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Beetles of Britain and Ireland, Volume 1: Sphaeriusidae to Silphidae is a new identification guide to the adult Coleoptera of the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, and the British Crown Dependency of the Isle of Man. It is the first comprehensive account of the beetles of the British Isles since Joy's A Practical Handbook of British Beetles, published in 1932.
Beetles of Britain and Ireland, Volume 1: Sphaeriusidae to Silphidae is intended as a reference source for coleopterists, ecological consultants and museum curatorial staff, as well as naturalists wishing to make the transition from a casual to a more serious interest in beetles. By bringing together reliable modern keys and using the latest taxonomic arrangement and nomenclature, it is hoped that beginning coleopterists will more quickly learn how to identify beetles and gain added confidence in their identifications. Keys are provided to every native and naturalised species, including ones which have become extinct in historical times. Copious line drawings are provided alongside the keys to illustrate critical characters, and detailed species notes are given, including supporting characters, habitat, phenology, distribution and abundance. High resolution colour photographs of selected species, at least one per genus, are also provided in a series of colour plates.
Beetles of Britain and Ireland, Volume 1: Sphaeriusidae to Silphidae includes the familar whirligig beetles, diving beetles, ground beetles and carrion beetles, as well as the 'hydrophiloid' group of water beetle families, hister beetles and others (see table of contents for a list). A chapter on the minute and very difficult featherwing beetles is provided by the expert guest author, Michael Darby. This volume also includes a chapter on external beetle morphology and keys to 887 species in 18 beetle families, with family and genus introductions. Finally, the work contains an index to scientific and English family names.
Families in this volume:
Sphaeriusidae (minute bog beetles)
Gyrinidae (whirligig beetles)
Halipiidae (crawling water beetles)
Noteridae (burrowing water beetles)
Hygrobiidae (screech beetles)
Dytiscidae (diving beetles)
Carabidae (ground beetles)
Helophoridae (grooved water scavenger beetles)
Georissidae (minute mud-loving beetles)
Hydrochidae (hydrochid beetles)
Spercheidae (filter-feeding water beetles)
Hydrophilidae (hydrophilid beetles)
Sphaeritidae (false hister beetles)
Histeridae (hister beetles)
Hydraenidae (moss beetles)
Ptiliidae (featherwing beetles)
Leiodidae (leiodid beetles)
Silphidae (carrion beetles)
Andrew Duff is an amateur naturalist, interested in a wide range of animal and plant groups. Born in west London, his passion lor natural history was nurtured by visits as a young boy to the Selborne Society nature reserve at Perivale Wood. He has a B.Sc. in Biological Sciences from University of East Anglia, and a Ph.D. in the history of science from the University of Manchester. His interest in beetles started in 1982, soon after moving to Somerset, where he became county beetle recorder. A long and mostly boring period working with computers followed. He is now happily retired and living in north Norfolk.
