Merritt and Cummins 4th Edition

[Ethan Bright 0]

I'm writing this in Anchorage, Alaska, where the North American Benthological Society annual meeting is being held. From the largest city in Alaska, one can see the Chugach Mountains to the east, the Chigmit Mountains to the west, and Denali to the north. Beautiful! Tomorrow is an insect collecting trip. so I hope to get some taxa that I don't get in the Great Lakes area.

 

There were some talks about the forthcoming new edition of Merritt and Cummins, which is likely to be in the stores sometime before January 2007. (Kendall/Hunt told me August, but Rich Merritt indicated they haven't received the galley proofs, so it will come out later).

 

Apparently many of the insect orders will see considerable revisions to the taxonomy, particularly with the large holometabolous insects (especially Diptera, some Coleoptera and Trichoptera), but also many changes to the life history tables. Also of interest, particularly to beginners, will be the addition of an inter-active CD disk included with the book. It will allow identification to order and (I think) families of most of the groups. It will be based on the Lucid computer key program. The user then will refer to the book for more taxonomic resolution.

 

With regards to Diptera, there will be many changes except for families in which we still don't have many larval-pupal-adult rearing associations (e.g., Ceratopogonida). Thaumeleidae, which has 26 spp. in 2 genera in North America, will have our species transfered to Androprospn (sic.?), reflecting Sinclair's 1996 work. The distribution and species resolution of Blephariceridae will be improved, perhaps providing better generic-level characters in the book (based on Courtney's work). I don't think this will be reflected in the book, but expect in the near future many of the tipulid (cranefly) subfamilies to be raised to family rank. This follows much of European taxonomists' research in this group. The family Axymyiidae, with 1 sp. in e NA, and 1 sp. in w NA, will be included. This is a rarely collected family. They are poor dispersers. The larvae burrow into saturated hardwoos (e.g., beech; alder, maple and birch?), with a 2-year life cycle (at least in northern latitudes). Another new family included in the book is Oreoleptidae, with 1 sp. in w NA. Larvae live in torrentous streams, a habitat many do not sample (it's dangerous!). With Simuliidae, the number of species has risen to 256, with probably 300 or so to be expected. Piezosimulium is synomyzed (i.e., disappears) with Parasimulium; the type specimen of this genus turned out to be a deformed specimen of Parasimulium. Several new genera are included, following Wood, Currey and Alder's blackfly book. Chironomidae will see a lot of changes, with new genera added to Tanypodinae, Diamesinae, Prodimesinae, Orthocladiinae, and Chironominae. There are now 18 tribes and 223 genera. Further, the keys will include a reinterpretation of Tanypodinae mouthparts, but one needs very good optics with phase contrast or DIC to fully appreciate these characters. The adult keys are also revised.

 

Looks like I'll have to fork out even more money to keep up-to-date!

 

cheers, Ethan

[Taxon 0]

Ethan-

 

Interesting followup on Merritt & Cummins 4th Edition; thanks for sharing. Hope you'll also share the results of your insect collecting trip with us. Some of us on this forum would find it fascinating.

[fly fisher09 0]

I would certainly have to agree with Taxon. please keep us informed. I am planning on going to college and majoring in this kind of thing. its quite interesting...

[uffepuffe 0]

I do agree, please keep us updated. My entomology interest increases with everyday that passes.

 

/Ulf

[Steeldrifter 0]

Very interesting indeed. I wouldn't mind having something with that much info in it for sure, and the inter-active CD sounds like a great tool for someone like myself.

 

Any ballpark idea of what the price will be yet?

 

 

Steve

[Ethan Bright 0]

I expect the price to be around $1.29. NOT! I'd expect to pay around $80-100. Yes, it's very expensive, but consider that you should get around 10-12 years of service from the book. Further, Rich Merritt mentioned to me at the NABS meeting there will be over 6000 references (yes, over six thousand!), which makes it a fantastic ecological research reference.

 

Given the use I've had with the 3rd Edition, the above-mentioned price (i.e., the real one) is worth it. If you want a general reference for a non-specialist, then I'd go with other alternatives. For example, I've briefly seen Voshell's "A Guide to Common Freshwater Invertebrates of North America," and it's a good book that sells for about $22 at Amazon. More expensive and devoted to lotic ecosystems is a book by Cushing and Allan, "Streams: Their Ecology and Life," which is about $60. (David Allan was my Master's Thesis advisor at the University of Michigan. His textbook, "Stream Ecology," will be coming out with a 2nd Edition in a year or two). Another good reference for northeastern North America is Peckarsky et al. 1991 "Freshwater Macroinvertebrates of Northeastern North America," which is about $35 in paperback.

[Steeldrifter 0]

Given the fact that I am far from an entomologist I would bet the alternative books you mentioned might be more geared to someone with my limited ento knowledge. Much appreciated info Ethan, thanks

 

 

Steve