Charles W. Heckman – författare

This book recounts the habits of many interesting and unusual exceptions to the rule that insects are typically terrestrial forms of life. It examines the different ways that groups of species have developed modes of existence in or on the surface of water, and gives reasons why the gross morphology of insects is not favorable for life in or near bodies of water, such as wings that fail to function after coming into contact with water, rendering them useless.

Anisoptera is the first of two volumes on the Odonata in the series Encyclopedia of South American Aquatic Insects. The second will treat the Zygoptera.

The Anisoptera volume encompasses the large dragonfly species. A brief review of the biology of the group includes illustrations of the main morphological features as well as explainations of alternative systems for naming the wing veins and other structures.  This will prepare the user of the volume to understand the different names for the same structures that he will encounter in the literature.   

The review is then followed by keys to facilitate identification of the adult dragonflies and the known larvae, allowing the user a high probability of identifying his specimens correctly.  In addition to anatomical features, the keys include the known ranges of the species, synonyms, and citations of literature in which more information about each individual species can be obtained.  These citations are compiled in an extensive bibliography, including titles of the original publications in which descriptions of almost all South American species appeared.  Although taxonomic revisions are deliberately avoided, suggestions for additional research are provided where the validity of taxa seems doubtful. 

To provide the user with the best possible opportunity to distinguish the species, the keys are richly illustrated with pen and ink drawings of thousands of individual morphological structures arranged in 797 figures.  It is certain that significant changes will occur in the systematics of South American dragonflies in the future, and this book should provide the impetus needed to accelerate the revisional work.  Meanwhile, it will provide a comprehensive overview of the Anisoptera in South America that is otherwise unavailable to most South American sc

Already published within this encyclopedia:

-Encyclopedia of South American Aquatic Insects: Collembola ISBN: 0-7923-6704-9-Encyclopedia of South American Aquatic Insects: Ephemeroptera ISBN: 1-4020-0775-2-Encyclopedia of South American Aquatic Insects: Plecoptera ISBN: 1-4020-1520-8

Forthcoming book titles:

Forthcoming book titles:

-Encyclopedia of South American Aquatic Insects: Odonata - Zygoptera

-Encyclopedia of South American Aquatic Insects: Orthoptera-Encyclopedia of South American Aquatic Insects: Heteroptera; -Encyclopedia of South American Aquatic Insects: Neuroptera, including Megaloptera-Encyclopedia of South American Aquatic Insects: Trichoptera-Encyclopedia of South American Aquatic Insects: Lepidoptera-Encyclopedia of South American Aquatic Insects: Coleoptera-Encyclopedia of South American Aquatic Insects: Diptera-Encyclopedia of South American Aquatic Insects: Hymenoptera

This book recounts the habits of many interesting and unusual exceptions to the rule that insects are typically terrestrial forms of life. It examines the different ways that groups of species have developed modes of existence in or on the surface of water, and gives reasons why the gross morphology of insects is not favorable for life in or near bodies of water, such as wings that fail to function after coming into contact with water, rendering them useless.

This order once encompassed all insects with a complex network of wing veins, regardless of whether their metamorphosis was incomplete or complete.  By the early 20th century, most of the species had been transferred to new orders, leaving only a small percentage of the insects once assigned to the Neuroptera remaining in that order.  By the second half of the 20th century, some of the taxonomists began to believe that the fragmentation of this order had gone too far, and that the order Megaloptera needed to be grouped in some way with Neuroptera, either by making them suborders of the same order or by creating a superorder to accommodate both.

Because only a relatively small number of species are still included in Neuroptera sensu lato, this book provides keys to all known South American species that have been described well enough to be identified with any degree of certainty.  Many species in the family Chloropidae, the neuropteran family with the greatest number of recognized species in South America, have proven to be valuable as biological controls for insect pests in agriculture.  Their importance for tropical agriculture is another reason for including terrestrial species in this book.

Hemiptera - Heteroptera encompasses the three well-defined suborders of the true bugs which are adapted to an aquatic or littoral habitat.  The book begins with a section on the biology these insects and provides illustrations of the basic features of their morphology and outlines the larval development.  Brief outlines of the ecological and zoogeographical peculiarities of the three aquatic suborders are presented individually, and various methods for observing, collecting, preserving, rearing, and examining specimens are discussed.

Most of the book is devoted to keys for the identification of adults to species, and notes are provided that will help recognize the known larvae.  Unlike most other aquatic insects, the larval instars of the heteropteran species closely resemble the adults in their morphology, preferred habitats, and feeding habits.  Therefore, distinguishing features of those relatively few larvae which have been described in detail are usually mentioned in the keys to the adults rather than being included in separate keys.  In addition to the most important features for determining the individual species, many keys include additional notes on the morphology, which is intended to give the user a better chance of recognizing specimens of species not yet known to science.  After the currently recognized name of each species, the known range is provided.  Regions of the world outside of South America, South American countries, and the states of Brazil from which the species has been reported are listed.  Following the range information, major synonyms previously used for the species  in the literature are provided.  If subspecies have been

To provide the user of the keys with maximum assistance in making reliable identifications, the book is richly illustrated with pen and ink drawings of thousands of individual morphological structures arranged in 820 figures.  The book is intended to make a significant impact toward popularizing the study of South American water bugs by assembling and condensing the information in hundreds of individual publications on the group, which appeared in many books and journals published in many different countries over the past 200 years.  Some of these works are very difficult to obtain in South America, and their lack creates serious impediments to systematic, ecological, and zoogeographical research.  In the more than 730 titles appearing in the bibliography, the original descriptions and revisions of almost all South American species can be found.