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Post by eurytides on Feb 19, 2022 10:45:25 GMT -8
FYI, this is currently 40% off at Pemberley. It's still an expensive (but awesome) book. I knew about it when it first got published and did not end up buying it because of the cost. I'm surprised it's not out of print yet.
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Post by livingplanet3 on Feb 19, 2022 11:05:28 GMT -8
FYI, this is currently 40% off at Pemberley. It's still an expensive (but awesome) book. I knew about it when it first got published and did not end up buying it because of the cost. I'm surprised it's not out of print yet. I wonder how it compares to Natural History of Birdwing Butterflies (Hirotaka Matsuka, 2001)? |
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Post by Crake on Feb 19, 2022 12:59:54 GMT -8
FYI, this is currently 40% off at Pemberley. It's still an expensive (but awesome) book. I knew about it when it first got published and did not end up buying it because of the cost. I'm surprised it's not out of print yet. I wonder how it compares to Natural History of Birdwing Butterflies (Hirotaka Matsuka, 2001)? I don’t have the “Natural History of Birdwing butterflies” to make a decent comparison but I can certainly vouch for “Outstanding Birdwings”. It’s definitely worth the money if that’s your area of interest. The books themselves are of high quality and provide detailed images, descriptions, and localities of essentially every single described species, subspecies, form, local form, and aberration possible in Ornithoptera. There are also lifecycle profiles of each species with some images that you wouldn’t be able to find in the internet (larval forms of O. victoriae, for example) and a very extensive hybrid index featuring inter-genera crosses between Troides sp. and Ornithoptera (and everything below that, taxonomically). I would go as far to presume that it is the most comprehensive book on the subject based on the fact that the second volume dedicates around 600 pages solely to describing the variations of O. priamus. I would recommend purchasing it at a discount; it is a great book. |
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Post by eurytides on Feb 19, 2022 15:18:46 GMT -8
I don’t have the Matsuka book. I am sure it’s fantastic but it’s also 20 years old. OBB is like 1600 pages and 7kg! It is the most comprehensive and complete work on birdwings there is and will probably remain so for years to come. I ordered my copy last night.
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Post by livingplanet3 on Feb 19, 2022 15:39:20 GMT -8
I don’t have the Matsuka book. I am sure it’s fantastic but it’s also 20 years old. OBB is like 1600 pages and 7kg! It is the most comprehensive and complete work on birdwings there is and will probably remain so for years to come. I ordered my copy last night. A description of the Matsuka book can be seen on BioQuip's website. I've been very impressed with this book, and certainly have no regrets about having bought it, but now I'm really wondering what OBB must be like at 1600 pages, vs. Matsuka's 368 pages. Incidentally, that 368 pages is in both Japanese and English. |
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Post by eurytides on Feb 19, 2022 15:47:41 GMT -8
OBB covers 11 species of Ornithoptera but aren’t there 13?? Did some get elevated to species status recently? Are some new discoveries? Similarly, Matsuka covers 32 species of Ornithoptera, Troides, and Trogonoptera, but aren’t there 36 total?
Can anyone comment on the discrepancy here?
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Post by eurytides on Feb 19, 2022 16:28:38 GMT -8
Ok, I think in OBB, euphorion and richmondia are considered subsp of priamus.
Could someone with a copy of Matsuka list what species are covered?
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Post by livingplanet3 on Feb 19, 2022 16:39:00 GMT -8
Ok, I think in OBB, euphorion and richmondia are considered subsp of priamus. Could someone with a copy of Matsuka list what species are covered? Ornithoptera alexandrae O. victoriae O. priamus O. croesus O. aesacus O. chimaera O. tithonus O. rothschildi O. goliath O. paradisea O. meridionalis Trogonoptera brookiana T. trojana Troides hypolitus T. aeacus T. rhadamantus T. dohertyi T. minos T. magellanus T. prattorum T. helena T. oblongomaculatus T. haliphron T. plato T. riedeli T. criton T. vandepolli T. darsius T. amphrysus T. cuneifera T. miranda T. andromache |
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Post by eurytides on Feb 19, 2022 17:27:40 GMT -8
Thank you so much! I am very tempted to buy this as well since OBB doesn’t cover Troides and Trogonoptera.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Feb 19, 2022 22:51:57 GMT -8
Matsuka's book is excellent in my opinion. I don't have OBB, but it only covers Ornithoptera and as far as I can understand it goes into a lot of detail about infraspecific variation and aberrations. Those may be of interest to some, but I find them less important than the differences between natural populations.
Adam.
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Post by hewi on Feb 20, 2022 6:12:41 GMT -8
Adam, you are absolutely right.
The Matsuka is a much more scientific work than OBB.
The latter shows an infinite number of individual but also pathologically altered forms. The illustrations are also not always of the same qualitative standard, because the authors seem to have
had to resort to poor originals provided to them by third parties.
Manfred
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Post by livingplanet3 on Feb 20, 2022 8:21:39 GMT -8
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Post by mothman55 on Feb 20, 2022 9:05:43 GMT -8
I have both books, and agree with Adam, Matsuka is my preference. Much off OBB is related to a multitude of forms and variations. I really don't see the need to name every slight variation. But chalked full of photos of Birdwing specimens and I am still satisfied with my purchase a couple of years ago. But for sure you will not be disappointed with Matsuka, a great Birdwing book with lots of interesting tales of his experiences in the wild and many photos in the wild.
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Post by wollastoni on Feb 20, 2022 9:12:43 GMT -8
FYI, this is currently 40% off at Pemberley. It's still an expensive (but awesome) book. I knew about it when it first got published and did not end up buying it because of the cost. I'm surprised it's not out of print yet. It's much cheaper at Insectnet than at Pemberley : marketplace.insectnet.com/item/72230227/outstanding-birdwing-butterflies-full-book-50-discount300€ vs 341€ at Pemberley.  About 100 copies sold on Insectnet in the last years. And yes Matsuka book is also excellent. All birdwing collectors should have both in my opinion. |
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Post by eurytides on Feb 20, 2022 12:09:40 GMT -8
Thanks for the good info. Since Matsuka is 20 years old, is it very out of date or would you guys still consider it to be fairly “current”?
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