African Entomology - Volume 13, Issue 2, September 2005

This book is explicitly a teaching text, and has to be evaluated in those terms. There are essentially two extremes to structuring biological curricula: a taxonomic or phylogenetic approach that is interested in the organisms themselves, and a functional approach that uses the organisms as models to illustrate general biological principles.

This book provides a classical example of how human activities may result in an insect developing pest status and how subsequent pest management activities may induce behavioural changes in the insect. Detailed information is provided on the western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) a serious pest of maize in the Americas and Europe.