The aquatic flora and fauna of Sahelo-Sudanese Africa, Vol. I, Vol. II.

The first volume of this monograph on the flora and fauna of the Sahelo-Sudanese region of Africa, to which about 30 authors have contributed, includes an introduction giving a description of the region, with special reference to the characteristics of aquatic environments, followed by chapters on algae, aquatic plants and 12 groups of invertebrates up to and including decapod crustaceans. The second volume is devoted to the insects and vertebrates, and includes a key to the larvae and adults of the orders of insects with aquatic stages. Of the groups then dealt with, the culicids, chironomids, tabanids, ceratopogonids and simuliids are of major medical and veterinary importance and the Heteroptera, Odonata and Coleoptera include some important predators. As an introduction to the groups of Diptera, the general characters of the group are described and keys to the immature stages of the suborders and important families are provided. Notes are given on the families of lesser importance. Throughout the chapters on insects, keys are provided, usually down to family or generic level, and notes are provided on the distribution and biology of the groups.