Seed and leaf beetles AIDGAP
Seed and leaf beetles AIDGAP is an identification guide to adult seed and leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae)
- Covers all 283 species in Britain and Ireland
- Designed for use with living specimens (as far as possible)
- Illustrated with line drawings throughout
The chrysomelids are a widespread and popular group of beetles. Many have attractive metallic coloration. Some species are pests in farms and gardens. However, for many years there has been no single affordable identification guide to the species of Britain and Ireland. This book aims to fill the gap.
The keys use external features (visible with a hand lens) where possible. But in some cases finer examination with a binocular microscope is required. A few species require dissection, and in some cases there is ongoing taxonomic confusion. However, a large number of seed and leaf beetles, including many common garden species, can be identified to species level.
The author has deliberately avoided the specialist terms for colours traditionally used by coloepterists (such as ‘piceous’, ‘testaceous’ and ‘fuscous’). Experience has shown that beetle novices can find such language offputting. Instead the colours are generally given their everyday names in the keys.
This guide is part of the FSC’s AIDGAP series (Aids to Identification in Difficult Groups of Animals and Plants). AIDGAP guides are accessible keys suitable for non-specialists from age 16+. Since 1976, the AIDGAP project has published over 40 straightforward and clearly written identification keys to many different groups of plants, animals and other taxa.
Although written by specialists, all AIDGAP guides go through field tests in draft form. As with all guides in the series, the Caddis larvae AIDGAP underwent extensive testing before publication, by beginners and specialists alike. The author has revised this, the first published version, in the light of the testers’ experience.
