Book Review - Moths of the World: A Natural History - Princeton University Press

 

     One of my "go to" books, a volume that I cherish and use frequently, is David L. Wagner's Caterpillars of Eastern North America: A Guide to Identification and Natural History. It was with pleasure, therefore, that I received Moths of the World: A Natural History authored by the same first class biologist.

     Moths are incredibly appealing insects, but they are not the easiest taxon to become familiar with. This book makes huge strides in that direction. With roughly 160,000 species worldwide it behooves all of us to get to know them better! 

     Moths are critical in ensuring that we have food, via pollination of crops essential to our nutritional well-being, while simultaneously providing rich protein for their numerous predators. Many songbirds would be unable to raise their young without the abundant (and so far predictable) bounty of moth caterpillars.

     The book claims to provide a natural history of moths - and indeed it does. The reader is guided through every phase of moth existence including diversity and classification, anatomy, distribution, life cycle, sensory abilities, economic importance and the potential of moths to serve as food for humans, and the impacts anthropogenic excesses are having on their individual lives and metapopulations. One is treated to a full examination of Non-ditrysian Microlepidoptera, Ditrysian Microlepidoptera and Macrolepidoptera. Don't let those fancy names put you off; boiled down it's a study of little moths and big moths in all their stunning diversity.

     It is almost redundant today to state that a book devoted to the natural world is incredibly well illustrated. Superb photographs have become the new standard and this book is no exception. Different taxa are explored with enlightened text, images and a range map. 

     Sadly, one cannot examine the state of the planet in the 21st Century without referring to the Sixth Extinction, that Grim Reaper of the Anthropocene, ever stalking us with relentless efficiency; unforgiving and brutal. As our population continues to edge ever upwards, on a trajectory to eleven billon by mid century, we continue to exploit the resources of the Earth in an unsustainable manner. Moths, like every other organism are victims of our rapacious ways. Daily extinction is a lamentable fact - and extinction is forever.

     Tim Blackburn, also writing about moths, said, "We are the only species to know we live on a finite planet. You would never know it based on our behavior."

     May this book serve as a call to action to all who care about the future for human and non-human alike.

     Action is needed like never before. 

Moths of the World: A Natural History - Princeton University Press

David L. Wagner 

Hardcover - US$29.95 - ISBN: 9780691248288

240 pages - 6.75 x 9.5 inches (16.875 x 23.75 cm)

300 colour illustrations

Publication date: 22 April, 2025