Review by Choice Review
This volume by Schlicht (George Washington High School, Cedar Rapids), Downey (emer., Northern Iowa), and Nekola (New Mexico) joins the ranks of elegant state butterfly books serving as identification guides and offering material on historic and current distribution. It is intended to stimulate interest in Iowa butterflies and facilitate identification. Part 1 covers natural communities, history of collections, attracting butterflies, and problems for future research. Part 2 contains species accounts: status, phenology, distinguishing features, distribution, ecology, and research questions. Part 3 has color plates, distribution maps, and flight period graphs. Range maps indicate former and current occurrence, showing the high diversity in western and eastern counties. Color images are large, showing upper and lower surfaces of males and females as mounted specimens rather than free-living individuals. Unfortunately, many plates appear washed out and too brown, rather than gray or black. Butterfly names are appropriately capitalized, but plant names are not. Host plants are indicated generally, although specific host preferences tend to be glossed over, if not documented in Iowa. The book is well organized, engagingly written, informative without being overly technical, and suitable for a lay or professional audience. The sections on potential research questions for each species are a valuable stimulus for naturalists. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels. M. Gochfeld Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
