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Hawkmoths are large charismatic insects with highly variable and colourful larvae. Some species are specialised in their habitat preferences, but others are widespread and often encountered in gardens. However, little is known about most species, and associating the adults with their larvae has previously been difficult or impossible.
Hawkmoths of Australia allows identification of all of the Australian hawkmoths for the first time and treats species found on mainland Australia, Tasmania and all offshore islands within Australian limits. It presents previously undescribed life histories of nearly all species and provides a comprehensive account of hawkmoth biology, including new parasitoids and their hawkmoth hosts. Detailed drawings and photographs show the external and internal morphology of adults and immatures, and eggs, larval instars and pupa. Keys are provided for last instar larvae and pupae of the 71 species that the authors have reared. The book is concluded by a glossary, appendices to parasitoids and larval foodplants, an extensive reference list with bibliographical notes and a comprehensive index.
The wealth of new information in Hawkmoths of Australia makes it an essential reference for anyone interested in these moths.
Features:
- The first full treatment of the Australian hawkmoths, covering their identification, distributions and biology.
- Comprehensive life history accounts for most species, including many previously unrecorded.
- Illustrated with more than 800 colour photographs and supplemented by detailed technical descriptions.
- Adults of all species illustrated in colour including variants never before figured.
- A detailed account of natural enemies, especially of parasitoids, most previously unrecorded.
Preface
Acknowledgments
Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera: previous volumes in this series
Organisation and presentation
Historical review
Structure and function
Collection and preservation
Rearing hawkmoths
Biology
Classification and nomenclature
The Australian fauna
Addendum
Plates
Glossary
Appendix 1: Sphingidae-Parasitoid associations
Appendix 2: Summary of known larval foodplants
References
Index
Dr Maxwell S. Moulds has had a passion for hawkmoths for much of his life, an interest that has taken him to many remote localities throughout Australia, New Guinea and the Pacific Islands. He has authored or co-authored more than 90 scientific papers and books on insects, and his book on Australian cicadas won the Whitley Medal, the highest award for Australian natural history books. In 2016, he was awarded the prestigious Australian Natural History Medallion for outstanding contributions to Australian entomology, and he is an Honorary Life Member of the Entomological Society of Queensland. In 2003, he retired from the Australian Museum but continues his association there as a Senior Fellow.
James P. Tuttle has served as President, Treasurer and for 13 years as Season Summary Editor of the Lepidopterists’ Society, which has members in over 36 countries worldwide. He has published the critically acclaimed textbooks The Wild Silk Moths of North America and The Hawk Moths of North America, and numerous journal articles on the Lepidoptera of Australia, North America and South America.
David A. Lane has a keen interest in the Lepidoptera of the Indo-Australian area, particularly northern Australia, Papua New Guinea and East Timor. He has published widely in journals in Australia and Europe, with particular emphasis on Saturniidae and Sphingidae.
