The Butterflies of Costa Rica and their Natural History: Papilionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae

Very good softcover with clean, tight pages. Shelf rubbed covers. Philip DeVries provides the first comprehensive coverage of Costa Rican butterflies in the families Papilionidae, Pieridae, and Nymphalidae, focusing on the identification and natural history of the 560 members of these families that occur there. This work illustrates nearly all these butterflies in color; it also contains 21 black-and-white photographs, and 27 detailed line drawings that will aid in the identification of pre-adult stages. Developed from the author's years of field work in Costa Rica, as well as from his extensive research in museums and libraries, the book brings together for the first time original observations, literature overviews, and corroboration of previous literature on Neotropical butterflies in a single volume. The author discusses the taxonomy, distribution, and natural history of each taxon in detail. Also provided are chapters covering systematics, ecology of adults and early stages, hostplant relationships, predators and parasites, defenses, collecting techniques, and comparative diversities of tropical faunas, which offer much information on Neotropical butterfly biology in general. Illustrated by Philip J. DeVries and Jennifer Clark.