Illustrated guide on butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) of India published.
An illustrated guide ‘An Illustrated Guide to the Lepidoptera of India: Taxonomic Procedures, Family Characters, Diversity and Distribution’ has been published by the Zoological Survey of India.
About the Illustrated Guide to Lepidoptera
- The book was co-authored by Dr. Dhriti Banerjee, Director, Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) along with Dr. Navneet Singh, Dr. Rahul Joshi and Dr. P.C. Pathania, scientists from ZSI and Lepidoptera expert from Hong Kong, Dr. R.C. . Jointly written by Kendrick.
- This book was widely discussed during the 6th Asian Lepidoptera Conservation Symposium organized by Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) in the year 2019.
- The superfamily compositions of different groups of butterflies and moths are summarized.
- This book outlines methods of collecting and curating voucher material in the field, taxonomic procedures followed in the laboratory, superfamily and family level identification, and knowledge about patterns of lepidopteran diversity and distribution globally.
- Three chapters written by Paul Waring (UK), Mark Stirling (NHM, UK), Gaurav Nandi Das and Martin Konevika (University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic) are dedicated to equipping readers with various techniques in lepidopterology.
- For India, this is the first illustrated book.
- Global Lepidoptera diversity has been studied with 166,320 species, 143 families and 43 superfamilies, of which 13,124 species, 101 families and 31 superfamilies are found in India.
- In this book, the authors corrected a taxonomic mistake and described a new family of Lepidoptera, i.e. Heliocosmidae.
Objective
To summarize the main diagnostic characters for all families and superfamilies of butterflies and moths found in India.
Zoological Survey of India (ZSI)
- Established – July 1, 1916
- Origin – The establishment of the Zoology Section of the Indian Museum in Calcutta in the year 1875.
- It is an apex research organization for zoological research and studies in India.
Lepidoptera
- Lepidoptera is a group of winged insects that includes butterflies, moths, and skippers. Skippers are an insect group intermediate between butterflies and moths.
- Linnaeus was the first to use the word Lepidoptera for the classification of insects.
FAQs
Zoological Survey of India (ZSI).
An Illustrated Guide to the Lepidoptera of India: Taxonomic Procedures, Family Characters, Diversity and Distribution.
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