Living Books · Series overview · 2026
Living Books
Scientific monographs that don’t go out of date. Each title in the Living Books series is built on a rigorously documented data matrix and kept continuously current — new taxa, revised synonymies, and updated distribution data pushed to every reader automatically. One-time purchase, 12 months of free updates included.
One-time payment · 12 months of free updates included · Exclusive subscriber pricing on future editions
What is a Living Book?
Taxonomy moves faster than print. A monograph published today reflects the state of knowledge at the moment of printing — by the time it reaches readers, new species have been described, generic limits have shifted, and phylogenomic data have reshuffled families. The Living Books series was designed to break that cycle.
Every title is delivered as a print-quality PDF paired with an interactive FlipHTML5 edition. The underlying data matrix is actively maintained: reclassifications, newly described taxa, and refined distribution records are incorporated at each revision cycle and pushed automatically to every reader. A regenerated PDF is dispatched by email at each minor release. The science stays current; the reader never has to buy the same book twice.
4 titles available ·
PDF + FlipHTML5 interactive edition ·
12 months of free updates ·
DOI-citable scientific references ·
continuously updated — current revision May 2026
Current titles in the series
Living Book · Pre-order · 2026
The Insect Orders
A Living Guide to All 28 Orders of Insecta · by Vladimír Štrunc
28 orders ·
58 suborders ·
32 infraorders ·
1,100+ families ·
203-character data matrix ·
146 references
The widest lens in the Living Books series: a comprehensive treatment of all 28 currently recognised insect orders, covering 58 suborders, 32 infraorders, and more than 1,100 families — roughly one million described species in a single unified matrix. Built on the modern phylogenomic backbone of Misof et al. (2014), Wipfler et al. (2019), and Kawahara et al. (2019). From silverfish to butterflies, from mantises to fleas — every major evolutionary route the class Insecta has taken over 410 million years, systematically documented and continuously updated.
Pre-order €79 →
€109
Living Book · Pre-order · 2026
Adephaga: Hunters of Land and Water
Ground beetles, tiger beetles, diving beetles, and their allies · by Vladimír Štrunc
12 families ·
45 subfamilies ·
~45,000 described species ·
223-character data matrix ·
448 references ·
99.4 % matrix fill rate
The first family-level treatment of the entire beetle suborder Adephaga in one book. The name means “voracious” in Greek — accurate, because nearly every adephagan, larva and adult, is a predator. All 12 families and 45 subfamilies from the terrestrial dominance of Carabidae to the streamlined aquatic hunters of Dytiscidae, Gyrinidae, and seven smaller water-beetle families. Built on the modern phylogenomic framework of Beutel & Leschen (2016), Lorenz (2017), and Cai et al. (2022), with a unified 223-character data matrix and a 99.4 % matrix fill rate.
Pre-order €79 →
€109
Living Book · Pre-order · 2026
Genera and Subgenera of Tiger Beetles
A World Monograph of Cicindelidae · by Vladimír Štrunc
240 genera & subgenera ·
6 tribes ·
3,715 taxa ·
2,677 species ·
194-character data matrix
The first comprehensive world treatment of all Cicindelidae genera and subgenera in 25 years. Tiger beetles — the fastest hunters on six legs — cross every continent except Antarctica, from Bornean rainforest bark to Arctic riverbanks. This monograph covers all 240 genera and subgenera across 6 tribes and 3,715 taxa, with full morphological diagnoses, a 194-character data matrix, phenology data, and complete taxonomic references. Successor to the sold-out Tiger Beetles of the World (2020).
Pre-order €79 →
€109
Living Book · Pre-order · 2026
Genera and Subgenera of Longhorn Beetles
Cerambycidae of the Western Palaearctic · by Vladimír Štrunc
295 genera & subgenera ·
11 subfamilies ·
~2,550 Western Palaearctic species ·
217-character data matrix ·
702 host-plant records
The first comprehensive data-matrix treatment of all Western Palaearctic Cerambycidae genera and subgenera. Longhorn beetles are the principal recyclers of dead and dying wood across the temperate world — their larvae bore galleries through trunks that no other beetle family rivals in volume, their adults patrol summer canopies on antennae often longer than the body itself. All 295 genera and subgenera across 11 subfamilies, ~2,550 species, 702 host-plant records, and 307 primary references. Systematic successor to the illustrated Cerambycidae of the Western Paleartic I.
Pre-order €79 →
€109
Every title. One standard. Continuously updated.
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✓ PDF + FlipHTML5 interactive edition
✓ 12 months of free updates
✓ Exclusive subscriber pricing thereafter
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✓ DOI-citable scientific references
✓ Stripe secure payment · VAT invoice
✓ Institutional licences available
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Explore the free Cicindelidae database — world-tiger-beetles.com
The taxonomy and distribution data underlying this monograph are now accessible as an open, continuously updated database at world-tiger-beetles.com. The database covers all 3,717 Cicindelidae taxa across 144 genera and 6 tribes, with interactive species search, phenology records, habitat classifications, and province-level Country Field Guides for 98 countries — all drawn from the same 194-character morphological matrix and 1,580 primary literature citations as the monograph itself. Whether you are verifying a field identification, planning a collecting trip, or exploring the tiger beetle fauna of a specific bioregion, the database provides free, citable access to the complete dataset. The monograph remains the authoritative taxonomic reference; world-tiger-beetles.com is its open companion.
Living Books series · by Vladimír Štrunc · revised May 2026 · © 2026 Vladimír Štrunc · insect-books.com
