For those who are not aware, a new book hit the market at the end of last year. “The Moths of Western North America“, Powell and Opler. At only $95 it’s worth every cent (or $75 for the e-book, but I hate e-books). It’s a remarkable tome and the first of its kind for the western states. Not only is it a spectacular reference, but it sets the bar for all insect books. No, not every moth in the west is in there (that would break my desk and wallet at over 6,000 species), but almost one of every genus and common or remarkable species has a photograph, life history and distribution. Most importantly it covers microlepidoptera. I grew up on the eastern counterpart, Moths of Eastern North America by Covell. I had two copies, one for the field and one for my desk – and had to replace the field copy at least once. It was a great book, but Powell and Opler have run laps around it.
The other good news is you can now access all 1,228 moth illustrations and corresponding data online for free. Go to CalPhotos and search for Powell, or click here. The nice part about this is the somewhat smaller microlep photos in the book are available in high-resolution for better identification. Beautiful addition to the reference and easier than sending everyone a CD.
I saw this on Paul’s blog last year and forgot about it until you mentioned it the other day. I’m planning on purchasing several ID books from UC Press, but I want to actually look at the insides of this one before forking over so much cashola. Bioquip has nice pics of sample plates: http://www.bioquip.com/search/DispProduct.asp?pid=3361. Could you please send me a pic of a page spread of a non-plate and non-chapter 1 so that I can see it??? Hope Jerry signed your copy (his handwriting is horrible, haha).