I. Löbl and A. Smetana, eds.Apollo Books,
Stenstrup, Denmark 2006 (Vol. 3) 690 pp.,
and 2007 (Vol. 4) 935 pp., US$134 and $216, respectively;
hardcover ISBN 87-88757-59-5 and 87-88757-67-6

There are hundreds of thousands of species of beetle known to science and hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of species awaiting discovery. Periodically, catalogs are needed to consolidate extensive and disparate sets of natural history information and to provide the baseline or foundation for extended studies. Properly compiled catalogs are essential elements for helping avoid the Bortolus (2008)"error cascades" of bad taxonomy. Catalogs are extremely time-consuming and require great dedication over long periods, are highly under-appreciated by those that are not taxonomists and curators, are absolutely essential to working scientists, and are among the most frequently cited studies. Full catalogs of organism names are standard documents that record the contemporary and historical taxonomy, nomenclature, name authorships and dates, type species of genera, and occurrence and distributions of species. As noted by the editors, "The simple, although often ignored, reason for the durability of taxonomic data is in the fact that taxonomy provides the language indispensable for unambiguous conveyance of biological information."

The Palaearctic (often spelled as "Palearctic" in North America) Region is the Eurasian counterpart to the Nearctic Region, together they are the Holarctic Region. The Palaearctic is the largest terrestrial biogeographic region, and the Holarctic encompasses more than half of all terrestrial environments. Given the size and complexity of spanning subtropical to polar environments, and desert to alpine, it is not surprising that the beetle diversity is comparably large. This year is the 250th Anniversary of the publication of Systema Naturae by Carolus Linnaeus, the basis from which most of biological nomenclature is derived. Since then, biodiversity endeavors throughout the Palaearctic Region have dealt with a tremendous diversity of beetles. The Catalog of Palaearctic Coleoptera attempts to become the best effort at providing a singular and essential resource for its region of coverage. Volume three includes 28 families by 41 collaborators, and 53 families in volume four authored by 37 collaborators. In sum, the Catalog presents nearly 25,000 names in volume three and almost 29,000 names in volume 4! That the thousands of synonyms involved are presented begins to bring perspective to the difficulty of understanding the evolution and supramolecular complexity of whole organisms and their ecological roles.

Volumes 1 and 2 were previously reviewed for the Annals of ESA by Anderson (2006). There is little that I can add regarding the overall production quality of these four volumes. The one typographic error noticed in volume 4 is that the family name Cerophytidae was misspelled as "Cerophatidae" in the table of contents. Otherwise, the generally high standards are being maintained and the project continues. Hopefully, the final volumes will be completed soon. The present volumes follow the same format of information presentation, but volume 3 includes extensive errata for volumes 1 and 2, and volume 4 has errata for all three preceding volumes. Ahead of the family treatments are "New Acts and Comments" sections for each family that detail new nomenclatural acts, such as synonymies, type species designations, rank changes, recombinations, new assignments, spelling corrections, and notes on family-group name use. Each volume has its own extensive bibliography; volume 3 includes 5,644 primary references and volume 4 includes 6,905 primary references to the taxa cataloged. This is a most valuable resource in itself!

Two aspects of the Catalog of Palaearctic Coleoptera are rather disappointing. First, a complete catalog will provide in the historical taxonomy those bibliographic references pertinent for tracking the use and application of names. This is not done here. Because of this lack of information this massive production is actually a slightly annotated checklist. Users cannot use the Catalog as their singular source of information on a name but still must refer back to the old Schenkling's Coleopterorum Catalogus, and they may have to sift the subsequent 80 yr of publications to clarify usage of a name. Synonyms must likewise be separately tracked through other publications, if not potentially exhaustive literature searching, that a catalog would obviate.

Second, the New Acts and Comments sections of each volume typically do not include data to justify or support a decision. Indeed, each entry was decided by a recognized expert for each taxon treated, but there is generally no information to explain the decisions. Some researchers have already published challenges, refutations, and changes to taxonomic decisions made in the Catalog. If cost and space were limiting factors in the production of the Catalog, then these taxonomic acts should have been separately published with appropriate discussion and justification.

The Catalog of Palaearctic Coleoptera volumes do not have indices for species-group names. Rather, searchable indices are available electronically from the publisher at www.apollobooks.com, or the Muséum d'histoire naturelle in Geneva at www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/mhng. This brings the question of why the entire catalog was not published electronically. The editors take the position that printed text has a long track record of relative permanence, whereas electronic media remain unreliable for the long-term management of perennially useful scientific information across varying platforms. Simultaneous publication in printed and electronic formats was avoided for economic business reasons. That is, the relatively inexpensive production of online or CD-ROM types of media would undercut the value of the printed text. The editor's rationale was summarized as "We believe that under the globally inadequate institutional interest for the needs of taxonomy, the livelihood of those who are willing to accept the commercially hazardous production of reprinted taxonomic publications should be protected. We advocate the growth and continuation of taxonomy, not its demise." I do sympathize with this position, but I also hope that all aspects of final production are in digital form so that the catalog can eventually and readily be converted to formats for rapid searchability, easier updating by subsequent workers, and be the basis for a complete catalog. Fortunately, as much as it is, the Catalog of Palaearctic Coleoptera is a well-produced and essential resource for coleopterists and other biodiversitists that will provide many years of value.

Paul J. Johnson
Insect Research Collection,
South Dakota State University,
Brookings, SD 57007,
Phone: (605) 688-4438,
E-mail: paul.johnson@sdstate.edu

Annals of Entomological Society of America
Vol. 102, No. 4, July 2009, Page 735 - 736