Beetles Associated with Stored Products in Canada: An Identification Guide

Ian Wylie Toal is a free-lance writer living in Flesherton, Ontario.

Bousquet, a beetle taxonomist at the Biosystematics Research Centre in
Ottawa, has written a comprehensive guide to most of the beetle species
ever recovered from stored products in Canada. Besides the major
economic pests, the guide also covers minor beetle pests and incidentals
such as predators and beetles that feed on fungus associated with stored
grain.

The book’s layout makes it very useful to the field workers for whom
it was primarily designed. A section on general body shape allows quick
visual identification of insects to the generic level. More detailed
identification—to species level or for difficult specimens—can be
obtained by using the eight identification keys at the front of the
book. In any brc publication, the keys are well laid out and easy to
use. Characteristics are clearly described, and the major ones are
backed up with numerous high-quality illustrations. Once an insect is
identified, users are referred to the general-information section for
common names and for details about diagnosis, sexual dimorphism,
distribution, and economic importance.

Its spiral binding allows the guide to be used without falling apart.
Bousquet also includes a comprehensive glossary (although, since
familiarity with insects is assumed, some basic biological terms are not
included therein). The index lists the Latin and common names (in French
and English) for every beetle; but the Latin names are indexed by genus
only—not by species, which is the more common arrangement. For further
reading, a list of references is also provided.