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BioImages: The Virtual Field-Guide (UK)
Spencer, K.A., 1976
The Agromyzidae (Diptera) of Fennoscandia and Denmark
A long work, split into two consecutively paginated volumes (in the middle of a word!), for ease of handling. The text is type written.
Published only four years after the same author's Agromyzidae volume in the Royal Enotomogical Society's Handbook series, the obvious question is how much is new?
The generic key is broadly similar to that in the Handbook, with a few extra couplets to incorporate the additional genera. There are obvious similarities in the other keys too, but this is hardly surprising.
There are nearly three times as many line drawings, and, although most of the drawings in the Handbook have been reused, they are presented slightly larger and more clearly printed. The text contains a lot more detail with proper species accounts. These include if the species has been found in Britain.
There is no list of insects under host plants, beyond an index to host references in the text. Finally the species' distributions in Fennoscandia and Denmark (plus N. Germany, G. Britain (247spp) & USSR) are tabulated.
| Publisher |
Scandinavian Science Press |
| Volume |
5 (parts 1 and 2) |
| Pages |
606 |
| Coverage |
Covers the 385 Scandinavian species known at the time, of which 247 are tabulated as British. |
| Illustrations |
922 line drawings of mines and genitalia accompany the text. |
| Identify |
Under a Stereo Microscope (also useful to examine under a Compound Microscope). |
| Specimen Prep. |
Dry specimens, male genitalia preps very useful.
Mines with puparia or pupal exuviae are also usually identifiable. Mines with larvae need rearing, at least to pupation, for confirmation but are often parasitised by chalcids or tiny ichneumon wasps. |
| Difficulty |
Adults can be challenging.
Mines with puparia usually straightforward, although some spiracle characters require a good stereo microscope. |
Malcolm Storey
Taxonomic Scope
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