Ladybirds

A lovely book and if I had it when I was six I would have burst with joy! It's all you need as a thorough introduction to the UK's Ladybirds and all you need to identify them. It's got ecology, behaviour, evolution and physiology alongside a great ID guide and up-to-date distribution maps. Once again the Pelagic team produce an invaluable treatise which fills the gaps for serious naturalists. And schoolboys with a fascination for brightly coloured beetles!

-- Chris Packham

Many of us have watched this book emerge from the Cambridge University stable as the key reference work to the identification and study of ladybirds in the UK. Life before this was dull, with only a rather over-complex, black and white illustrated Royal Entomological Society Handbook on Coccinellidae (Pope, 1953) widely available for use (excellent diagrams, but a bit like describing the colour of snooker balls to those watching a snooker competition on black and white TV, for those who remember those happy days). Life became a bit more exciting with colour plates with the publication of the now sadly little-referred to Wayside & Woodland Beetles of the British Isles by Linssen (1959). Indeed all the ingredients were there for a fabulous book by the 1980s, and Mike Majerus and Peter Kearns finally achieved this with their publication of a proper colour guide to British ladybirds in 1989. This resulted in a massive increase in recording of ladybirds and a greater understanding of the species’ distributions in the UK.

With the untimely death of Mike Majerus, the new team under lead author Helen Roy has accumulated a wealth of new information about the biology of our native ladybirds – in this case an extra 39 pages since the first edition. The book covers the 47 species now resident in Britain and focuses on the 26 species most frequently encountered. Chapters cover the life history and distribution of ladybirds, colour variation, population and evolutionary biology and methods of sampling and recording. This book contains just about everything you need to know when trying to identify British ladybirds as well as providing interesting information about the biology of each species. Readers who wish to know more about the distribution and status of our coccinellids should refer to the recent atlas by Roy et al. (2011). By now you may have guessed this book is a must for anyone interested in entomology and Coleoptera.

-- John Badmin * British Journal of Entomology & Natural History *

It seems to me that no aspect of ladybird life has been neglected in this publication. This book is packed with fascinating information presented in a very readable form and I found it hard to put down. From the plagues of ladybirds occasionally reported in the press to chromosome numbers and male-killing parasitic bacteria such as Rickettsia and Wolbachia I found it all interesting stuff. Highly recommended for both the expert and casual reader interested in insects.

-- Colin Hart * Amateur Entomological Society Bulletin *

"...quite excellent..."

-- Simon Barnes * The Times *

It's pretty much the only book you'll ever need if you want to get into ladybirds. It covers everything from life history, evolutionary biology, population and more. It also has a key to help you identify and a section on how and where to collect ladybirds for recording. If you like ladybirds, you'll like this book!

-- Suffolk Naturalist * Suffolk Naturali