Book Review The Yponomeutinae (Lepidoptera) of the World exclusive of the Americas. Zlata S. Gershenson and Sandrine A. Ulenberg. 1998. i-x. 202 pp. North-Holland, Amsterdam/Oxford. Price: A$100. (Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen Verhandelingen Afdeling Naturkunde, Tweede Reeks, Deel 99). This book provides an overview of the species of moths of the subfamily Yponomeutinae, other than those occurring in the Americas. It is based on study of descriptions, type material and other material in major collections supplemented by that in some smaller collections. As a result 231 species, grouped in 25 genera, are consid-ered to be appropriately included in the subfamily from areas other the Americas. There is a brief abstract and acknowledgements of help followed by an introduction and a sec-tion listing the sources of material used in the study. To provide the background leading to the present state of knowledge of the species currently considered to be includable in the Yponomeutinae, the "Historical review" of the study of the "small ermine moths" starts with reference to the early work of Reaumur (1738), provides an outline of subsequent work on Yponomeutoidea in general and ends with reference to recent studies in New Zealand by Dugdale. The basic information on the morphology of adults required as an introduction to initial taxonomic investigation is provided in a short, illustrated account. Similar infor-mation for immature stages, which are, as in the case with so many groups of insects, less well studied than the adults, is given in more abbreviated form but a useful entry to the relevant literature is given through appropriate references. There is a substantial list, in tabular form, of host plants on which larvae are known to develop, which include members of more than twenty families, mostly of dicotyledonous angiosperms. The list is somewhat ambiguously stated not to include "introduced plant species" or "cultivars". A synopsis of the distribution of the genera through zoogeographic regions, in areas other than the Americas, is also given in tabular form. A section on the classification of the subfamily includes a brief statement that the authors agree with the conclusion that the subfamily is a monophyletic assemblage (placed at various taxonomic levels by earlier authors) having as its sister group the sub-family Saridoscelinae. A commitment is given by the authors to pursue the matter of the relationships of the genera within the Yponomeutinae and the position of the subfamily within the family in future publications. It might have been preferable to include their findings in the present book rather than delay publication to some future unspecified work. The subfamily is briefly defined and there is a list of non-American genera and species. There is also a list of those genera listed as Yponomeutids by Nye and Fletcher, in their 1991 "Generic names of Moths of the World", which the authors consider not to be Yponomeutines. A note beside each name in the list gives the reason for its exclusion. Two keys to the non-American genera are provided, one based on external features and another on male genitalia. A list of references concludes the general part of the work which occupies almost a third of the book. The remainder of the work (from page 59 onwards) is devoted to a more detailed treatment of the non-American Yponomeutines at generic and specific level. These are dealt with genus by genus, in alphabetical order, with species being treated alphabetically within each genus. There is a reference to the original description of each genus and the type species is given. Under each species there is a reference to the original description Proc. Linn. Soc. n.s.w., 121. 1999
Book review. The Yponomeutinae (Lepidoptera) of the world exclusive of the Americas. Z. S. Gershenson and S. A. Ulenberg. 1998. Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen. Tweede reeks, deel 99
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