Composition and Nature of the Culicidae (Mosquitoes)

About this book

This landmark volume is a unique, comprehensive compendium of all the biosystematics information on mosquitoes available today. Its purpose is to provide the international community with an up-to-date authoritative resource on the taxonomy and systematics of the entire family of this crucially important group of insects.

The book exhaustively summarizes the large and varied taxonomic literature on mosquitoes, providing a useful and practical amalgamation of their nomenclatural history, classification, morphology, bionomics and evolution. The need for this volume coincides with the growing paucity of professional traditional taxonomists who are still available to assist and advise the new generation of molecular biologists in the principles and practice of zoological nomenclature, morphotaxonomy and classification. For this reason, the compilation is an invaluable resource for students, researchers, entomologists, librarians and anyone interested in the taxa that comprise the family Culicidae.

It is no exaggeration to state that this book is a monumental piece of work. It treats and provides detailed information for all formal and informal elements of hierarchical classification, from species to family level. All parts of the book are interlinked and provide a platform of data for others to use and build upon.

Contents

Section 1: Anatomy
Section 2: Classification and Systematics
Section 3: Anatomical Terminology

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Biography

Ralph Harbach completed BSc and MSc degrees in zoology, a PhD in entomology and postdoctoral training in mosquito taxonomy at North Carolina State University. He served as a commissioned officer in the US Army Medical Service Corps with an assignment to the Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit in the Smithsonian Institution to conduct mosquito systematics research (1980-1992). He accepted a post at the Natural History Museum in 1993 to continue mosquito systematics research. He is the author or co-author of 246 publications, including a book, two monographs and two CD-ROMs. He developed and maintains the online Mosquito Taxonomic Inventory.