BENGALURU: Nearly 39 years after a parasitic wasp was named after a Bengaluru entomologist, his family got to see the proof.
Thomsonisca sankarani, a natural barrier to mango scale pests, was named after T Sankaran, an entomologist who headed the Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control (CIBC), Indian station, Bengaluru, and was considered the father of biological control of pests in India.
BR Subba Rao, an Indian-origin entomologist who worked in the Commonwealth Institute of
Entomology, London, discovered the wasp at CIBC, Bengaluru, in 1978 and wrote about it the next year in the science journal, Oriental Insects, published from England, where he named the insect after the Bengaluru entomologist.
Sankaran, who died in 2003, was aware of the species named after him.But his family got to see the proof in the form of an extract of the journal recently.
What is T sankarani?
The wasp was discovered at a time when a
scale insect called Pseudaulacaspis barberi was known as a serious pest of mango and other plants in several countries, including India. It was found while studying the natural enemies of mango scale.
"A distinct name was necessary for its identification. BR Subba Rao named it as 'Sankarani' after his close friend and colleague T Sankaran as a tribute to his contribution to biological control, and it was published in Oriental Insects. Sankaran was heading CIBC in Bengaluru. Thompsonisca sankarani is a valuable biological control agent for control of scale insects not only in India but also in other countries also. It is purely beneficial," said TM Manjunath who worked as an entomologist along with T Sankaran at CIBC.
Photographs of T sankarani are not available. Only taxonomic drawings of its different body parts are there, but these are meant only for specific identification, he pointed out. CIBC was later handed over to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. At present, the National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources functions from the Hebbal premises where CIBC was also operating.
"Those days, there was no digitisation. After my father died in 2013, I got a mail from the Commonwealth seeking more details about him. Recently, we found the proof of the nomenclature based on his name. My father was aware of it as it's written by his friend," said Dr S Sundar, nephrologist in Bengaluru.
