Moths of Great Britain and Ireland: A Field Guide to All the Macromoths.

Sean Clancy, Morten Top-Jensen & Michael Fibiger

Contains all the 874 species of macromoth to have occurred naturally in Britain and Ireland. They are listed in a new systematic order and classified using the most recent hierarchy and nomenclature that have now been widely accepted and adopted throughout mainland Europe. Several new species are listed as British either due to recent taxonomic changes, studies of internal structures, or analysis of historic records.

All species are shown in their natural resting position using 1200 photos, thus making it possible to make an accurate determination in the field to species level of a vast majority of the British macromoths. A selection of photos of distinctive larvae are also included. Furthermore all listed species have been shown as mounted specimens in their natural size on 60 colour plates in the back of the book in order to allow direct size and structural comparison between species, and show salient features that are not visible in the natural resting posture.

The species texts describe the diagnostic external characters, the possibilities for confusion, current flight times, larval foodplants, life-cycle strategy, up-to-date distribution and frequency summaries, and individual record details of the scarcer species.

A new and user-friendly field guide that brings the identification and classification of all Britain's macromoths into the 21st century and offers the moth recorder a unique combination of both beautiful and functional images of each species alongside contemporary, detailed species accounts.

"This tome has the novel approach (for this country) of providing photos of each species in natural resting posture, along with the more traditional presentation of wings spread (which helps to show hindwing characters), whilst retaining an accessible and compact format and incorporating recent advances in knowledge. This richly illustrated publication can only further stimulate interest in this fascinating, rewarding and accessible group of insects."

- Mark Parsons, Head of Moth Conservation, Butterfly Conservation, April 2012. 640 pages.

Softback £58.99 £55.99