Oniscids are excellent model organisms for studies addressing more general biological questions, and they arguably demonstrate the best evolutionary progression in any extant group of organisms. The contributions in this book give a well balanced account of current research on all aspects - systematics, ecology, biogeography, morphology, physiology, immunology, endocrinology, behaviour, and hostparasite relationships - of biology of the remarkable creatures included in the Isopoda suborder Oniscidae, the only crustaceans that have conquered almost all terrestrial habitat types.
Joseph S. Fruton, Ph.D. (1934) Biochemistry, Columbia University, is Eugene Higgins Professor Emeritus, Yale University. His latest publication is Methods and Styles in the Development of Chemistry (2002).