Publisher's Synopsis
This volume, assembled in honour of the pioneering work of Professor Russell Coope within the field of palaeoentomology, consists of 30 contributions, almost all of which are by former students of Russell, or by scientists greatly influenced by him. It is a mark of the important role that palaeoentomology has had to play in recent palaeoenvironmental research, as well as of the very wide influence that Russell has had in this field, that the contributions are so diverse in scope and application. They range in focus from, for example, the origins of the present and fossil faunas of Greenland, the theory of ‘island biogeography', and late Quaternary palaeoclimatology based on quantified temperature estimates, to the interpretation of synanthropic insect faunas preserved on archaeological sites. The geographical scope of the contents of this volume radiates to Antarctica, North America, several small Atlantic islands, Greenland, Africa and Europe. Most of the contributions consider coleopteran assemblages, but there are also articles on Acari, Muscidae, Chironomidae and Hymenoptera. Supplied with the volume, at no additional charge, is a disk containing a comprehensive bibliography of scientific publications concerning Quaternary insect assemblages. One of the articles also introduces a versatile, computerised data–base named ‘Bugs', which provides comprehensive information on numerous insect fossil records, as well as on the distributions and ecological preferences of much of the North European beetle fauna.
