Caterpillars in the Middle

Dr Suzanne Koptur is Professor Emerita of Biological Sciences in the Institute of Environment,  International Center for Tropical Botany, Florida International University. Her research focuses on understanding plant/animal interactions with a focus on mutualisms, especially plant antiherbivore defense and pollination. She is also involved in cultivation of native wildflowers for creation of butterfly gardens, ecological schoolyards, and habitat restoration for rare species.Dr Robert J Marquis is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biology and the Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center, University of Missouri–St. Louis. His research focuses on the interactions between host plant traits and the insects associated with plant, including natural enemies of caterpillars. Both temperate and tropical systems have been the focus of his research. He and his students and collaborators also study the impacts of forest management on caterpillar populations, all against a background of changing climate.

“This is an excellent work that not only emphasises the general importance of studying tritrophic systems, the world of lepidopteran caterpillars, their parasitoids and predators, but also all sorts of ideas for future research. … the scientific contribution of this publication to the biology, ecology and conservation of Lepidoptera is undeniable and the book should therefore be a part of every entomological library.” (M. Rindoš, European Journal of Entomology (EJE), Vol. 121, 2024)“‘Caterpillars in the Middle’ is an original welcome overview of how larvae of moths and butterflies fit in to the natural world … . The wealth of thought-provoking information in this book is also a salutary reminder of the numerous uncertainities inevitable in planning the future … . The book, likely to become a classic in the literature of Lepidoptera biology, deserves to be read widely and the messages it conveys for the future heeded carefully.” (Tim R. New, Journal of Insect Conservation, Vol. 26 (5), 2022)

• Part 1: Introduction.- 1.Diversity of caterpillar adaptations in a complex evolutionary landscape.- Part 2: Impacts of the first trophic level, plants, on caterpillar ecology and evolution.- 2.Surface warfare: Interactions between caterpillars and plant structural defenses.- 3.Role of host plants in mediating caterpillar-natural enemy interactions.- 4.Reciprocal impacts of plant defenses and host choice by Lepidoptera in Neotropical rainforests.- 5.Molecular ecology of caterpillar salivary defenses against host plants.- 6.Ecology and evolution of secondary compound detoxification systems in caterpillars.- 7.Comparative caterpillar host plant interactions in agricultural and wildland systems: what can comparisons tell us?.- 8.Caterpillars drive patterns of growth and top-down suppression of competing phloem-feeders across diverse environments.- 9.