Smithsonian Handbook of Interesting Beetles

by Barclay, Max

• ISBN13: 9781588346858
• ISBN10: 1588346854
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2025-09-30
• Publisher: Smithsonian Books
• More Book Details

Summary

A guide to the world's most dazzling and distinctive beetles, featuring more than 100 full-color photographs

From a silver chafer beetle with a highly reflective metallic sheen to a Hispaniolan regal weevil set in a gold ring 200 years ago, this book presents stunning photographic profiles of beetles that stand out for their colors, vibrancy, and unique features. Each beautiful entry includes:

• A full-color, detailed photograph
• Insect size
• Geographical distribution
• Fascinating information on biology, entomology, and geography

The selected beetles come from one of the oldest and most important entomology collections in the world, held by London's Natural History Museum, and include many historic specimens collected by renowned naturalists such as Henry Walter Bates, Alfred Russel Wallace, Mary Kingsley, David Livingstone, and Joseph Banks. There are 400,000 beetle species around the world, and the Smithsonian Handbook of Interesting Beetles is a stunning guide to the most magificient.

Author Biography

MAX BARCLAY is Senior Curator in charge of Coleoptera and Hemiptera at the Natural History Museum in London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society and a member of the editorial board of The Coleopterist journal.