WBA Handbooks

If you are interested to buy the books of the series “WBA Monographs”, before making purchase, contact WBA to the following address:
World Biodiversity Association
c/o Museo Civico di Storia Naturale
Lungadige Porta Vittoria, 9
37129 Verona – Italy
otherwise by e-mail: info@biodiversityassociation.org
to agree on the ways of payment and delivery (Bank transfer or PayPal).

Chapulines, Langostas, Grillos y Esperanzas de Mexico
Grasshoppers, Locusts, Crickets & Katydids of Mexico
Authors:             P. Fontana, F. M. Buzzetti, R. M. Pérez.
Editor:                World Biodiversity Association onlus – Verona
Edition:              WBA Handbooks – Vol. 1
Year:                 2008
Languages:        Spanish and English
Pages:               272
Size:                  A5  (cm 21 x 15)
ISBN Code:        978-88-903323-0-2
ISSN Code:        1973-7815
Paper:                Ecological paper Chlorine-free
Price:                 € 38.00
Member Price:    € 25.00
 
It is the first volume of the series “WBA HANDBOOKS“, dedicated to the Orthoptera of Mexico. Paolo Fontana and Filippo Maria Buzzetti, WBA members, made indefatigable and profitable investigations during several naturalistic expeditions in Mexico and produced a book that is a commendable example of scientific popularization. The authors succeed in combining the rigorousness of the informations, supported by an identification key to families and sub-families, and the first complete check-list of mexican Orthoptera (978 species!), with a wide range of informations and a very rich iconography. In a few words, an easily consultable handbook cut out also for field investigations, seeking for the extraordinary life forms here described.
Take a look to Chapulines de Mexico

Mantids of the Euro-Mediterranean Area
Authors:          R. Battiston, L. Picciau, P. Fontana, J. Marshall
Editor:             World Biodiversity Association onlus – Verona
Edition:            WBA Handbooks – Vol. 2
Year:               2010
Languages:      English
Pages:             240
Size:                A5 (cm 21 x 15)
ISBN Code:      978-88-903323-1-9
ISSN Code:      1973-7815
Paper:              Ecological paper Chlorine-free
Price:               € 45.00 (*)
Member Price:  € 30.00
(*) WBA onlus can sell the book only to the members of the Association regular with payment of the social fee, to the price of 31.50 euro (30% discount). For the distribution of this volume WBA onlus drew up an exclusive agreement with APOLLO BOOKS. Therefore, all those that are not WBA members concerned in buying the handbook can require it directly to:
Apollo Books
Kirkeby Sand 19
DK-5771 Stenstrup – Denmark
http://www.apollobooks.com/
E-mail: apollobooks@vip.cybercity.dk

This handbook is a clear and detailed tool for the study and identification of the 127 species of Mantids living in the Euro-Mediterranean area. The first part describes the appearance of Mantids in human folklore and scientific aspects; their biology, the question of the sexual cannibalism, morphology, colouration and their life-cycles are all extensively treated. For amateurs as well as specialists, detailed descriptions of the most common techniques of rearing, preparation and study of external and internal morphology are presented. The second part includes a large section on the taxonomy of all the species living from the Caucasian Mountains to the Canary Islands. Original drawings and several colour photographs ranging from extremely rare endemic species to the most common ones are given, with keys to their identification and bibliographical references with new and updated synonymies. The book also contains an updated checklist of the Euro-Mediterranean Mantids and, in order to contribute positively to the preservation of these extraordinary and uncommon insects, a red-list of the most threatened species.
Sfoglia Mantids Euro-Mediterranean Area

The subterranean environment. Hypogean life, concepts and collecting techniques.
L’ambiente sotterraneo. Vita ipogea, concetti e tecniche di raccolta.
Authors:          Pier Mauro Giachino, Dante Vailati
Editor:             World Biodiversity Association onlus – Verona
Edition:            WBA Handbooks – Vol. 3
Year:               2010
Languages:      English and Italian
Pages:            132
Size:               A5 (cm 21 x 15)
ISBN Code:     978-88-903323-2-5
ISSN Code:     1973-7815
Paper:             Ecological paper Chlorine-free
Price:              € 25.00
Member Price: € 17.00

In this book the authors review the structure of an ecosystem and of its epigean and hypogean parts, defining uniquely some physical, chemical, and climatic constituents that are fundamental for understanding subterranean communities. They discuss the factors that led, for decades, to an ill conceived emphasis on the importance of human-size caves as the natural seat of “cave-dwellers”, paying special attention in defining the subterranean environment in the Euro-Mediterranean area and of its limits, with some of its different components (fissure network of the bedrock, MSS, cave and subterranean hygropetric environment), compared to the endogean environment that is characteristic of the soil, by restricting the use of the term subterranean fauna only to the hypogean environment, with the exception of the endogean environment. Similarly, the faunas associated with the subterranean environment are more clearly defined, as well as the relationship between the fauna and the fissure network of the bedrock, and the influence of bedrock and tree cover on MSS formation and colonization. The authors describe in detail the methodology and techniques used in their multi-annual research on the subterranean fauna in Greece, that allowed them to discover hundreds of new species to science.
Take a look to The subterranean environment