THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) has barred suspended assistant professor Dr KD Prathapan from maintaining the leaf beetle collection, which he set up in the entomology department of Vellayani College of Agriculture.
The Travancore Insect Collection, with over 50,000 specimens, claims to be the largest repository of leaf beetles in the country. Prathapan set up and maintained the collection using his money and funds from the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
A renowned taxonomist specialised in insect systematics, Prathapan is a two-time winner of the Dr S Vasudev Award, a top honour for science researchers in Kerala. He has described 83 new species and seven new genera of leaf beetles.
Prathapan was suspended on January 10, hours after he made a critical speech on the university’s functioning in an open session held for faculty members by a team from the ICAR. The suspension notice, however, stated it was being issued for intimidating the university registrar in September.
The ban on Prathapan from entering the insect lab has upset insect taxonomists and researchers. "Curation and maintenance are important and a few days’ inattention can ruin the collection. Other agriculture entomologists in the department aren’t experts in insect taxonomy or curation," said a teacher on condition of anonymity.
The lab houses specimens Prathapan started collecting since 1997. His frequent expeditions to different parts of the country, from the Himalayas to the Western Ghats and Andamans, had made the collection diverse and unique.
Specimens include Dune crickets of the Rajasthan deserts, Bumblebees of Himalaya, Giant stick insects of the Western Ghats and Moon moths Actias selene and Actias maenas. Other noted exhibits include the Atlas moth, the largest Indian moth and the largest Indian longhorn beetle Acanthophorus serraticornis.
The collection has been stored in around 250 specially designed insect boxes, kept in a small air-conditioned room. The university has also decided to assign new guides for six researchers, including a Fulbright Fellow, who were under Prathapan. "We are in deep trouble since there is no replacement for him in the university," said a researcher.
The university vice-chancellor could not be reached for comment. Dean A Anilkumar said the department head was directed to preserve the collection and take care of researchers. A large insect collection in the same department with the same name, setup by renowned taxonomist MR GK Nair in the 1970s fell into ruin few months after his retirement.