Butterflies and moths hold an enduring fascination for their unusual life cycle, as they change from one creature into another. Butterflies is an outstanding collection of photographs showcasing nature’s most beautiful and often elusive butterflies and moths – members of the Lepidoptera order – in the variety of their natural habitats. With 17,500 species of butterfly and 160,000 species of moth in the world today, they can be found on every continent apart from Antarctica, and in every nation.
Arranged in chapters covering some of the most beautiful and interesting types of butterfly and moth, their habitats, their transition from egg to caterpillar and from chrysalid to adult, as well as their behaviour, the book reveals little-known facts about their life cycle, anatomy, self-defence mechanisms, feeding and migration.
For example, did you know that while caterpillars chew their solid food, adult butterflies can only consume liquid, and some moths do not even have mouths? Or that many species can taste with their feet?
With full captions explaining how the species breeds, feeds, and changes from caterpillar to the animal kingdom’s most stunning member, Butterflies is a brilliant examination in more than 200 outstanding colour photographs of these fascinating insects.
Butterflies: Beautiful Flying Insects is a lushly photographed and scientifically accurate look at order Lepidoptera curated and written by Julianna Photopoulis. Due out 12th July 2022 from Amber Books, it's 224 pages and will be available in hardcover format.
This is chiefly a photographic coffee table book with concise (and well written) text captions throughout. The photography is *stunning*. It's full of full colour, often macro, photography with breathtaking detail and clarity. I have always loved butterflies and moths for their beauty and fascinating life cycles, but until relatively recently, I was unaware of their importance as pollinators and indicators of biodiversity and their critical role as an early warning system for loss of habitat and wildlife.
This would make a superlative choice for public or school library acquisition, as well as good choice for the home collection. Definitely a good one for readers of natural history. Proper nomenclature (Latin classification) is used throughout.
Five stars with the understanding that there's limited written content to go with the beautiful photography.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
