By Paul Dangerfield, Andrew Austin and Graeme Baker. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia. 2001 (December). Pp. 264. AU$170.00 (hardback). ISBN 0643 06703 5. The platygastroid genus Scelio currently contains more than 200 species world-wide, all of which are parasitoids in the eggs of Acrididae (locusts and grasshoppers), with a very few records from Pyrgomorphidae. Given the global status of many locust and grasshopper species as crop pests, often assuming plague proportions, it is hardly surprising that Scelio species have attracted more attention than most platygastroid genera with respect to their biology, ecology and systematics. This volume deals comprehensively with those aspects of the Australian Scelio species, and provides much useful information on Scelio species in general. The book is arranged in eight chapters, of which by far the largest, chapter 8, comprising two-thirds of the book, covers the taxonomy of Australian Scelio species. Dealing with this taxonomic section first, it would appear that most care and attention has been concentrated here. Each species is succinctly either diagnosed or described, and illustrated with excellent line drawings and a distribution map. Sixty Australian species are treated, of which fewer than half (twenty-seven) are described as new. The key (chapter 7) consists of brief descriptive couplets, but the majority of key characters referred to are not illustrated, or at least the figures are not referred to, which is unfortunate. Chapters 1–6 deal, respectively, with a brief introduction, collecting and rearing, biology, ecology and biological control, host relationships, morphology and phylogeny. The introduction provides an adequate, if brief, overview of the genus and of the book's aims. Chapter 2, entitled ‘Materials and methods’, gives a useful summary of collecting and rearing methods, field estimation of parasitism rates and relative abundance, and details of specimen preparation. Chapter 3 provides a comprehensive account of the aspects of the biology and ecology of Scelio species that directly affect their use and potential as biological control agents of grasshoppers and locusts. The usual, and highly justifiable, concerns of possible non-target effects and/or competitive displacement of indigenous or even endemic Scelio, coupled with a more pragmatic constraint, the difficulty of mass rearing, give rise to the following conservative statement with respect to their use in pest control: ‘Enhancement of mortality caused by indigenous species through modified locust control campaigns is probably the most pragmatic strategy at the present time.’ An understandably fence-sitting tone, given much of the current misplaced hostility to classical biological control resulting from a few much publicized, disastrous campaigns in the region. This chapter continues with an excellent account of the general biology of Scelio, including a description of the bizarre ‘teleaform’ first-instar larva with its massive recurved mandibles used for killing any competing Scelio larvae within the same egg. Most of the latter part of this chapter is devoted to a review of biological control, including the potential for ‘new associations’ (Hokkanen & Pimentel, 1984), termed here somewhat inappropriately ‘neo-classical biological control’. The chapter concludes with a statement of the importance of systematics to ecological studies. The following two chapters (4 and 5) summarize host relationships and morphology, respectively, the former with a table giving the complete host relationships of the Scelionini of the world. The morphology chapter includes detailed accounts of the Scelio ovipositor system, for which the first author is so well known for his innovative studies (Austin, 1983; Austin & Field, 1997). Chapter 6 deals with the phylogeny of Scelio and some closely related genera. Forty-three characters are analysed, thirty-seven discrete and six continuous variables. The resulting cladogram is very poorly resolved, and although the genera Lepidoscelio and Sceliocerdo are shown nested within Scelio, the authors have refrained from synonymizing these genera pending further study. Unfortunately, errata abound throughout the text, with typographical or typesetting errors on at least the following pages: 15, 17, 18, 34, 37, 38, 45, 66, and the following pages in the references section: 238, 239, 240, 241, 246, 247, 250, 251. I refrain from detailing these here, but am happy to provide a list on request. I found the following statement appearing on page 37 incomprehensible: ‘The distribution of Scelio species are not spatially unbound’. A final criticism concerns the electromicrograph figures, many of which have been reproduced with very little contrast, which should have been avoidable given the availability of graphics software. However, none of these errors detract from what is an extremely useful account of Australian Scelio. The synthesis of ecological, applied and taxonomic data works well, and should serve as a model for similar studies elsewhere, in Africa in particular. At AU$170 (about £64 at the time of writing) the book is quite expensive, but will be a worthwhile investment for all students of parasitoid Hymenoptera and those involved with the control of grasshoppers and locusts.