Synopses of the British Fauna
Encyclopedia
Synopses of the British Fauna is a series of identification guides, published by The Linnean Society
and The Estuarine and Coastal Sciences Association. Each volume in the series provides and in-depth analysis of a group of animals and is designed to bridge the gap between the standard field guide
and more specialised monograph
or treatise
. The series is now published by The Field Studies Council
on behalf of The Linnean Society and The Estuarine and Coastal Sciences Association.
The series is designed for use in the field and is kept as user friendly as possible with technical terminology
kept to a minimum and a glossary of terms provided, although the complexity of the subject matter makes the books more suitable for the more experienced practitioner.
in Burlington House, TH Savoy presented his ‘Synopsis of the Opiliones’ (Harvestmen). It was so well received that a decision was made there and then to publish it as the first of a series of ‘ecological fauna lists’.
Re-launched by Dr Doris Kermack in the mid-1960s, the New Series of Synopses of the British Fauna went from strength to strength. From number 13, the series had been jointly sponsored by The Estuarine and Coastal Sciences Association and Dr RSK Barnes became co-editor.
From 1993, the series has been published by The Field Studies Council
and benefits from association with the extensive testing undertaken as part of the AIDGAP project.
changes or advances in the understanding of a group.
Linnean Society of London
The Linnean Society of London is the world's premier society for the study and dissemination of taxonomy and natural history. It publishes a zoological journal, as well as botanical and biological journals...
and The Estuarine and Coastal Sciences Association. Each volume in the series provides and in-depth analysis of a group of animals and is designed to bridge the gap between the standard field guide
Field guide
A field guide is a book designed to help the reader identify wildlife or other objects of natural occurrence . It is generally designed to be brought into the 'field' or local area where such objects exist to help distinguish between similar objects...
and more specialised monograph
Monograph
A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...
or treatise
Treatise
A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject.-Noteworthy treatises:...
. The series is now published by The Field Studies Council
Field Studies Council
The Field Studies Council is an educational charity based in the UK. It opened its first Field Centre in 1947 at Flatford Mill, and now operates 17 Field Centres in various locations in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland offering both residential and non-residential field courses...
on behalf of The Linnean Society and The Estuarine and Coastal Sciences Association.
The series is designed for use in the field and is kept as user friendly as possible with technical terminology
Technical terminology
Technical terminology is the specialized vocabulary of any field, not just technical fields. The same is true of the synonyms technical terms, terms of art, shop talk and words of art, which do not necessarily refer to technology or art...
kept to a minimum and a glossary of terms provided, although the complexity of the subject matter makes the books more suitable for the more experienced practitioner.
History of the series
On 11 March 1943, at a meeting of The Linnean SocietyLinnean Society of London
The Linnean Society of London is the world's premier society for the study and dissemination of taxonomy and natural history. It publishes a zoological journal, as well as botanical and biological journals...
in Burlington House, TH Savoy presented his ‘Synopsis of the Opiliones’ (Harvestmen). It was so well received that a decision was made there and then to publish it as the first of a series of ‘ecological fauna lists’.
Re-launched by Dr Doris Kermack in the mid-1960s, the New Series of Synopses of the British Fauna went from strength to strength. From number 13, the series had been jointly sponsored by The Estuarine and Coastal Sciences Association and Dr RSK Barnes became co-editor.
From 1993, the series has been published by The Field Studies Council
Field Studies Council
The Field Studies Council is an educational charity based in the UK. It opened its first Field Centre in 1947 at Flatford Mill, and now operates 17 Field Centres in various locations in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland offering both residential and non-residential field courses...
and benefits from association with the extensive testing undertaken as part of the AIDGAP project.
Volumes
The series contains the following volumes, many of which are out of print. Many of the volumes have been updated and reprinted under slightly different names to reflect either taxonomicTaxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
changes or advances in the understanding of a group.
- Volume 58: Centipedes (AD Barber) 2009
- Volume 57: Barnacles (AJ Southward) 2008
- Volume 56: Echinoderms (EC Southward and AC Campbell) 2005
- Volume 55: Lobsters, Mud ShrimpsThalassinideaThalassinidea is an infraorder of decapod crustaceans that live in burrows in muddy bottoms of the world's oceans. In Australian English, the littoral thalassinidean Trypaea australiensis is referred to as the yabby , frequently used as bait for estuarine fishing; elsewhere, however, they are...
and Anomuran CrabsAnomuraAnomura is a group of decapod crustaceans, including hermit crabs and others. Although the names of many anomurans includes the word crab, all true crabs are in the sister group to the Anomura, the Brachyura .-Description:The name Anomala reflects the unusual variety of forms in this group;...
(RW Ingle and ME Christiansen) 2004 - Volume 54: Polychaetes: British Chrysopetaloidea, Pisionoidea and Aphroditoidea (SJ Chambers and AI Muir) 1998
- Volume 53: Free Living British Nematodes, Part 3 Monohysterids (RM Warwick, HM Platt and PJ Somerfield) 1998
- Volume 52: Ticks of North-West Europe (Paul D Hillyard) 1996
- Volume 51: Marine and Brackish Water Harpacticoid Copepods, Part 1 (R Huys, JM Gee, CG Moore and R Hamond) 1996
- Volume 50: North-west European ThecaThecaA theca refers to any case, covering, or sheath.In botany, the theca of an angiosperm consists a pair of microsporangia that are adjacent to each other and share a common area of dehiscence called the stomium. Any part of a microsporophyll that bears microsporangia is called an anther. Most...
te Hydroids and Their Medusae (PFS Cornelius) 1995 - Volume 49: Woodlice Keys and Notes for Identification of the Species (PG Oliver and CJ Meechan) 1993
- Volume 48: Marine Planktonic Ostracods (MV Angel) 1993
- Volume 47: Copepods Parasitic on Fishes (Z Kabata) 1992
- Volume 46: Commensal and Parasitic Copepods Associated with Marine Invertebrates (and Whales) (V Gotto) 1993
- Volume 45: Polychaetes British Phyllodocoideans, Typhloscolecoideans and TomopteroideansTomopterisTomopteris is a genus of marine planktonic polychaete. If disturbed, some species are known to make a flurry of glowing sparks erupt from their parapodia. One species, Tomopteris nisseni, is one of the few marine creatures with yellow bioluminescence....
(F Pleijel and RP Dales) 1991 - Volume 44: Polychaetes: InterstitialInterstitialAn interstitial space or interstice is an empty space or gap between spaces full of structure or matter.In particular, interstitial may refer to:-Physical sciences:...
Families (Second Edition) (W Westheide) 2008 - Volume 44: Polychaetes: InterstitialInterstitialAn interstitial space or interstice is an empty space or gap between spaces full of structure or matter.In particular, interstitial may refer to:-Physical sciences:...
Families (W Westheide) 1990 - Volume 43: Marine and Brackish Water Ostracods (Superfamilies Cypridacea and Cytheracea) (J Athersuch, DJ Horne and JE Whittaker) 1990
- Volume 42: Freshwater Ostracoda (PA Henderson) 1990
- Volume 41: EntoproctsEntoproctaEntoprocta, whose name means "anus inside", is a phylum of mostly sessile aquatic animals, ranging from long. Mature individuals are goblet-shaped, on relatively long stalks. They have a "crown" of solid tentacles whose cilia generate water currents that draw food particles towards the mouth, and...
(C Nielsen) 1989 - Volume 40: PseudoscorpionPseudoscorpionA pseudoscorpion, , is an arachnid belonging to the order Pseudoscorpionida, also known as Pseudoscorpiones or Chelonethida....
s (G Legg and RE Jones) 1988 - Volume 39: ChaetognathaChaetognathaChaetognatha, meaning hair-jaws, and commonly known as arrow worms, are a phylum of predatory marine worms that are a major component of plankton worldwide. About 20% of the known species are benthic, that is belonging to the lowest zone of the ocean, or benthic zone, and can attach to algae and...
(AC Pierrot-Bults and KC Chidghey) 1988 - Volume 38: Free Living Marine Nematodes Part II British ChromadoridsChromodorididaeChromodorididae are a taxonomic family of medium-sized to large, colorful, sea slugs; dorid nudibranchs in the superfamily Doridoidea. These are marine gastropod mollusks....
(HM Platt and RM Warwick) 1988 - Volume 37: Molluscs CaudofoveataCaudofoveataCaudofoveata is a small class within the phylum Mollusca, also known as Chaetodermomorpha. The class is often combined with Solenogastres and termed Aplacophora. However, such a grouping is not monophyletic; molecular data suggests that the Caudofoveata are a sister group to the cephalopods.-...
, Solenogastres, Polyplacophora and Scaphopoda (AM Jones and JM Baxtyer) 1987 - Volume 36: Halacarid MitesMITESMITES, or Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science, is a highly selective six-week summer program for rising high school seniors held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Its purpose is to expose students from minority, or otherwise disadvantaged backgrounds, to the fields of...
(J Green and M Macquitty) 1987 - Volume 35: Millipedes (J Gordon Blower) 1985
- Volume 34: CyclostomeCyclostomatidaCyclostomatida, or cyclostomes, are an ancient order of stenolaemate bryozoans which first appeared in the Lower Ordovician. It consists of 7+ suborders, 59+ families, 373+ genera, and 666+ species. The cyclostome bryozoans were dominant in the Mesozoic; since that era, they have decreased...
Bryozoans (PJ Hayward and JS Ryland) 1985 - Volume 33: Ctenostome Bryozoans (PJ Hayward) 1985
- Volume 32: Polychaetes British Amphinomida, Spintherida and Eunicida (JD George and G Hartmann-Schroder) 1985
- Volume 31: Earthworms (RW Sims and BM Garard) 1985
- Volume 30: EuphasiidKrillKrill is the common name given to the order Euphausiacea of shrimp-like marine crustaceans. Also known as euphausiids, these small invertebrates are found in all oceans of the world...
, Stomatopod and Leptostracan Crustaceans (J Mauchline) 1984 - Volume 29: SiphonophoresSiphonophoraSiphonophorae or Siphonophora, the siphonophores, are an order of the Hydrozoa, a class of marine invertebrates belonging to the phylum Cnidaria. They are colonial, but the colonies can superficially resemble jellyfish; although they appear to be a single organism, each specimen is actually a...
and VelellidsVelellaVelella is a genus of free-floating hydrozoans that lives on the surface of the open ocean, worldwide, and is commonly known by the names by-the-wind sailor, purple sail, little sail, or simply Velella...
(PA Kirkpatrick and PR Pugh) 1984 - Volume 28: Free-Living Marine Nematodes Pt 1: British EnoplidsEnopliaEnoplea are a class of the roundworms. Most are free-living, but the group includes the order Trichurida, which includes whipworms and trichina worms....
Free Living Marine Nematodes (HM Platt and RM Warwick) 1983 - Volume 27: TanaidsTanaidaceaThe crustacean order Tanaidacea make up a minor group within the class Malacostraca. There are about 940 species in this order.-Description:...
(DM Holdich and JA Jones) 1983 - Volume 26: British PolycladPolycladidaThe Polycladida represents a highly diverse clade of free-living marine turbellarian flatworms. They are known from the littoral to the sublittoral zone , and many species are common from coral reefs...
TurbellariaTurbellariaThe Turbellaria are one of the traditional sub-divisions of the phylum Platyhelminthes , and include all the sub-groups that are not exclusively parasitic. There are about 4,500 species, which range from to in length...
ns (S Prudhoe) 1983 - Volume 25: Shallow Water Crabs Keys and notes for identification of the species (RW Ingle) 1983
- Volume 24: NemerteaNemerteaNemertea is a phylum of invertebrate animals also known as "ribbon worms" or "proboscis worms". Alternative names for the phylum have included Nemertini, Nemertinea and Rhynchocoela. Although most are less than long, one specimen has been estimated at , which would make it the longest animal ever...
ns R Gibson 1982 - Volume 23: British and Other Freshwater Ciliated Protozoa (Part 2) Ciliophora: Oligohymenophora & Polyhymenophora (CR Curds, MA Gates and D McRoberts) 1982
- Volume 22: British and Other Freshwater Ciliated ProtozoaProtozoaProtozoa are a diverse group of single-cells eukaryotic organisms, many of which are motile. Throughout history, protozoa have been defined as single-cell protists with animal-like behavior, e.g., movement...
(Part 1) Ciliophora: Kinetofragminophora (CR Curds) 1982 - Volume 21: British Other Marine Estuarine Oligochaetes (Brinkhurst) 1982
- Volume 20: British Pelagic Tunicates (JH Fraser) 1982
- Volume 19: British Planarians (IR Ball and TB Reynoldson) 1981
- Volume 18: British AnthozoaAnthozoaAnthozoa is a class within the phylum Cnidaria that contains the sea anemones and corals. Unlike other cnidarians, anthozoans do not have a medusa stage in their development. Instead, they release sperm and eggs that form a planula, which attaches to some substrate on which the cnidarian grows...
(RL Manuel) 1981 - Volume 17: British Brachiopods (C Howard, C Brunton and GB Curry) 1979
- Volume 16: British Nearshore ForaminiferidsForaminiferaThe Foraminifera , or forams for short, are a large group of amoeboid protists which are among the commonest plankton species. They have reticulating pseudopods, fine strands of cytoplasm that branch and merge to form a dynamic net...
(JW Murray) 1979 - Volume 15: Coastal Shrimps and Prawns Keys and Notes for Identification of the Species (Ed. G Smaldon, LB Holthius and CHJM Fransen) 1994
- Volume 15: British Coastal Shrimps Prawns (G Smaldon) 1979
- Volume 14: Cheilostomatous Bryozoa, Part 2 Hippothooidea - Celleporoidea (PJ Hayward and JS Ryland) 1999
- Volume 14: British AscophoraAscophoraAscophora is a infraorder under order Cheilostomata of the Bryozoa. Ascophorans are distinguished from other cheilostomes in having a completely calcified wall covering their frontal surface apart from the orifice, and possessing an ascus . The ascus is a water-filled sac of frontal membrane...
n Bryozoans (PJ Hayward, JS Ryland) 1979 - Volume 13: British and Other PhoronidPhoronidPhoronids are a phylum of marine animals that filter-feed with a lophophore , and build upright tubes of chitin to support and protect their soft bodies. They live in all the oceans and seas including the Arctic Ocean but excluding the Antarctic Ocean, and between the intertidal zone and about...
s (CC Emig) 1979 - Volume 12: British Sipunculans (PE Gibbs) 1978
- Volume 11: British FreshwaterFreshwaterFresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...
Bivalve Mollusca (AE Ellis) 1978 - Volume 10: CheilostomatousCheilostomataCheilostomata, an order of Bryozoa in the class Gymnolaemata, are exclusively marine, colonial invertebrate animals. Cheilostome colonies are composed of calcium carbonate and grow on a variety of surfaces, including rocks, shells, seagrass and kelps. The colony shapes range from simple encrusting...
BryozoaBryozoaThe Bryozoa, also known as Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals, are a phylum of aquatic invertebrate animals. Typically about long, they are filter feeders that sieve food particles out of the water using a retractable lophophore, a "crown" of tentacles lined with cilia...
, Part 1: Aeteoidea-Cribrilinoidea (PJ Hayward and JS Ryland) - Volume 8: Molluscs: Benthic Opisthobranchs (Mollusca: Gastropoda) (TE Thompson) 1989
- Volume 8: British Opisthobranch Molluscs (TE Thompson, GH Brown) 1976
- Volume 7: British Cumaceans (NS Jones) 1976
- Volume 6: British Land Snails (RAD Cameron, M Redfern) 1976
- Volume 5: Sea-Spiders (Pycnogonida) of the north-east Atlantic (RN Bamber) 2010
- Volume 5: British Sea SpiderSea spiderSea spiders, also called Pantopoda or pycnogonids, are marine arthropods of class Pycnogonida. They are cosmopolitan, found especially in the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas, as well as the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans. There are over 1300 known species, ranging in size from to over in some deep...
s (PE King) 1974 - Volume 4: Harvestmen (PD Hillyard) 2005
- Volume 4: British Harvestmen (J Sankey, TH Savory) 1974
- Volume 3: British Marine Isopods (E Naylor) 1972
- Volume 2: Molluscs: Prosobranch and PyramidellidPyramidellidaePyramidellidae, common name the pyram family, or pyramid shells, is a voluminous taxonomic family of mostly small and minute ectoparasitic sea snails, marine heterobranch gastropod molluscs or micromolluscs....
Gastropods Keys and Notes for the Identification of the Species - Volume 1: British AscidiansAscidiaceaAscidiacea is a class in the Tunicata subphylum of sac-like marine invertebrate filter feeders. Ascidians are characterized by a tough outer "tunic" made of the polysaccharide tunicin, as compared to other tunicates which are less rigid.Ascidians are found all over the world, usually in shallow...
(R Millar) 1970