Death sentence on taxonomy in India

The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 seriously curtails the scientific freedom of individual taxonomists by putting draconian regulations on the free exchange of specimens for taxonomic research and threatens to strangulate biodiversity research in India with legal as well as bureaucratic control 1. Rules and guidelines framed to implement the Biological Diversity Act, which itself is flawed and based on wrong premises, reveal the appalling ignorance on the part of the implementing agencies. Guidelines accepted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India and the National Biodiversity Authority for international collaboration in biodiversity research are testimony to this. Draft guidelines accepted by the National Biodiversity Authority stipulate that ‘Exchange and transfer of dead specimens and/or herbariums (of no commercial value) on loan for taxonomic studies and return by bona fide scientists/professors of recognized universities and Government Institutions of India who are engaged in pure classical taxonomic studies shall be done through the concerned departments/Ministries of the Government of India 2.’ Similarly, a recent notification of the Ministry of Environment and Forests,based on the above guidelines,states that ‘In case the collaborative research projects involve exchange and transfer of dead or preserved specimen(s) and/or herbarium(s) of India on loan or on any other terms for taxonomic studies as required by bona fide scientists/ professors of recognized universities and Government Institutions of India who are engaged in pure classical taxonomic studies, this shall be done with the approval of concerned Departments/Ministries of the Government of India3.’ These guidelines on implementation would achieve the ultimate bureaucratic control in the history of science in India! Proponents of these guidelines have already revealed their mettle through some ludicrous suggestions to entomologists to send pictures, not (dead) specimens, for identification 4. Being paranoid about biopiracy(!), they may even suggest that microbiologists send digital images of microbes abroad for identification, as live cultures are required for identification and they can be easily multiplied and patented

Biological Diversity Act, 2002: Shadow of permit-raj over research

It is too late in history of the world to think that there is time to produce ordered classifications of all plants, animals, fungi and micro-organisms, and then to employ these classifications to seek new kinds of generalities while these organisms are still extant. –Peter Rave

CEO Profile and Earnings Quality

This paper introduces the PSCORE, which aggregates nine personal characteristics of chief executive officers (CEOs), to signal the quality of earnings. The PSCORE is a composite score based on publicly available data on CEOs. The study reports strong positive relationships between the PSCORE and two different proxies for earnings quality, (i) discretionary accruals and (ii) financial statement errors, measured by deviations of the first digits of figures reported in financial statements from those expected by Benford’s Law. Further analyses indicate that the relationships between the PSCORE and the proxies for earnings quality become more pronounced when CEOs have high equity-based compensation incentives. The findings have some implications for practitioners

A Molecular Phylogeny of the Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera)

Chalcidoidea (Hymenoptera) are extremely diverse with more than 23,000 species described and over 500,000 species estimated to exist. This is the first comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of the superfamily based on a molecular analysis of 18S and 28S ribosomal gene regions for 19 families, 72 subfamilies, 343 genera and 649 species. The 56 outgroups are comprised of Ceraphronoidea and most proctotrupomorph families, including Mymarommatidae. Data alignment and the impact of ambiguous regions are explored using a secondary structure analysis and automated (MAFFT) alignments of the core and pairing regions and regions of ambiguous alignment. Both likelihood and parsimony approaches are used to analyze the data. Overall there is no impact of alignment method, and few but substantial differences between likelihood and parsimony approaches. Monophyly of Chalcidoidea and a sister group relationship between Mymaridae and the remaining Chalcidoidea is strongly supported in all analyses. Either Mymarommatoidea or Diaprioidea are the sister group of Chalcidoidea depending on the analysis. Likelihood analyses place Rotoitidae as the sister group of the remaining Chalcidoidea after Mymaridae, whereas parsimony nests them within Chalcidoidea. Some traditional family groups are supported as monophyletic (Agaonidae, Eucharitidae, Encyrtidae, Eulophidae, Leucospidae, Mymaridae, Ormyridae, Signiphoridae, Tanaostigmatidae and Trichogrammatidae). Several other families are paraphyletic (Perilampidae) or polyphyletic (Aphelinidae, Chalcididae, Eupelmidae, Eurytomidae, Pteromalidae, Tetracampidae and Torymidae). Evolutionary scenarios discussed for Chalcidoidea include the evolution of phytophagy, egg parasitism, sternorrhynchan parasitism, hypermetamorphic development and heteronomy

Revision of the family Chalcididae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) from Vietnam, with the description of 13 new species

A total of 16 genera and 68 species of Chalcididae of Vietnam are taxonomically treated. Thirteen new species are described; the remaining 55 species are keyed, redescribed or provided with a diagnosis. Among these 37 species and eleven genera are recorded for the first time from Vietnam. The thirteen new species are: Antrocephalus neogalleriae Narendran & van Achterberg, sp. n.; Brachymeria neowiebesina Narendran & van Achterberg, sp. n., B. semirusula Narendran & van Achterberg, sp. n., Dirhinus neoclaviger Narendran & van Achterberg, sp. n., Epitranus narendrani van Achterberg, sp. n., E. neonigriceps Narendran & van Achterberg, sp. n., Heydoniella vietnamensis Narendran & van Achterberg, sp. n., Megachalcis vietnamicus Narendran & van Achterberg, sp. n., Notaspidium vietnamicum Narendran & van Achterberg, sp. n., Oxycoryphe neotenax Narendran & van Achterberg, sp. n., Sthulapada neopadata Narendran & van Achterberg, sp. n., S. vietnamensis Narendran & van Achterberg, sp. n., and Tanycoryphus masii Narendran & van Achterberg, sp. n. The newly recorded genera are: Antrocephalus Kirby, 1883; Haltichella Spinola, 1811; Heydoniella Narendran, 2003; Hockeria Walker, 1834; Kriechbaumerella Dalla Torre, 1894; Notaspidium Dalla Torre, 1897; Oxycoryphe Kriechbaumer, 1894; Psilochalcis Kieffer, 1904; Sthulapada Narendran, 1989; Tanycorphus Cameron, 1905, and Trigonura Sichel, 1865. The following known species are recorded for the first time from Vietnam: Antrocephalus decipiens (Masi, 1929); A. lugubris (Masi, 1932); A. maculipennis (Cameron, 1905); A. nasutus (Holmgren, 1869); A. sepyra (Walker, 1846); A. validicornis (Holmgren, 1868); Brachymeria alternipes (Walker, 1871); B. aurea (Girault, 1915); B. coxodentata Joseph, Narendran & Joy, 1972; B. euploeae (Westwood, 1837); B. hime Habu, 1960; B. jambolana Gahan, 1942; B. kamijoi Habu, 1960; B. lugubris (Walker, 1871); B. marmonti (Girault, 1924); B. minuta (Linnaeus, 1767); B. scutellocarinata Joseph, Narendran & Joy, 1972; B. shansiensis Habu, 1961; B. taiwana (Matsumura, 1910); Dirhinus anthracia Walker, 1846; D. claviger Bouček & Narendran, 1981; Epitranus albipennis Walker, 1874; E. ater Bouček, 1982; E. gauldi Bouček, 1982; E. oxytelus Bouček, 1982; E. ramnathi (Mani & Dubey, 1973); Haltichella delhensis Roy & Farooqi, 1984; H. nipponensis Habu, 1960; Hockeria bangalorica Narendran, 1989; H. guptai Narendran, 1989; Kriechbaumerella ayyari (Gahan, 1919); K. cordigaster Roy & Farooqi, 1984; K. destructor (Waterston, 1922); K. nepalensis Narendran, 1989; Oxycoryphe scutellatus Narendran, 1989; Psilochalcis carinigena (Cameron, 1907), and Trigonura luzonensis Narendran, 1987. Brachymeria calopeplae Joseph, Narendran & Joy, 1972, is treated as a valid species

First record of the male of the widespread Calliscelio elegans (Perkins) (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae) along with some taxonomic notes on the species

The hitherto unknown male of the widespread and tramp species, Calliscelio elegans (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae) is hereby reported for the first time, from India. The two sexes are chromatically quite similar. The male has the same conspicuous banding pattern in the forewing as that of the female. The status of Calotelea tanugatra Narendran (Hymenoptera, Platygastridae) from India is reviewed and is proposed to be a junior synonym of Calliscelio elegans, new synonymy. Distribution of C. elegans in India is mapped

A new species and a new record of the genus Australomymar Girault (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) from the Oriental Region

The genus Australomymar was raised by Girault in 1929 on the type species Australomymar aurigerum from Victoria, Australia. New (1974) redesribed the genus since the original description of Girault was inadequate for its easy recognition. Noyes and Valentine (1989) noted that there are several undescribed species of Australomymar in New Zealand, Neotropical region and in various parts of South East Asia. In this paper we describe a new species from India

On a new genus and a new species of Eulophidae (Hymenoptera:Chalcidoidea) from the paddy fields of Southern India

A new genus viz. Kiggaella Narendran with the type species Kiggaella oryzae Narendran sp. nov. is described from the paddy fields of Karnataka, India. It resembles the genus Minotetrastichus Graham in general appearance but differs from it in having scutellum without submedian groove, forewing more than 3x as long as broad and one of the central setae much larger than any of the remaining ones