Features detailed information on all known butterflies in the Southern African region: their description; distribution; habitat; habits; and larval foods. It also includes facsimile reproductions of the 20 radio talks given by Ken Pennington in 1965.

This new edition of Sasol First Field Guide to Butterflies & Moths of Southern Africa has been fully updated and revised, bringing it in line with the most recent developments in field. It also features new images of all the species and families covered, facilitating quick, easy and accurate identification. With the help of the full-colour photographs and easy-to-read text, the young adult and budding naturalist will be able to identify the more common butterflies and moth groups found in southern Africa, discover where they live, and learn about their unique behaviour and unusual features. Sales points: A straightforward introductory guide to the region’s butterflies and moths; suitable for both adult and younger enthusiasts; informative, uncomplicated text written by an experienced entomologist; useful introductory section; full-colour photographs of each butterfly and moth; compact enough for ease of use in the field.

This is the first comprehensive field guide to the insect fauna of South Africa, with detailed descriptions of over 1 200 of the most common, most economically and ecologically important, and most interesting and attractive insects in the region. The easy-to-read text is matched with superb photography. Each account covers identification, biology, distribution and related species, and is accompanied by a colour photograph of the species or family.

Pollinators, parasites, purifiers, predators, decomposers – insects arguably play the most important roles in the functioning of the Earth’s ecosystems. This lavishly illustrated and highly authoritative book is structured around southern Africa’s 13 distinct biomes; it reflects the essential role insects play in most ecological processes such as pollination, predation, parasitism, soil modification and nutrient recycling; details how they serve as food for multitudes of other organisms, including bacteria and fungi, as well as specially adapted plants, insect-feeding arthropods, reptiles, birds and mammals; depicts the insects and phenomena described in some 2,000 photographs that accompany the accessible text; highlights the crucial role insects play as ecosystem service providers, giving intimate insight into the beauty and importance of insects in the natural world. Includes a guide to each of the 25 insect orders found in southern Africa, with images showing their diagnostic characters. This key publication detailing the latest research in the field of entomology will appeal to academics and nature enthusiasts alike.

'A much-needed guide – you can't truly understand a moth or a butterfly without first getting to know the caterpillar.' – Nick Baker This beautifully illustrated field guide covers caterpillars of the moth and butterfly species that are most likely to be encountered in the British Isles. The comprehensive introduction covers how to study caterpillars and provides a window into their diverse natural histories, while the species accounts cover status, field characters, similar species, habitat, foodplant and field notes, and are accompanied with up-to-date distribution maps.

This spectacular new edition of Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa is the only guide to cover all 671 butterfly species that occur in South Africa. Fully revised and expanded, it includes notes on size, identification, habitat, flight periods and larval food sources, plus notes on mimicry, plus accurate maps. More than 2,000 photographs fully showcase the region's diverse butterfly fauna, with full-colour images of male and female forms (where different) and of upper- and undersides (where possible) on pages facing the species entries, for easy reference. Designed for easy identification and optimal use in the field, this guide is an invaluable resource for any visiting naturalist or tourist to the country.

The Swiss missionaries played a primary role in explaining Africa to the literate world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This book emphasises how these European intellectuals, brought to the deep rural areas of southern Africa by their vocation, formulated and ordered knowledge about the continent. Central to this group was Junod who became a pioneering collector in the fields of entomology and botany. He would later examine African society with the methodology, theories and confidence of the natural sciences. On the way he came to depend on the skills of African observers and collectors. Out of this work emerged, in three stages between 1898 and 1927, an influential classic in the field of South African anthropology, Life of a South African Tribe. At the same time Patrick Harries examines how local people absorbed imported ideas into their own body of knowledge. Through a process of interchange and compromise, Africans adapted foreign ways of seeing and doing things, and rapidly made them their own. This is a history of new ideas and practices that shook African societies before and during the early years of colonialism. It is equally a history of ordinary people and their ability to adapt, change, and subvert these ideas. Professor T.O. Ranger says: 'Now, really for the first time, Harries sets these arguments in a wonderfully persuasive, detailed and dynamic context. He really understands the principle of nineteenth-century botany and insect classification, the organising concepts of linguistics, and the changing assumptions of ethnography and anthropology. One gets a profound sense of intellectual formation of debate and development of ideas. Missionary ideas are themselves no single thing but constantly in debate and in flux.'