Taxonomic entomology: Research and education in India

Abstract

Sound taxonomy is the foundation of all meaningful research in biology. It has great relevance in various fields like biodiversity, ecology, agriculture, medicine, etc. Very little contributions are made by Indian workers to the taxonomy of Indian insects. While some orders like Hymenoptera, Diptera and Hemiptera are better worked out, others are not. There are several problems to overcome in Indian taxonomic research. More funding, introduction of taxonomy in the curricula of UG and PG students of biology, training in taxonomy, enough library facilities for taxonomic literature, enough journals to undertake large revisionary works and the need for more identification service centres and repositories are all essential for the development of taxonomic research in India.