Advances in Quaternary Entomology

This comprehensive survey of the field reviews the fossil insect record from Quaternary deposits throughout the world

Scott A. Elias (Author)

9780444534248, Elsevier Science

Hardback, published 16 September 2009

304 pages
29.5 x 21 x 2.3 cm, 1.11 kg

Advances in Quaternary Entomology addresses the science of fossil insects by demonstrating their immense contribution to our knowledge of the paleoenvironmental and climatological record of the past 2.6 million years. In this comprehensive survey of the field, Scott A. Elias recounts development of scholarship, reviews the fossil insect record from Quaternary deposits throughout the world, and points to rewarding areas for future research. The study of Quaternary entomology is becoming an important tool in understanding past environmental changes. Most insects are quite specific as to habitat requirements, and those in non-island environments have undergone almost no evolutionary change in the Quaternary period. We therefore can use their modern ecological requirements as a basis for interpreting what past environments must have been like.

1. The History of Quaternary Insect Studies 2. Methods 3. Important fossil insect groups and their identification 4. The Value of Insects in Paleoecology5. Paleoclimatic Studies Using Insects6. Insect Zoogeography in the Quaternary7. The Use of Insect Fossils in Archeology8. European Studies 9. Siberian Studies10. Eastern Beringian Studies11. Other Studies in the New World12. Japanese Studies13. Studies in Australia and New Zealand 14. Beetle Chitin Isotope Studies 15. Ancient DNA Studies16. Conclusions and Prospectus

Subject Areas: Palaeontology [RBX], Historical geology [RBGF], Geology & the lithosphere [RBG], Insects [entomology PSVT7]