Evolution of the Insects (Cambridge Evolution Series) (Hardcover)

by David Grimaldi (Author), Michael S. Engel (Author)
Key Phrases: apocritan wasps, corbiculate bees, tegminous forewings, New Jersey, North America, South America (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A landmark contribution, not just to entomology and evolutionary biology, but to the life sciences as a whole. Beautifully conceived, splendidly written, and exquisitely illustrated...Bound to remain a primary scientific reference for years to come. A must for naturalists, young and old. Truly a definitive work."
Thomas Eisner, Cornell University, Author of For Love of Insects

"Whatever is in store, The Evolution of Insects superbly documents the rich and colorful history of hexapods."
Edmund Jarzembowski, SCIENCE

"...a 'must have' for anyone interested in this extraordinary group of organisms...the stress on the importance of insects in the daily life of the planet is one of the book's many strengths...a joy simply to browse, not only because of the high standard of the images...but also because of the discoveries to be made on every page..."
BBC Wildlife

"...insects deserve the immense, sumptuously illustrated monography text Grimaldi and Engel have now provided. Evolution of the Insects is a hugely impressive achievement. Throughout, the writing is clear and lively, the scholarship outstanding and the amount of information summarized vast. The enthusiasm of the authors for entomology shows in every aspect of this book, but the task of creating or assembling the images alone has evidently been a colossal labor of love...for its wealth of insights, as well as its unprecedented scope and depth, this superlative synthesis should have a durable appeal not only to entomologists, but also to biologists in general."
TRENDS in Ecology and Evolution

"There are a number of good entomology books on the market. Few, however, have integrated the living and fossil record as seamlessly as David Grimaldi and Michael Engel's Evolution of the Insects. None, moreover, has combined this integration with so much student-friendly text and such a wealth of illustrations (more than 900)."
Science

"Grimaldi and Engel, two entomologists, have produced a really excellent, beautifully illustrated account that will enthrall both student and general reader. They have gone to town on the tome that is not just informative but also accessible and covers one of the most important topics in biology."
New Scientist

"Put all of the insects on a giant scale, and they will outweigh all other animals, whales and elephants included. And insects are also ecologically essential. If all humans decided to leave for Mars, life on Earth would not change much. All the vertebrates could probably leave as well, causing only a minimum of disruption. But if the insects disappeared, catastrophe would ensue. Forests would probably collapse, rivers and oceans would be poisoned, and many other animals would starve. Two entomologists have now written the first book that chronicles this success story. Evolution of the Insects, published by Cambridge University Press, is the result of five years' labor by David Grimaldi of the American Museum of Natural History and Michael Engel of the University of Kansas. Grimaldi and Engel are well-qualified for the job. Among their many accomplishments, they identified the oldest insect fossils from a 410-million-year-old rock in 2004. But to write Evolution of the Insects, they went well beyond their own research and synthesized the work of the armies of scientists who study living insects, dig up insect fossils and discover evolutionary secrets in insect DNA Advent of wings. This effort has produced an increasingly clear picture of the rise of insects."
San Diego Union Tribune

"This is a beautifully produced book, with cleanly presented photos of fossils supplemented by attractively produced photos of living taxa, elegant line drawings, diagrams, and tables. The authors and Cambridge University Press are to be congratulated for making this large volume such a pleasure to read and use."
J.B. Whitfield, American Entomologist

"Evolution of the Insects is filled with lavish color photographs of both fossil and recent insects."
George Poinar, Jr., American Scientist

"Evolution of the Insects by David Grimaldi and Michael S. Engel is the first book that has attempted to pull together and synthesize both fossil and recent evidence for insect evolution, and to present the information in an accessible, engaging way. They have succeeded to an unprecedented degree, and anyone with an active or passing interest in insects owes it to themselves to have a look."
Quentin D. Wheeler, Natural Science

"This is a rich work and an excellent contribution to the study and teaching of insect and arthropod science."
Kipling W. Will, BioScience

"Surprisingly for a book of this depth ... the intended audience are beginning graduate students, non-specialist, and even amateur naturalists and fossil insect collectors. The writing style is simple, without the over-explained feel of a textbook, but complete and satisfying. In cases where technical terms are inevitable, there's a very useful glossary at the end."
Ecoscience

"Entomologists such as myself are concerned only with a few insect species, especially those that interact with man - either pest species or beautiful, endangered species such as butterflies. Seldom do we give much thought to how and when our study organisms evolved, and when we do, the relevant information is often hard to find. Fortunately, two American authors, David Grimaldi and Michael Engel, have brilliantly synthesised the potentially mind-boggling diversity of information in Evolution of the Insects...This book is well written, logically presented, well referenced, easy to read and marvellously illustrated, mostly in color...it will be immensely useful to non-taxonomists, entomologists who are ecologists, behaviorists and physiologists. One of its strengths is that it is a general reference source that can be dipped into according to need but also has a logical thread and can be read cover to cover....Each of the other chapters is an equal pleasure to read, and the average of at least one illustration per page is maintained throughout. Apart from being relevant to the text, some of the photographs of both living and fossil insects are so beautiful that the book might even have a casual "coffee table" appeal. I am sure that I will use it much more frequently than many other reference books that I own, and I have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone with an interest in entomology."
Graham Elmes, Times Higher Education

"The authors have created an impressive work in presenting an evolutionary history of insects, including information on their diversity, relationships, and 400 million years of fossils. No other work has managed to integrate this diversity of living and extinct insects. This book has already been noted as a breakthrough work and a landmark contribution. [...] This work advances our knowledge of insect relationshiops and conveys the vast scope and depth of information the authors have provided about the topic that no other work on insect fossils has approached...This work is a must have for anyone interested in insect studies and is highly recommended for academic libraries." -- American Reference Books Annual

Product Description
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 772 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (May 16, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521821495
• ISBN-13: 978-0521821490
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 9.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #126,694 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #13 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Zoology > Invertebrates
  #36 in	Books > Science > Biological Sciences > Zoology > Invertebrates
  #74 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Fauna > Insects & Spiders

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book on Old Bugs!, May 29, 2005

By	Scott McKenzie "Paleontology instructor" (Erie, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When I read "History of Insects" by Rasnitsyn & Quicke, I was happy, when I read "Evolution of the Insects" I became ecstatic! This book has colorful, well chosen illustrations that illuminate the chapters. The book is well written to the point of being hard to put down.

The authors have included much about living insects which will make this accessible volume useful to biologists as well as paleontologists. Teachers and libraries ought to have this book.
Fossil collectors and naturalists will be drawn to it.

The price of this hardbound treasure is low enough to be irresistable. To be sure, there are some errors; all chert is not volcanic(P. 49), and the 'spider' in photo 2.4 on P. 45 is actually the Holotype of a whip scorpion relative called a Schizomid. The authors accept impact for the Triassic mass extinction which is still debated, while curiously balking to accept the widely acknowledged impact termination to the Cretaceous.

All in all, this is a MUST HAVE book. I still love the more technical "History of Insects" for its many illustrations of Asian fossils which are seldom seen in
English language publications.

"Evolution of the Insects" is perhaps the finest treatment yet given to any fossil group!

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Definitive Work, June 16, 2005

By	John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Every so often a breakthrough book is published afterwhich everything that follows will be different. This is one of those books. This is the most complete, the most detailed and easily the best illustrated book on insect evolution ever even attempted.

The cover photograph (a 120 million year old orthopteran of the extinct family Elcanidae) sets the tone. This photograph is as complete and beautifully made as if it were taken yesterday of a living insect. And this is only one outstanding picture. Altogether there are 995 photographs and illustrations in the book, the majority of which are in color.

Extensively researched, there are some 70 pages (large size pages) of references. Every aspect of insect evolution is at least touched upon from the history of the prominent scientists to the insects themselves as they began, developed wings and other distinguishing features, evolved to the forms we see today.

This is the definitive book on the subject.

36 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great overview, August 10, 2005

By	J. A. Haverstick (Lancaster, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Entymologists may have a take on this that I don't, being a mere natural history buff. I actually read the first 250 pages straight through (in bed - no mean trick with this 10 pound item), then browsed the rest for information, returning to steady reading at the end. The beginning chapters give a history of insect studies and go at some questions of general interest (what was the evolutionary history of the development of insect wings, for example... fascinating stuff). The final chapters deal with general questions of modern insect history and the future in our increasingly screwed up planet. Both the beginning and end of the book could be read usefully as essays in themselves. The great middle bulk deals with the evolution of the particular families and orders, and is,again, full of interesting details (no, the modern roach doesn't go back to the Carboniferous, no matter what they say in the Exterminex commercial!)

So the technical (but perfectly clear) middle five hundred pages becomes for me a once-scanned part of my reference library to which I'm sure I'll be returning many times. For me, not being a trained biologist, one good feature of the book is that I got a - hopefully partially retainable - idea of the various ages and epochs in geological time (how many times have I tried to get those down?) and a general notion of the various features of groups of insects and their relationships to one another. I think it's much easier to retain this information in the framework of evolutionary history than from a field guide or books on specific groups. But ask me again in a year. Of course, the book is very well illustrated and generously sprinkled with graphs and timelines.