You're certain to find your favorite butterfly- no matter how exotic-featured within the pages of this lavishly illustrated guide to Lepidoptera life on Earth.

Take a fascinating tour of the butterflies of the world guided by renowned lepidopterist and writer Adrian Hoskins, who shares hundreds of spectacular color photographs captured at butterfly hot spots around the world.

In the book's opening chapters, Hoskins describes the evolution, anatomy, lifecycle, ecology, and taxonomy of the world's butterflies. The second half of the book offers comprehensive coverage of every butterfly family, along with fascinating accounts of butterfly behavior. Readers of all backgrounds will be delighted and informed by interesting facts and stories about Lepidoptera, from the spectacular Tiger Swallowtail, Blue Morpho, and Tibetan Glory, to the legendary Giant Birdwings and the cryptic Variegated Rajah, Amber Phantom, and Scarlet-eyed Skipper.

Many books about these beloved creatures focus exclusively on photos of butterflies, with little accompanying text and scant scientific value. However, in this book, Hoskins provides a scientifically rigorous introduction to butterflies that is suitable for both laypersons and professionals. Lepidopterists will benefit from the unique and extensive taxonomically based survey, while enthusiastic amateurs will learn more about butterfly biology without being overwhelmed by jargon.

A unique global survey that touches on all butterfly families and subfamilies while celebrating their immense beauty and great diversity, Butterflies of the World is an essential reference and the best book of its kind.

You're certain to find your favorite butterfly- no matter how exotic-featured within the pages of this lavishly illustrated guide to Lepidoptera life on Earth.

About the Author

Adrian Hoskins, a fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, has spent more than 35 years studying and photographing butterflies around the world. The author of 1,000 Butterflies: An Illustrated Guide to the World's Most Beautiful Butterflies, he organizes and leads butterfly-watching tours.

Reviews
This book is one of those rare delights, a coffee table book full of readily digestible information, far more than anyone could consume at a sitting. One of the reasons I find it delightful is that Hoskins is a natural and passionate story-teller; the photos are simply superb; time and again I turn a page and shake my head at the startling beauty or even sheer implausibility of the image. This is a book to delight the eyes and the mind and to encourage us to see the world through new lenses.
-Sydney Morning Herald
Butterflies are among the most charismatic organisms. Butterflies of the World provides a nice introduction to the world of butterfly biology with a balanced mixture of text and spectacular photographs of living butterflies.
-James A. Fordyce, Quarterly Review of Biology



Book Information
ISBN 9781421427171
Author Adrian Hoskins
Format Hardback
Page Count 312
Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Weight(grams) 1157g
Dimensions(mm) 254mm * 178mm * 28mm