Book review – Aquatic Insects in Baltic Amber

Wolfram Mey*

Museum f�r Naturkunde Berlin, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany

Wichard, Wilfried, Gr�hn, Carsten & Seredszus, Fabian 2009. Wasser-insekten im Baltischen Bernstein. Verlag Kessel, Remagen-Oberwin-ter. 336 pp., ISBN: 978-3-941300-10-1. 2 38.00

After many years of intensive research on Trichopterain Amber and his gradually growing interest in othergroups of aquatic insects, the renowned palaeo-ento-mologist Wilfried Wichard with two co-authors presentus a synthesis of the hitherto known aquatic insectsfrom Baltic Amber. It is a remarkable book. Written inGerman and English it is a popular as well as scientificdocumentation of the subject meeting the interests ofmany entomologists. In the second last chapter allaquatic species ever recorded from Baltic Amber arelisted in systematic order. A complete reference chapterleads the reader to bibliographic details of the originaldescriptions. The list include synonyms and incertae se-dis species/names which are termed here as nomina du-bia. A first summary of the topic was published byKeilbach (1982) in this journal. The present book is notsimply an updated version of Keilbachs monograph, butgives an account of the fossil record of each group,provides information on natural-history traits and dis-cusses the significance of the fossils for understandingthe present day fauna. Each relevant group, order or fa-mily, is treated in a separate chapter illustrated by manyfine art drawings and impressive photos exhibiting im-portant details. If necessary, keys to families and genera(e.g. Neuroptera) or species (e.g. Simuliidae, Chirono-midae) are inserted. New species and genera are de-scribed in Neuroptera and Diptera. Based on counts oflarge Baltic Amber collections the authors give an over-view of the frequency distribution of the groups. Dip-tera is the most frequent order followed by the Trichop-tera. Within Diptera the Chironomidae are the mostcommonly encountered insects. According to theirdominance the midges are treated more extensively andin larger detail mainly by F. Seredszus as the responsi-ble chapter author. The close relationship of fossil spe-cies with extant species provokes assumptions on thelife histories of fossil species. They were probably simi-lar to those of the present day species. This biologicalinformation and the composition of species, either assingletons or found in taphocenoses, provides basic in-formation and prompted the authors to give a sketchy

description of the aquatic environments of the amberforest. During the Eocene, the amber forest occupied alarge range in northern Europe encompassing lowlandsand mountain ranges with their large variety of aquatichabitats. The wide spectrum of the fossil species is aclear reflection this habitat diversity.

Though the title of the book points only to aquaticinsects, the final chapters in the systematic section areabout Crustacea (Amphipoda and Isopoda). Thesechapters, therefore, may escape the notice of studentsof these groups.

The book is an important contribution to Baltic Am-ber insect research and documentation, especially foraquatic groups. It is a nicely produced volume, andauthors and publishers must be congratulated for thisoutstanding work.

# 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Dtsch. Entomol. Z. 58 (1) 2011, 181–182 / DOI 10.1002/mmnd.201100020

* E-mail: wolfram.mey@fn-berlin.de

References

Keilbach, R. 1982. Bibliographie und Liste der Arten tierischer Ein-schl�sse in fossilen Harzen sowie ihrer Aufbewahrungsorte. –Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 29: 129–286, 301–391.

Mey, W.: Aquatic Insects in Baltic Amber182

museum-dez.wiley-vch.de # 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim