This topic will deals with the History of Entomology in India, and few important examples i have taken out side of the India also.

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Dr. T. KRISHNA CHAITANYA
Assistant Professor (Agricultural Entomology)
School of Agricultural Science & Technology, NMIMS, Shirpur

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History of Entomology in India

3.  Human interactions with insects include both a wide variety of uses,
whether practical such as for food, textiles, and dyestuffs, symbolic as
in art, music, literature and negative interactions including serious
damage to crops and extensive efforts to eliminate insect pests.
Cultural entomology and Ethnoentomology
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"Remarkable Beetles Found at
Simunjon, Borneo": Alfred Russel
Wallace was a pioneer of
ethnoentomology.

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Fighting insects: an agricultural
aircraft applies low-insecticide bait to
kill western corn rootworms.
Pollination, here by a bee on
an avocado crop, is an ecosystem
service.
Insect ecosystem services

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In the War against the potato beetle, East
German Young Pioneers were urged to
collect and kill Colorado beetles.
Pests and propaganda
As food
Witchetty grubs were prized as food
by Australian aborigines.

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In medicine
In science and technology
Army ants were used by the Mayans as
living sutures, their powerful jaws holding a
wound closed.
The common fruitfly Drosophila
melanogaster is one of the most widely
used model organisms in biological
research.

7. • Medicinal insects have been used to treat human diseases from ancient
times.
• There are approximately 300 medicinal insects species distributed in
70 genera, 63 families and 14 orders.
• An estimated 1700 traditional Chinese and Indian medicine
prescriptions include medicinal insects or insect-derived crude drugs.
• Many insect-derived compounds have been studied and show efficient
therapeutic functions.
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In textiles
Cochineal scale insects being collected
from a prickly pear in Central America.
Illustration by José Antonio de Alzate y
Ramírez, 1777
Target for biomimicry research:
the Namib desert beetle, Stenocara
gracilipes, channels water from fog
down its wings.

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In mythology and folklore Insects have appeared in
mythology around the world from ancient
times. Among the insect groups featuring in
myths are the bee, fly, butterfly, cicada,
dragonfly, praying mantis and scarab
beetle.
Shoen Uemura - firefly, a sign of summer
in Japan

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In religion
Scarabs were popular amulets and impression seals in Ancient Egypt.
They survive in large numbers and, through their inscriptions
and typology, they are an important source of information for
archaeologists and historians of the ancient world. They also represent
a significant body of ancient art.

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In art
Radha and Krishna in Rasamanjari by
Bhanudatta, Basohli, ca. 1670. Opaque water
colour and gold on paper, with applied beetle wing
fragments
A Dragon-fly, Two Moths, a Spider and
Some Beetles, With Wild
Strawberries by Jan van Kessel, 17th
century. Wasp beetle, top left; clouded
border moth, top right; migrant hawker
dragonfly and cardinal beetle, centre
left; magpie moth, centre right; cockchafer,
lower left.

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In astronomy and cosmology
The constellation Musca (as Apis) is upper
right. Detail from Johann
Bayer's Uranometria, 1603
A bee costume for a Mardi
Gras celebration

13. • The historical marker in Enterprise, Alabama describing the
significance of the statue.
• Why an Alabama Town Has a Monument Honoring the Most
Destructive Pest in American History
• The boll weevil decimated the South’s cotton industry, but the city of
Enterprise found prosperity.
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14. Oriental rat flea

15. Plague disease

16. Hyderabad: The Charminar was constructed in 1591
to ward off recurring plague.

17. • 1758 - 10th edition of Systema Naturae Linnaeus with only 12 Indian
insects which was the earliest record.
• 1779 - Dr. J.G. Koenig - Medical Officer initiated the work on Indian
insects on scientific lines. He also published a special account of the
termites of Thanjavur District.
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18. • 1782 - Dr. Kerr Published on account of lac insect.
• 1785 - Asiatic Society of Bengal started in Calcutta and many papers
were published in the Societys publications.
• The Asiatic Society was founded by civil servant Sir William Jones
on 15 January 1784.
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19. • 1790 - Roxburgh (Botanist) published a detailed account of lac insect.
• 1791 - Dr. J. Anderson issued a monograph on Cochineal scale
insects.
• 1800 - Buchanan (Traveller) wrote on the cultivation of lac in India
and on sericulture in some parts of South India.
• Donovan published Natural History of Insects which was the first
contribution on the insects of Asia and was revised in 1842 by West
Wood.
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20. • 1875 - Foundation of the Indian Museum at Calcutta.
• 1883 - Bombay Natural History Society was started.
• After the foundation of these two organizations scientific studies
received greater attention in India.
• Numerous contributions of Indian insects were published in the
Journal of the Bombay Natural History.
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21. • 1892 - Hampson issued four volumes on months of India.
• 1893 - Rothney published on Indian Ants (earliest record of biological
pest control in India) i.e. White ants attach on stationary items was
kept free by red ants.
• Government of India commenced the publication of the Fauna of
British India series 1897 - Bingham's issued volumes on
"Hymenoptera' (Ants, bees and wasps).
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22. • 1889 - Indian Museum, Calcutta published the Indian Museum Notes
in five volumes.
• 1903 - which contributed much on economic entomology and applied
entomology in India.
• 19th Century marks the major progress and expansions in the field of
applied entomology.
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23. • 1901 - (Lionel de Nicevelle) posting of the first entomologist to the
Government of India.
• 1905 - Establishment of Imperial Agricultural Research Institute at
Pusa (Bihar). Subsequently this Institute was shifted to New Delhi as
Indian Agricultural Research Institute.
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24. • 1906 - “Indian Insect Pests” & “Indian Insect Life” Books by
Professor Maxwell Lefroy, Head, Division of Entomology, IARI, New
Delhi.
• Subsequently State Governments also took up entomological work.
Madras, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh appointed their first Government
Entomologists in 1912, 1919 and 1922 respectively.
• 1914 - T.B. Fletcher, the first Government Entomologist of Madras
State, published his book "Some South Indian Insects".
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25. • 1916 - The Natural History Section of the Indian Museum was formed
as the Zoological Survey of India.
• 1921 - Indian Central Cotton Committee to investigate on pests of
cotton.
• 1925 - Indian Lac Research Institute.
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26. • 1940 - Dr. T.V. Ramakrishna Ayyar published the book "Handbook of
Economic Entomology" which met the long felt need of the students
of Agriculture and agricultural scientists as well.
• 1968 - Dr. M.S. Mani's "General Entomology“.
• 1969 - Dr. H.s. Pruth's "Textbook of Agricultural Entomology".
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27. • Dr. Pradhan's "Insect Pests of Crops"
• 1946 - Government of India started the "Directorate of plant
protection".
• 1960 - "The Desert Locust in India" monograph by Y.R. Rao.
• 1969 - "The monograph on Indian Thysanoptera" by Dr. T.N.
Ananthakrishnan
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