Book Review

Into this setting, Australian Beetles Volume 3 provides a welcome entry point into this vast and wonderful world. The book provides a comprehensive overview of the biology and morphology of weevils, focusing on examples from the Australian fauna. It provides synopses for each described genus known from the Australian territories, including Christmas Island and the Subantarctic territories, as well as the Australian continent proper. It also includes those genera whose only Australian representatives are unidentified or undescribed species. These synopses provide a list of the species known from the region, a state-level summary of the distribution of the genus and notes on their classification and biology, including their known host plants. The authors provide identification keys to the genus level that outline the morphological characters of the different genera. However, the real strength of this book are its illustrations. There are. So. Many. Illustrations. There are 125 plates of (predominantly dorsal) habitus photographs of well-preserved museum specimens that represent nearly every genus treated; 25 plates of high-quality in-situ photographs of living examples and in excess of 5000 black and white figures including habitus illustrations, scanning electron microscope photographs, and line drawings of key morphological features. 

The book starts with an overview of the Curculionoidea as a whole, laying the groundwork for what is to come with a thorough overview of the anatomy of weevils. Although several of the diagrams in this section have been previously published elsewhere, such as in the Australian Weevils series and the Handbook of Zoology, there are many additional illustrations of various morphological characters. These include depictions of critical structures such as the pedotectal aedeagus and hindwings (with veins labelled) that are among the best illustrations of these that I've seen anywhere. Larval anatomy is also thoroughly discussed.

After the introduction, the families are covered in turn. The Nemonychidae, Anthribidae, Belidae, Attelabidae, Caridae and Brentidae each receive individual chapters that open with a family-level overview of their biology and morphological characteristics, followed by identification keys and genus synopses.

Within the Curculionidae, the highly derived subfamilies of the Platypodinae and Scolytinae receive separate chapters; perhaps in reflection of the historical separation of these taxa from the remainder of the Curculionidae as separate families and often studied by different people. However, the majority of the subfamilies in the Curculionidae are treated within one large chapter of c. 300 pages. This, coupled with the multitude of illustrations that make it difficult to find some text as one flicks through the book, results in difficulty navigating to one's taxa of interest. Thankfully, the comprehensive index alleviates some of this difficulty. This may be where the eBook version comes into its own, allowing searches directly on the text. However, these minor frustrations are a small price to pay for the benefits of having such a comprehensive reference work.

This book establishes a platform of what is known about the Australian weevils and synthesizes what has been previously published. It does not establish any new names or attempt to resolve those genera that are known to be composite assemblages of unrelated taxa (e.g., Decilaus, Emplesis, Steriphus). It will not be hard for workers dealing directly with the Australian weevil fauna to discover taxa that cannot be identified by this work. However, the difference is that now they will have greater certainty that their specimens represent undescribed genera, instead of wondering if they might be.

The book closes with a 30-page overview of the Australian genera of Lamiinae (Cerambycidae), with each genus receiving the same treatment and format as with the weevils. Although this addition doesn't necessarily detract from the rest of the book, it isn't entirely clear why the Lamiinae alone were included in this volume. Splitting the Cerambycidae across two volumes doesn't seem especially helpful, in my opinion; and I think that it may have been better off just keeping this volume focused on the Curculionoidea.

Australian Beetles Volume 3 will have a profound influence on research on weevils for decades to come. It will be an essential reference for anyone with even a passing interest in the Australian weevil fauna; but its expansive view of weevil morphology and classification will also make it highly useful for workers in other parts of the world. At $280 AUD, it's not a cheap book; but it is a highly worthwhile investment that will deepen the readers' understanding of weevil anatomy and relationships, yielding dividends far into the future.