Kolkata, November 2, 2023

A group of young scientists from Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) in association with those belonging to the Kalyani University, West Bengal and Alexander Koenig Leibniz Institute, Germany, discovered a new phytophagous beetle species from Behala, South Kolkata, West Bengal, which has been kept at the National Zoological Collection of Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata like an unpolished diamond. Smt Debika Bhunia, Shri Devanshu Gupta, Shri Subhankar Kumar Sarkar, and Mr Dirk Ahrens- the young scientists were involved in this discovery. They named the species as Maladerakolkataensis, after Kolkata. They have also reported 21 new records from West Bengal and Bihar including this new species. Out of these, 12 species represent Bihar and nine West Bengal. According to the international journal Zootaxa, a total of 23 species belonging to five genera were reported from various districts of West Bengal and Bihar. In fact, this significant discovery has been published in this top-ranking international journal recently.

According to Dr. Dhriti Banerjee, Director, Zoological Survey of India, “Biodiversity is not all lost or dwindling, there is hope and the measures taken by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) are bearing fruits”. She further added that such biodiversity studies are very much relevant in today’s economic context, as these two states are part of Lower Gangetic plains, which is an epicenter of Indian agriculture. Adding to that, this specific type of beetle feeds on different parts of plants, although there is no significant report on this beetle to be a pest yet, but their close relatives are major agricultural pests. She said that Maladerakolkataensis to entomofauna of India will further strengthen the faunistic and taxonomic knowledge of the group.

“So far, me and my Ph.D. student, Ms Bhunia have described 11 new species of this particular group of beetles, and most of the time new taxas are emerging from those valuable museum specimens which were collected many years back and were kept in the insect cabinets of the museums like an unpolished and unrecognised diamonds, said by Dr Devanshu Gupta, Scientist D & Officer-in-Charge of Coleoptera section, ZSI, Kolkata.

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SSS/2.11.23/….

 

(Release ID: 1974319)