United States
£ GBP
This illustrated introduction to Central American Chironomidae offers extensive photography material, as well as detailed morphological and ecological description of chironomid subfossils found in Central American lake sediments. The book uniquely provides two identification keys: one for living larvae occurring (or potentially being present) in Central America, and one for the recorded subfossil remains using limited morphological characters.
Paleolimnological investigations using chironomid remains have undergone a resurgence of interest and this taxonomic guide will aid the thorough analysis of the diversity and distribution of the taxa encountered to date in Central America. Out of the total 64 described genera, the book brings 20 endemic genera and more than half of the presented morphotypes are new, not listed in Brooks et al (2007). Plates are included for each taxon with generic characters, and also provide a key to morphotypes, if present, their specific characters, distribution and ecology.
Authored by a (paleo)limnologist and a taxonomist, Chironomidae of Central America draws on a thorough taxonomical knowledge of the region's recent chironomid fauna. It uses a paleolimnological approach to transmit this information to morphotypes that can be linked with ecology and used to reconstruct the past development of nature. The book thus helps paleo-workers and taxonomists to learn more about these fascinating tiny insects and, through them, to discover the world around us.
Providing a comprehensive reference for aquatic ecologists, palaeolimnologists, students and researchers, the guide will also be of interest to non-academic professionals working on applied research and biomonitoring of lakes. It will be useful for people working with both recent and subfossil material not only in Central America, but in the whole Neotropical region.
- Introduction
- Taxonomic keys
- Subfamily Chironominae
- Subfamily Orthocladiinae
- Subfamily Podonominae
- Subfamily Tanypodinae
Dr Ladislav Hamerlík is an aquatic ecologist fascinated by the variability and diversity of Chironomidae. He studies ecology and taxonomy of these tiny insects, mainly, as indicators of both recent and past environmental changes all over the world. Currently, he holds a position as assoc. professor in the Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Matej Bel University, Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
Dr Fabio Laurindo da Silva is a professor in the Department of Zoology, Institute of Biosciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, where he teaches courses in biogeography, aquatic insects, and general entomology, and conduct research on evolutionary biology, historical biogeography, and systematics of Chironomidae
"A much needed reference for Central American workers; this publication will aid greatly in the identification of larvae of fossil and many extant chironomid taxa."
– John H. Epler, Ph.D., Aquatic Entomologist, Florida, USA
"A valuable resource for anyone working on Central American chironomids; diagnostic keys supplemented with photographs showing important morphological structures will be valuable not just for paleolimnologists, but for anyone working on Chironomidae in Central America."
– Martin B. Berg, Professor, Department of Biology, Loyola University Chicago, USA
