Coccinellids have been very actively studied in the course of the twenty
three years since "Biology of Coccinellidae" was published. The great
amount of new, and often very important findings have made the previous
book outdated and a new synthesis is needed. No other monograph of
similar focus and extent has appeared. Iablokoff- Khnzorian's "Les
Coccinelles" (1982), limited to the tribus Coccinellini, and Gor- don's
"The Coccinellidae of America North of Mexico" (1985) both concentrate
on taxonomy. Majerus' beautiful "Ladybirds" (1994) deal specifically
with British coc- cinellids and address chiefly amateur naturalists. The
focus and the title of the recent book are slightly different from the
1973 vol- ume. If a satisfactory comprehensive review of important new
findings is attempted, the book would grow too much, due also to
References and Indexes. To keep the vol- ume at a tolerable extent, the
section on larval identification of Palaearctic species has been
omitted; not much could be added to the previous version of that part,
any- way. However, we have kept Kovar's chapter on morphology and
anatomy, because of its relation to feeding and other ecological
aspects. The chapter on phylogeny was updated also by him. Our Polish
friend, Piotr Ceryngier, who has recently specialised in parasites,
updated perfectly the parts on parasites and pathogens in Chapter 8. We
would be glad if their contribution is quoted by their names. It seems
to us that the remarks, contained in the reprinted preface to the
previous volume, remain pertinent today.
