BOOK REVIEW: Australian Beetles. Volume 2. Archostemata, Myxophaga, Adephaga, Polyphaga (part).Edited byAdam Ślipiński and John Lawrence. 2019. 792 pages. Published by CSIRO Publishing, Australia. ISBN: 9780643097308. $AU250.00

Abstract

Our Australian counterparts have an enviable record of publishing books providing a comprehensive coverage of their insect fauna. The Insects of Australia, first published in 1970, provided extensive coverage of the fauna at family level. This was followed by an extensively revised second edition in 1991, which remains a classic general taxonomic resource. Subsequently, the Aussie beetlers struck out on their own with Australian Beetles in 1994, authored by John Lawrence and E. B. Britton. This was, in effect, an updated and expanded version of the Insects of Australia beetle chapter. Then, in 2013, Volume 1 of an entirely new Australian Beetles was published under the authorship of John Lawrence and his Australian National Insect Collection successor, Adam Ślipiński; both world leaders in beetle systematics. This was the first of three proposed volumes, and covered aspects of Australian beetle ecology, collection, morphology, and classification, as well as comprehensive treatments of the 117 families.