An Introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America 5th Edition

An incredible book that I have bought with every revision. I appreciate the ‘stay open’ spiral binding for lab use, however it’s very bulky with thin pages and I think it should be sold as two volumes. Be careful with it.

Arrived so fast! And I really needed it to. This book is incredibly extensive and something I will rely on for quite some time, I expect. I do wish there was a more extensive glossary/index for entomology terms. Other than that, very reliable, detailed, and clear key. A very solid resource.

As always, Merritt et al. deliver high quality information and the go-to keys. However, the construction of this book is not high quality. The book is large, and the paper is thin, therefore, like another reviewer I have concerns about the longevity of the text. The poor quality paper results in blurry figures. As well, the new figures (again, indicative of the high quality information) stand out from the figures reproduced from previous editions. At some point, the publisher and editors need to commission new figures. For full transparency, I have all 4 previous editions. I do not expect this text will survive as well as they did. I also teach Aquatic Entomology at a large U.S. university. I will not likely recommend students purchase this text for class unless the paper quality is improved in a subsequent printing.

Best book for keying out macro invertebrates. Helpful that the book is spiral bound but the overall size and heft makes me question long term reliability.