The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) has recently published a book entitled, “An illustrated guide to the Lepidoptera of India: taxonomic procedures, family characters, diversity and distribution” that brings a summary of the main diagnostic characters for all the families and superfamilies of butterflies and moths found in India.
The book outlines the methods to collect and curate voucher material in the field, taxonomic procedures followed in laboratory, superfamily and family level identification and the knowledge about the lepidopteran diversity and patterns of distribution, globally. Key attributes of the basal splitting and the superfamily compositions of various clades of Butterflies and Moths are summarised. According to a senior ZSI scientist, the work is one of the outputs from the 6th Asian Lepidoptera Conservation Symposium, hosted by ZSI in 2019, where a dire need was broadly discussed for a book which can guide both amateurs and professionals in the field of lepidopterology.
The project was initiated during the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequently, the authors continually updated the information for four years and finally the outcome has been documented through this book. The book is authored by Dr Dhriti Banerjee, Director, ZSI along with Dr Navneet Singh, Dr Rahul Joshi and Dr P C Pathania, scientists of ZSI and a Lepidoptera expert from Hong Kong, Dr R C Kendrick.
Three chapters, authored by Paul Waring (UK), Mark Sterling (NHM, UK), Gaurab Nandi Das and Martin Konvicka (University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic) are dedicated to equip the readers with various techniques in lepidopterology.