Insects are survivors. Since their evolution in the Devonian, some 365 million years ago, they have penetrated almost every habitat on Earth. Today in Australia there are over 100,000 species crawling, flying, hopping and hurrying across the continent. Their responses to the challenges of this vast and often inhospitable land have been an array of clever adaptations. Every major insect group has found a way to live here successfully and some of the world’s oldest lineages of insects continue to survive in Australia despite their extinction elsewhere. Australian Insects: a Natural History records the physical attributes and lifestyle developments that have made life on this continent possible for insects. pp. 288 illusts #0819