Taxonomic entomology: Research and education in India

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

A new species of the genus Phanerotoma Wesmael (Braconidae: Cheloninae) with a key to Indian species

A new species of Phanerotoma viz., P. malabarica Sheeba & Narendran sp. nov. from India is described and compared with its closest relative. A key to Indian species of Phanerotoma is also provided

Insecta, Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea, Eurytomidae and Torymidae in Iran

A taxonomic checklist of 43 species of Eurytomidae belonging to seven genera, and 41 species ofTorymidae belonging to 15 genera, are currently recognized as occurring in Iran. Based mostly on various faunisticsurvey reports; no eurytomid or torymid species with collection records from Iran have previously been listed.Therefore; we did not intend to confirm identifications of previous studies, except in very obvious cases. A morecomprehensive collection-based study is needed to confirm the actual Iranian occurrence of each species listed in thischecklist

The importance of systematics

Systematics today is an exciting and active branch of biology and it is to be greatly wished that more students of life sciences take up systematics as their research field. In its broader sense, systematics is nothing less than a thorough and complete study of the diversity of living forms, and its domain thus encompasses ecology, evolutionary biology and biodiversity studies, in addition to the norms and principles of classification

A revision of Indian species of Parurios Girault with a new record of Papuopsia Boucek (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) from India

Two new species of Parurios Girault viz. P. bouceki Narendran sp. nov. and P. sringericus Narendran sp. nov. are described from India. The female of P. keralensis Narendran is also described. A key to Indian species of Parurios is provided. The genus Papuopsia is recorded for the first time from India

CARBAMAZEPINE-INDUCED TOXIC EPIDERMAL NECROLYSIS: A CASE REPORT

Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) is a life-threatening dermatological disorder characterized by erythematous lesions, necrosis, exfoliation, sepsis, and death. This may be due to different reasons such as chemical exposure, systemic infections, or some reactions of drugs such as carbamazepine, phenytoin, allopurinol, lamotrigine, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. In this case, the patient was on carbamazepine for the management of alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Moreover, this might be the reason for the occurrence of TEN. For his condition, he had given corticosteroids, antibiotics for sepsis, and other supportive measures

Increased Left Ventricular Torsion in Uncomplicated Type 1 Diabetic Patients: The role of coronary microvascular function

We used speckle tracking echocardiography to study the early changes in left ventricular (LV) torsion in young patients with uncomplicated type 1 diabetes and stress magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess its interrelationships with coronary microangiopathy