I was sent the first six chapters of the MS in galleys to review for comments along with the note that it was too late to change anything and that the full MS galley would be available at the upcoming Entomology meeting in San Diego, December 9-13. The comments below, therefore, are based on only the first half of book.

 

General Conclusion:

This is an excellent text. It is concise in organization and there is uniformity of presentation of figures that is pleasing. It is very readable and contains some new information not available elsewhere. The viewpoint of the author is refreshing.
 

Specific Comments:

My colleague Nelson Thompson and I, teach an introductory insect physiology class (Entomology/Biology 173) to undergraduate non-entomology majors. We do not require prior knowledge of insects and therefore the first class is, "What is an Insect?" For this reason, we have used the older Gillott text (1995, Second Edition, Plenum Press), but have not required it for purchase, because it has a multitude of non-physiology topics in it, and we always supplement teaching with other figures and data from the pertinent literature. The excellent Text by Reggie Chapman (Chapman and Hall, fourth edition, The Insects, Structure and Function) is a bit too detailed and also has abundant other information on structure that is not relevant to our course.

The Klowden book contains 12 Chapters all of them have the work "Systems" in the title:
Endocrine Systems, then Integumental Systems, Developmental Systems, Reproductive Systems, Behavioral Systems, Metabolic Systems, Circulatory Systems, Excretory Systems, Respiratory Systems, Muscular Systems, Nervous Systems, and Communication Systems.

The first problem one encounters with a text on this subject is how to arrange the major subjects. I can find individual things to argue about in the order of these topics, but I do so in fear of being accused of pettiness. However, Metabolic goes with Excretory and there are good reasons for putting Circulatory next to Respiratory. If one checks the modest number of texts in existence, one finds a different order of topics in every one, so this is not a criticism, and the individual Chapters stand on their own anyway.

There are virtually no references in the text proper, but references do appear in permission citations in the figures. Some references are listed at the end of each Chapter not as a single group in alphabetical order, but in subject categories, which I found odd, but might make sense in an introductory textbook that just provides further reading instead of an exhaustive literature source. Still, one value in having references in the text is that the person familiar with the topic can make judgments about the interpretation presented by being familiar with the literature cited. In this text, that is not possible.

Since I only had access to the first half of the book, I only had the list of Chapters plus a short list of subtopics in each of the missing Chapters; still, I did not find ion regulation as a subtopic anywhere on the list.

In our course, we teach separate lectures on Water balance and Temperature by themselves. These topics might be represented somewhere in these twelve chapters, but I could only find one temperature topic under circulation, and I presume this is based on Bernd Heinrich's exhaustive thermoregulation studies, which are hard to ignore in a text on insect physiology.

 

Chapter One. Endocrine Systems:

I like the way this chapter starts. Ralph March always used to teach that hormones in insects were internal communications agents and that is how they are described here. I like the Greek definition of Hormone on page 1. There are a couple of ideas repeated during the text discourse. On page 2 the author decided to blur what is an endocrine gland and what is the nervous system. Although chemical products coming from nerve cells certainly do run the gamut from near to far actions and fast to slow to very slow, as suggested, I still prefer to make a distinction between lipid hormones on one hand and neuropeptides on the other.

In figure 1.1 on page 3, about receptor interactions, the text says E shows receptor interaction, but actually F shows interaction, E shows release. Neurosecretory cells are called hybrids on p. 2

I very much liked the text sections on older endocrine literature and especially the people involved. Ralph March used to emphasize people and Nelson and I both like to as well. In addition, Klowden makes the names bold along with other key terms, which I prefer, it saves me using the highlighter.

Pages 7-10 are a tremendous treatment of second messengers and G-proteins. Page 10 has Carroll Williams cecropia pupae in his famous parabiosed experiments. We always show Williams' classic work in our class. The peptide chain of PTTH on page 13 is exactly the one I use in teaching the lecture on neurohormones.

The descriptions of JH and ecdysteroid actions appear up to date. The development of a bioassay for PTTH is described as critical to further advance in understanding. I like that way of explaining it very much. I also like the chemical structures of ecdysteroids and JHs. Fig. 1.14 mentions numbering of the cholesterol ring, but the numbers actually appear on fig. 1.7. Also there is fair uniformity to the presentation of chemical structures, which is another pet peeve of mine.

A few things missing in this chapter that might have been added are the discovery of "paper factor" by Karel Slama, which I consider one of the outstanding events in insect physiology, and the discovery of precocene by Bill Bowers, an equally great event because of its tremendous value as a teaching point. Also, although JH analogs as chemical products were mentioned and shown, the fact that they are highly selective (as opposed to broad-spectrum in their actions on insects) did not come out clearly, and this is also an important teaching point too.

Figure 1.29 on p. 32 is excellent of JH, E, JHE and JHBP levels through three instars of Manduca. We always use those as well. If anything, the levels could have been put in a larger figure.

The whole of neuropeptides is confined to one large paragraph taking up most of page 33, which I thought might be a bit stingy, but perhaps there is more in the Nerve Chapter, which was not sent. In contrast, Vertebrate-like neurohormones takes up an equal amount of space on page 34, and this treatment seems out of balance.

The description of eclosion triggering hormone on page 32 is poor at best and the description of the same thing on page 67 is vastly better. Page 32 should have referred the reader to page 67. ETH is mentioned yet again on page 155. Thus this one topic, control of eclosion behavior, is treated in Chapter 1, Endocrines, Chapter 2, Integument, and Chapter 5, Behavior.

On page 67, "A cascade of neurohormones is responsible for eliciting eclosion behavior." I believe this statement to be the most accurate one can make at the moment, because this topic seems to change rapidly in the literature. In the next sentence the reader is informed that epitracheal glands are located on the trachea. The author meant on the tracheal trunks near the spiracles. The discoverer of ETH speculates that this location might signal the tracheal system lining is ready for a molt as a check and balance feedback to ensure proper stripping of the tracheal lining that accompanies ecdysis.

I am highly pleased with the treatment of molting in the Integument chapter, primarily because it is nearly exactly the way I teach it, however, the best teaching figure I have ever seen accompanying molting, besides the excellent one on page 65, Fig. 2.18 is Figure 11.5 on page 357 in Gillott's second edition. The reason I like this Gillott figure is because it shows the dopamine analogs on a cross-section of the integument where the various chemical products are at the various steps of the tanning process, and I think students can remember it better that way rather than just looking as the sequence of steps from tyrosine to quinone (which I also use in teaching). It also calls attention to the formation of the quinones at the outermost part of the cuticle where oxidase enzyme activity has to occur.

There were a few things in the text that I question, such as the definition of arthropodin being a single protein; I thought it was the sum total of all extractable protein, but this is not my field. The statement about the exoskeleton being the thing that most contributed to the success of arthropods might be a little too much. I would have qualified that a little. Also, I thought the text stretched a bit in describing the rigidity of the exoskeleton. I had the impression that when this was written, the author didn't have maggots in mind (nothing but flexible cuticle, and yet have lots of muscle connections, so you don't need rigid cuticle for muscle connections).

The building analogy on page 44 and Fig. 2.1 just was not clear to me as presented, although the intent of the teaching point is clear; the figure was simply not that helpful in driving home the message. The argument on p. 44 about the need to get the cuticle finished or risk losing too much water seemed a little awkward; especially since Manduca follows adult eclosion with a veritable explosion of fluid, presumable to rid the adult body of the extra weight.

On the bottom of page 44, the term "cuticular molt" is used, when molt alone would have been better. The overuse of adjectives was not frequent enough in the text to bother the reader, only enough to amuse. The argument about pre-adult mayflies having wings too heavy to fly well because they are full of fluid was a little bit of a stretch, although I notice that Marc was specifically referring to the presence of epidermal cells that are necessary to support the production. Still, I am not sure I would mention this in a class. These sections lead to the argument that the adult mature wings are dry (and therefore lighter and more conducive to movement in flight). In fact, circulation of hemolymph in the adult mature wings is vital. Lutz Wasserthal has now classic detailed descriptions of that in adult Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. Indeed, a completely dry wing deprived of hemolymph would become brittle very soon and necrotize as the distal parts of appendages often do in long-lived insects.

On page 47, 1/5 the way down, "quiescent pupal stage" is used. This raised a bit of a flag because is comes too close to diapause-like conditions, which I don't think were intended in this context.

I was very grateful for the p. 48 term nymph being explained and for the excellent discussion of the function of the pupal stage, another favorite topic of mine in class, and one taken on by the best insect physiologists at one point or another. However, I have heard instar and stadium defined differently than presented here, instar as the actual animal and stadium and the length of time of the instar. I have no argument with the apolysis point being when instar begins; however, the text missed an great opportunity to refer to the tremendous argument between Hinton and Wigglesworth over this point. (I sided with Hinton out of self-defense, so powerful was his influence on insect physiology).

 

Conclusion:

I would recommend this text for use in an introductory insect physiology class. It has enough recent information that it could also be used to teach an advanced class in insect physiology; however, the lack of references in the text for ready access to pertinent literature is a drawback. For the general entomologist looking to have the latest insect physiology information, this text comes very close to being a quick source to bring colleagues up to date, it certainly is readable enough. Judging from the message I got from the publisher along with half of the book in galley form, I sense that some haste went into development. That is a shame and there were a few rare typos reflecting that.

Finally, I am familiar with how difficult it is to write a book, both from the standpoint of how long it takes and the criticism that inevitably follows. There is so much to like about this book and the effort Marc Klowden put into it, that any criticisms one might have tend to be a bit petty, and certainly can be overlooked. Well done, Marc Klowden.

 

Truth in Advertising Statement:

Thomas A. Miller is a consulting editor for CRC Press. CRC is just producing a textbook in Insect Physiology by James Nation and Dr. Miller was asked to make extensive comments on the entire MS of the book before it was sent to the printer. The author, Dr. Nation, not only had a chance to incorporate these suggestions into the final version, but also previous comments from another review done by scientific consultants to Oxford University Press. The abbreviated review done here of the Marc Klowden book will evidently not influence the final version, but comments were solicited from Academic Press in exchange for a free copy of the book when finally published. AP announced their intention to select statements from reviews to use in advertising only. The comments are not to be construed as endorsements. Individual judgments on these books will have to wait until both are complete and available for inspection in their final form. The purpose of posting these comments is mainly to alert our colleagues as to their availability. CRC Press has offered to sell the James Nation book for a reduced price in exchange for a small percentage consideration to help support IP Online. A 15% discount is offered when a code number from this website is used. Details can be found on the CRC website.

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