Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea
By Arnett, R.H., Jr., M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley and J. H. Frank. (eds.)
CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL, 2002
ISBN: 0849309549
Cite: 9779 with citation markup [cite:9779]
The new standard for North American Beetles, replaces the older Arnett volume. Keys, descriptions and figures to genus.

Links to corrections & additions
Links to corrections & additions for both volumes of the printed version are available here.

 
Link broken...

eBook version
This book is now available as an Adobe Digital Editions eBook. The best price I've found is at docstoc.com. Be warned, though, you need Adobe's proprietary program to read it. You cannot print pages or copy text, even to cut and paste into the "Find" block to search for text. I understand the reason for this, but found it to be a burden. My computer is far from the microscope I use to help identify bugs, for example, and I don't have any of those fancy portable reading devices. Fortunately, there is third party software available to convert it to regular pdf after you purchase it, from which pages can be printed and text copied.

 
Kindle Version
There is a Kindle version now without those restrictions. Available on amazon

 
I heard some rumblings about soliciting authors
regarding a new Carabidae chapter for a new edition of American Beetles. Maybe that's an encouraging sign since it's been 20 years since the last edition. On the subject of updates, any word on a new edition of the classic "Borror and Delong's Introduction to the Study of Insects"? The last one was 7th edition, 2005.

Limited Preview Via Google Books

Review of Am. Beetles, v. 2 by the Ento. Society of America
.
"This two-volume set is the latest treatment of Coleoptera and is, without a doubt, the most complete and detailed coverage to date. Rather than one or several authors treating all families, this two-volume set is edited by four highly capable coleopterists, and each chapter is written by an authority [or authorities] on the family treated therein. This obviously contributes to the expert treatment of each group. No other publication has covered this fauna in as much detail as this set."

Full text here.

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Quote from The Coleopterists Society website:

"This is the consolidated work of over 60 specialists in the Coleopterists Society"

Arnett, R.H., Jr., M.C. Thomas, P.E. Skelley and J.H. Frank. (eds.). 2002. AMERICAN BEETLES. Volume 2. Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL. xiv + 861 pp.

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Used copies listed for sale here: www.BookFinder.com
.

 
 
Updated again
As a PDF, page 121 on the 6th page of the document.