T  E,  147, 2004

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Koster, J. C. & S. Y. Sinev, 2003. , Batrachedri- or not. How to recognize these families from the rel- dae, , Agonoxenidae, , Chrysopeleiidae. – of Europe, 5. Apollo atively similar , some , some Books, Stenstrup. 387 pp., including 15 colour plates. hard- , etc.? One can turn to back. ISBN 87-88757-66-8. Price excl p&p: DKK 720 the key by Hodges in the Handbook of Zoology (ca EUR 100, USD 115). (Kristensen ed.), but that key is not very practical, be- After three previous volumes, volume 5 of the se- cause it uses a mixture of adult and immature charac- ries Microlepidoptera of Europe is published ahead of ters. Also in this book diagnoses for the families are volume 4, which is expected in 2004. This volume missing. There are descriptions, and they also give a deals with a number of smaller families in the Gele- few synapomorphies, but a differential diagnosis chioidea, which in the past were treated as a single would have been very helpful. Admittedly, if one Momphidae (‘narrow winged ’), but knows where to look, one can find the characters in nowadays are regarded as various unrelated groups. the descriptions, but a little guidance would have The volume deals with 163 in 37 genera, oc- been helpful. It is also a pity that the editorial policy curring in Europe, northern Africa and the Near East. of omitting keys in this series has been followed again, All species are described, the genitalia are illustrated apart from those for the genera mentioned above. in line drawings (combined on plates), and all adults However, to use these, one has to know that the spec- in water colours on 15 plates. Throughout the text, imen belongs either to Eteobalea or Vulcaniella, and larval damage of several species (mines, galls) is illus- to me they look very similar. Comparing the diag- trated as line drawings. Apart from the species treat- noses does not help really, and I fear that the genera ments, there is a short general introduction, a full can only be separated on genitalia, which makes keys checklist, introductions to the families and a distribu- to external characters by rather useless. tion catalogue at the end. Another point to mention is the phylogenetic in- The descriptions (labelled diagnosis) are relatively formation in the family introductions: several re- detailed, and differences with closely related species marks are made about relationships and apomor- are usually treated under a heading ‘Similar species’. phies, but they are not substantiated by cladograms, The biology section is concise, but often has detailed character data matrices etc. Where these conclusions, descriptions of feeding pattern – when known. There moreover, are often very different from the recent are no keys, except for the three speciose genera Cos- cladistic analysis by Hodges (in Kristensen, Hand- mopterix, Eteobalea and Vulcaniella. book of Zoology, 1), which is hardly dis- The illustrations of genitalia and life history and cussed here, it would have been better to omit this in- watercolours of adults, all by the senior author, have a formation from this identification book altogether. very high quality, and are not only scientifically valu- The character interpretation also shows some (not able, but also have a high aesthetic quality. No doubt, discussed) differences with Hodges: Text-fig. 4 (page they will be the most valuable assets for identifying 27) shows a gnathos in a Mompha, which according the species of these families. The number system to Hodges is missing in the (sub)family Momphidae. which uses the same number for each species, is very To me the structure looks more like an enlarged practical. transtilla. For a book, primarily intended to make identifica- Despite these criticisms, the authors are to be con- tion easy, I am missing several things: firstly there are gratulated for bringing together and making available no indications whatsoever in the book, how to recog- for the first time the information on all these families nise that a given species belongs to the groups treated for the whole of Europe and the Mediterranean, and in this book, and not elsewhere in the superfamily. It especially for the very good illustrations, making this would have been extremely helpful, if authors or edi- the best illustrated volume in the series so far. A must tors had realised at least a short key to family group for all microlepidopterists! taxa, in order to know if this is the right book to use [Erik J. van Nieukerken]

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