Chironomidae: The Biology and Ecology of Non-Biting Midges (ISBN 041245260X)

The Chironomidae:
Anyone who works with chironomid midges needs this book! Why? Because this book is SO full of information on most aspects of chironomid morphology, biology and ecology! A worthy successor to Thienemann's 1954 tome "Chironomus. Leben, Verbreitung und wirthschaftliche Bedeutung der Chironomiden", this smallish (572 pp compared to Thienemann's 834) book updates and improves our knowledge of this incredibly ubiquitous, diverse and important group of insects. The book is divided into three sections - the first covers taxonomy, morphology and biogeography (note - the only keys in this book deal only with subfamilies); the second biology, behavior and ecology; the third section covers interactions with humans. The References section is almost 100 pages long - one of the nice things about this section is that each reference has a note stating in which chapter that reference was cited - so one can work backwards from a reference to a subject. A chironomid worker that does not have access to this book is doomed to a life of ignorance! ;-)