Flies: The Natural History & Diversity of Diptera

Advance praise for Flies
Stephen A. Marshall has delivered one of the most beautiful and useful accounts of insect life ever written.
-- Edward O. Wilson, Research Professor Emeritus, Harvard University

Meticulously researched and illustrated with more than 2000 color photographs taken by the author, Flies is a landmark reference book that will be indispensable to any naturalist, biologist or entomologist. Most photographs in this encyclopedic reference were taken in the field and show the insects in their natural environment. All of the world's fly families are included, with photographic coverage spanning the range from common deer flies and fruit flies through to deadly tsetse flies and malaria mosquitoes, with thousands of spectacular species such as exotic stalk eyed flies, giant robber flies and hedgehog flies in between.

Flies is broken up into three parts: Life Histories, Habits and Habitats of Flies; Diversity; and Identifying and Studying Flies. The 20 pages of profusely illustrated keys linked to the unprecedented photographic coverage of the world's fly families and subfamilies enable the reader to identify most flies quickly and accurately, and to readily access information about each family as well as hundreds of distinctive genera and species.

Flies includes:

Part 1: Life Histories, Habits and Habitats of Flies
Chapter 1 -- Life Histories of Flies
Chapter 2 -- Flies, Plants and Fungi
Chapter 3 -- Flies and Vertebrates
Chapter 4 -- Flies and Invertebrates

Part 2: Diversity
Chapter 5 -- Origins and Distribution of the Diptera
Chapter 6 -- The Lower Diptera
Chapter 7 -- The Lower Brachycera and Empidoidea
Chapter 8 -- The Higher Brachycera or Cyclorrhapha

Part 3: Identifying and Studying Flies
Chapter 9 -- Collecting, Preserving and Rearing Flies
Chapter 10 -- Identifying Fly Families

Stephen A. Marshall is a professor of entomology at the University of Guelph, where he developed a major insect collection and carries out research on insect systematics and biodiversity. He has discovered hundreds of new species, several new genera and even two new subfamilies. He is the author of Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity.