New Sciomyzidae book

We present a 505-page book (including 101 tables, 228 figures, 4 color plates) on all aspects of the Sciomyzidae by Knutson and Vala. The book, published by Cambridge University Press, was released in August, 2010. The world literature is reviewed and analyzed, with 1055 publications cited. Life-cycle information concerns the 240 biologically known of the 538 described species (about 580 undescribed species are included), 40 of the 61 genera of Sciomyzidae. Larvae of all reared Sciomyzidae are malacophagous except for two obligate and one facultative predator of freshwater oligochaetes in Africa. Most other reared species are obligate natural enemies of non-operculate freshwater, semi-terrestrial, or terrestrial snails. A few are restricted to slugs, eggs of snails, or freshwater finger-nail clams. Behaviorally, the larvae range from a few highly specialized, semi-terrestrial parasitoids (one snail per larva, one larva per snail), to predator-parasitoid-saprophages of shoreline or otherwise exposed snails, to many overt predators of snails in water or on land. The value of Sciomyzidae for potential biological control of snails transmitting flatworm parasites of man and animals and of snails and slugs as agricultural pests is reviewed. Also, Sciomyzidae as bio-indicators of endangered habitats, serving as ecosystem providers in the control of snails, and information on them for a paradigm of the evolution of predatory/parasitoid behavior is explored. A CD of Clifford Berg's classical, 1978, 20-minute film on Sciomyzidae is included in the book and at the poster presentation. The book features keys to the genera of adults, larvae, and puparia by zoogeographical regions, and a tabular, expanded checklist of species of world Sciomyzidae.