Field Guide to Grasshoppers, Katydids, and
Crickets of the United States
John L. Capinera, Ralph D. Scott, and Thomas J. Walker
Comstock Publishing Association, Ithaca, NY
2004, 249 pp.
ISBN: 0-8014-4260-5, hard cover; 0-8014-8948-2, paperback
Price: $65.00, hard cover; $29.95, paperback
Amateur naturalists will love this book. The first 42 pages are devoted
to a general introduction to insects of the order Orthoptera. For those
who would like to rear specimens, there is an explanation of cage and
feeding requirements. The fascinating role of sound in helping
orthopterans locate mates is well covered and sufficient for instructing
newcomers in how to collect useful information and the role of songs in
speciation. The introduction also discusses the life history, ecology,
and economic importance of Orthoptera.
The next part of the book explains techniques for collecting and
preserving specimens and provides enough basic anatomy to use the keys.
This provides the necessary foundation for the main purpose of the
book—identifying species. The beginner will start with an eight-page
pictorial key sufficient to identify specimens at least to family and
usually to subfamily.
For further identification, the reader can use the 48 color plates of
drawings for 209 species. The drawings are well done, and in color,
which is sometimes a bit more vivid than the specimens found in nature.
The coloration of most orthopterans is adapted for camouflage, but a
close examination will reveal more interesting color patterns than a
casual observer would expect. This is especially true for the
band-winged grasshoppers that flash brightly colored wings in flight,
then seem to disappear as they land on the ground.
Most of the book is devoted to individual species, including common
name, scientific name, distribution, identification, ecology, and
comments about similar species. The coverage of individual species is
necessarily brief in a book covering hundreds of species, but it still
provides an understanding of the identifying features and ecological
differences between species. In addition to the color plates, the book
is generously illustrated with figures of distinctive anatomical
features, distribution maps, and sonograms. The comments explaining
differences among similar U.S. species raise the number of species that
can be identified to about 400. This is still only about a third of the
known U.S. species of Orthoptera, but covers the great majority of the
specimens that a person is likely to encounter.
The potential for use of this book in entomology classes is something
that should not be overlooked. Grasshoppers, katydids, and crickets are
large in comparison to most insects. Identifying specimens to species
need not be the overwhelming task required for most insects. This field
guide will help students move past generalizations such as “it’s a
grasshopper” and understand the particular characteristics of the
various species. Introductory entomology classes typically require
students to make a collection with specimens identified to family, yet
the species is the basic biological unit we must study to understand
adaptations to an ecological niche. Asking for identification to species
in one group would add another dimension to a student’s understanding,
and I view Orthoptera as an ideal group for this purpose.
Although the book is suitable for the amateur naturalist, scientific
names and terminology serve as a bridge into serious scientific work. A
guide to the pronunciation of scientific names and a glossary provide
assistance for novices. An additional reading list and detailed index
are included.
Other recent books cover the Orthoptera of Michigan or the Grasshoppers
of Florida, many older publications cover Orthoptera from specific
states or regions. Numerous Internet resources may be found, starting
with the links found at the website of the Orthopterists’ Society
(http://www.orthoptera.org). I recommend Field Guide to Grasshoppers,
Katydids, and Crickets of the United States as a general introduction to
this group, with broader coverage than other more specialized
alternatives.
David C. Eades
Illinois Natural History Survey
607 East Peabody Drive
Champaign, IL 61820-6970
American Entomologist
Vol. 51, No.2, Summer 2005
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