Royal Society of Queensland member Robert Whyte has just signed off on the print-ready artwork for the third printing of his A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia, with Greg Anderson co-author. Not expected to be a block buster, the first printing surprised everyone, even the publisher, when it sold out in under four weeks. “A second printing was rushed through the presses, the plates still warm from the first run”, notes Mr Whyte. This third printing in July 2018 contains about 50 updates, mostly taxonomical changes since 1 June 2018.
Inquirers in Queensland could hardly receive a higher recommendation than by Peter Smithers, Editor of the Royal Entomological Society journal Antenna, who writes:
“The authors’ enthusiasm and fascination with spiders is more than apparent, they excite and entice the reader to delve deeper into this arachnolgical box of delights … a must have for any Australians with an interest in invertebrates as it offers an easily accessible introduction to spiders as a group and a user-friendly map to the biological labyrinth of Australian arachnology … it will also be of great interest to arachnologists globally… a fascinating insight into spider diversity and is well worth buying just for the photographs … a revelation, a window into the astounding world of Australian spiders.”
At 452 pages this is by far the most comprehensive book on Australian spiders ever published, with more than 1350 colour photographs covering 836 species and 381 genera in 78 Spider families.
The book starts with a short foreword by Tim Low, followed by an entertaining preface and a general preamble covering elements of diversity, history, anatomy, biology and shortcuts to identifying spider groups.
http://www.arachne.org.au Website for the book.
Orders at Booko, freight free https://booko.com.au/9780643107076/A-Field-Guide-to-Spiders-of-Australia.
CSIRO Publishing http://www.publish.csiro.au/book/6899
ISBN 978-0-643-10707-6.
If you would like to receive copies signed by both authors, available for $50 each (including postage) email Rob Whyte with your address details or call Rob 0409 055 325.