News and Notes

A valuable series of handbooks on the fauna “The Insects and Arachnids of Canada” was published from 1976 (part 2; part 1 appeared in 1977) until 1993 by the Research Branch of Agriculture Canada. However, various subsequent developments, especially the loss of Agriculture Canada’s in-house publishing unit, conspired to suspend the series despite attempts to maintain it.

The Insects and Arachnids of Canada has now been rejuvenated through an agreement with the National Research Council Research Press, which already had produced an English version of part 7 on genera of the Trichoptera in 1998. The new arrangement will see the continuation of the series as NRC monographs, with several volumes over the next few years, beginning with a volume recently published on orb-weaving spiders. The general concept of the series continues unchanged, providing an accessible means to know and identify the Canadian arthropod fauna, although some modifications of design and of editorial policy under the guidance of an editorial committee are to be expected.

The maiden volume of the rejuvenated series in 2003, part 23 (part 22 was published in 1993) is a highly credible representative of the series. Treating the four families of orb-weaving spiders for which relatively recent revisions exist (Uloboridae, Araneidae, Tetragnathidae and Theridiosomatidae), the book provides taxonomic accounts (including familial, generic and specific diagnoses), range maps and keys, and known information on biology including habitats and webs. It also contains a very useful introductory section that deals not only with the necessary details of methods and anatomy as would be expected, but also has useful reviews of biological features such as habitats, reproduction, venoms, and silk production including a detailed account of web construction.

NRC Research Press will also continue to produce other occasional entomological publications in its monograph series. All of the monographs are book-length treatises prepared with high standards of scholarship and written by specialists for the benefit of other specialists. Examples of such monographs recently published on the Canadian insect fauna are Annotated keys to the genera of nearctic Chalcidoidea (1997), The Caddisfly family Phryganeidae (1998), The Butterflies of Canada (1999), Catalogue of the tiger beetles of Canada and United States (1999), Predaceous diving beetles of the nearctic region (2000) and Checklist of Hemiptera of Canada and Alaska (2000).

Further details of these publications are available at http://pubs.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca

Gibson, G.A.P., J.T. Huber and J.B. Woolley. 1997. Annotated Keys to the Genera of Nearctic Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera). NRC Research Press, Ottawa. 794 pp.

Wiggins, G.B. 1998. The Caddisfly Family Phryganeidae (Trichoptera). University of Toronto Press in association with NRC Research Press. Toronto. 353 pp.

Layberry, R.A., P.W. Hall and J.D. Lafontaine. 1998. The Butterflies of Canada. University of Toronto Press in association with NRC Research Press. Toronto. 280 pp.

Freitag, R. 1999. Catalogue of the Tiger Beetles of Canada and the United States. NRC Research Press, Ottawa. 195 pp.

Larson, D.J., Y. Alarie and R.E. Roughley. 2000. Predaceous Diving Beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) of the Nearctic Region. NRC Research Press, Ottawa. 982 pp.

Maw, H.E.L., R.G. Foottit, K.G.A. Hamilton and G.G.E. Scudder. 2000. Checklist of Hemiptera of Canada and Alaska. NRC Research Press, Ottawa. 220 pp.

Dondale, C.D, J.H. Redner, P. Paquin and H.W. Levi. 2003. The Orb-Weaving Spiders of Canada and Alaska. Araneae: Uloboridae, Tetragnathidae, Araneidae, Theridiosomatidae. The Insects and Arachnids of Canada: Part 23. NRC Research Press, Ottawa. 371 pp.

Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands – News

Chapters for Ecology and Interactions in Grassland Habitats, the first publication to stem from the Survey’s Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands project are in progress. Confirmed chapters are listed below with authors and tentative titles. (The order of chapters is not finalized.)

T. A. Wheeler and H. V. Danks – Introduction to the Grasslands Project

J. D. Shorthouse – Attributes of Canada’s grasslands

S. McGinn – Weather in grasslands

V. Behan-Pelletier – Mite fauna in grassland soils

D. Wade – Diversity of spiders in tallgrass prairies

R. E. Roughley and G.G.E. Scudder – Aquatic Hemiptera in grasslands

S. Boucher and T. A. Wheeler – Trophic guilds of Brachycera (Diptera) in xeric Yukon grasslands

K. D. Floate – Gall-forming arthropods and their distributions in overlap and hybrid zones of cottonwoods on the Canadian prairie

J. D. Shorthouse – The component community of arthropods associated with cynipid galls on wild roses

R. E. Roughley et al. – Use of fire as a conservation and management tool in tallgrass prairie

G. G. E. Scudder – Arthropods in identifying hotspots for conservation

K. G. A. Hamilton - Leafhoppers as indicators of grassland habitat types

M. Alperyn – Dytiscids in prairie ponds

D. Johnson – Grassland insects as food for birds

D. Johnson – Temporal changes in grasshoppers

T. A. Wheeler, H. V. Danks, R. E. Roughley – Ecology and interactions: Summary and synthesis

Focus site 2004

The annual grassland field trip will be held June 5-6, 2004 in Aweme, Manitoba in conjunction with a larger BioBlitz. For more information please see the Aweme BioBlitz website:
http://www.brandonu.ca/zoology/aweme%20bioblitz/

Back to top

Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods) home page

Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods)

Volume 23 No. 1, Spring 2004

Focus site 2004