The Encyclopedia of Butterflies

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful presentation by internationally recognized expert
Review: The more than thousand full-color specimen photographs in "The Encyclopedia of Butterflies" were taken at the Allyn Museum of Entomology/Florida Museum of Natural History, which houses one of the world's largest butterfly collections. This encyclopedia includes all of the world's butterflies, arranged in four family groups: the swallowtails (Papilionidae); the whites and sulfurs (Pieridae); the brush-footed butterflies (Nymphalidae); and the hairstreaks, coppers, and blues (Lycaenidae).

According to the author, this is the first butterfly encyclopedia to exclude the skippers (Hesperiidae), as they are now thought to show more similarities to moths than to butterflies. Also, butterflies previously classified as separate families, i.e. Satyridae, Danaidae, Nymphalidae, and Libytheidae are combined here as one family, Nymphalidae, "since they have one overriding characteristic: four functional legs. Their first pair of legs are [sic] redundant: they do not function for locomotion." As soon as I read the author's allegation that Nymphalidae had only four functional legs, I rushed out into the backyard. As luck would have it, the first two butterflies I spotted--- a Monarch and a smaller Painted Lady---were both perched on the butterfly bush using only four legs! The Cabbage butterflies over on the zinnias had six legs apiece. Dr. Feltwell, who is an internationally recognized expert on butterflies and who serves as a consultant on the management of butterfly farms in the United States and Great Britain was right! Isn't it odd how after a lifetime of watching butterflies, I never noticed the difference between families until a book like this pointed it out to me? Three things will probably prevent "The Encyclopedia of Butterflies" from being used as a field guide: it is quite a large book; it covers too much territory (the whole earth); and its familial classification scheme doesn't really support a quick field identification.

However, it is a marvelous 'rainy day' book. The photographs are gorgeous, and the clearly-written text covers all of the major butterfly families in detail, including taxonomy, structure, life cycle, migration pattern, habitat, and protected status. Read "The Encyclopedia of Butterflies" at leisure, when darkness or weather prevents you from venturing outside with your field book.