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