossils, this is the first comprehensive synthesis of all aspects of insect evolution. Current estimates of phylogeny are used to interpret the 400-million-year fossil record of insects, their extinctions, and radiations." "Evolution of the Insects is beautifully illustrated with more than 900 photo- and electron micrographs, drawings, diagrams, and field photographs, many in full color and virtually all original. The book will appeal to anyone engaged with insect diversity: professional entomologists and students, insect and fossil collectors, and naturalists."--BOOK JACKET.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.