Product Description

This books aims to fill the gap in our understanding of these important and diverse arthropods, who play numerous roles in the planet's ecology. It surveys life cycles, feeding behaviour, reproductive biology and host-associations of mites and requires no prior knowledge of their morphology or taxonomy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2484628 in Books
• Published on: 1999-12-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 332 pages

Review

"This book surveys life cycles, feeding behavior, reproductive biology, and host associations of mites. Topics include: evolution of mites and other arachnids, mites in soil and water, mites on plants and animals, sperm transfer and reproduction, and mites as models of ecological and evolutionary theories."--Entomological News
"Before I read this book mites were just small arthropods that were responsible for clogging up berlese samples and that itchy feeling after hiking. Never again. I now know that the Acari exhibit a multitude of feeding and sexual behaviors, and comprise somewhere between 0.5 and 1 million species. The authors have produced a very digestible entry into the extensive and scattered literature on mite ecology and behavior, and their enthusiasm for the subject leaps from the page. ... The authors are very well known for their beautiful scanning electron micrographs of mites that render the external anatomy of mites in exquisite detail, and the illustrations throughout this work are excellent. The goal of this book is to attract new students to acarology by showing them that mites are interesting and exciting; the authors hope to infect others with their 'acarophilia.' I think that they will succeed ..."--The Quarterly Review of Biology

About the Author
David Evans Walter, Department of Entomology, University of Queensland. Heather Coreen Proctor, Proctor, Australian School of Environmental Studies, Griffith University.

Customer Reviews

Mites for the general (scientific) audience
Walter and Proctor have produced a popular text for a general (scientific) audience. They deserve to be commended for challenging this group of minute animals that are mind-boggling not only in species variety but also in ecological diversity. The authors open numerous discussions on mites, which are often only passing topics in general courses in biology. Like all popular textbook efforts, there are always gaps in the material that reduce the quality of the final product. Notably, this book treats my favorite group, Unionicolidae, as though the year is 1980. It is unfortunate because recent research on the group would have enhanced their text considerably. Filling the gaps in our knowledge of this hidden biota is a lifelong pursuit, and books like this one help us to take stock of where we are as compilers of general knowledge. This book is a great starting point for researchers in the next millenium; and I hope it fills the authors' desires to stimulate interest in the mites among the readers.