Insect from Outer Space

Comprehensive account of Strepsiptera biology, including their taxonomy, morphology, fine structure, physiology, and behaviour, ranging from genes to phylogeny.

Beautifully illustrated in full colour throughout, with original up-to-date material from the author’s research collection, Insect from Outer Space: The Biology of Strepsiptera is the first book to provide a comprehensive guide to the unique biology of an intriguing group of parasitoids that, until relatively recently, have remained something of a mystery in terms of both phenotype and genotype.

The author explores the exciting biology and life history of these extraordinary insect parasitoids. In addition, the book provides a history of each family, and an account of the questions surrounding the evolution of Strepsiptera, explaining their position within the phylogeny of insects.

Written by a leading international expert in the field, this book includes information on:

• Strepsiptera, which are among the least species-rich insect parasitoids, but they parasitise hosts from seven orders and 36 families of insects.
• The two examples of polyphenism that Strepsiptera exhibit are: i) free-living planidia that moult to endoparasitic larvae; and ii) the neotenic females of derived families.
• Adult males are free-living, while females are free-living in primitive families, and are endoparasitic and neotenic in derived families.
• Metamorphosis is a crucial process in the evolution of the sexually dimorphic Strepsiptera, and the neotenic females in derived families undergo a metamorphic transformation in the cephalothoracic region.
• Differences in Strepsiptera life cycles between the suborders Mengenillidia (a more ancestral lineage) and Stylopidia (a recent suborder).

Insect from Outer Space: The Biology of Strepsiptera is an essential reference work for entomologists and biologists alike who seek to unravel the secrets of these extraordinary creatures. The text is also an excellent learning resource for graduate and undergraduate students because the unique biology of Strepsiptera answers a wide range of biological questions.