PALAKKAD: In the forests of Karnataka, there is a parasitoid in the name of ace cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. Another one has been named after cricketer Yuvraj Singh too, all courtesy to entomologist Ranjith A P. Christened Cystomastacoides sachini after Sachin, and Cystomastacoides yuvraji after Yuvraj, the parasitoids were discovered by Ranjith.
Parasitoids (insects) are very important organisms from an ecological perspective. “They kill pests and are considered friends of farmers. If these are introduced to the farms, we won’t have to use pesticides anymore. They grow along with their host and then kill the host, thereby killing the pests,” he explains.
Ranjith’s quirky names do not just surround sportspersons. Named after Friedrich Kasimir Medikus, a German physician and botanist, one of the species goes by the name Carinadelius medicus, as a tribute to the medical fraternity. “We dedicate this species to all doctors and nurses for their uncompromising efforts to control Covid.”
Ranjith, a native of Pattambi, is working as a research associate in a project on Edible Insects of Northeast India at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment. He completed his masters in zoology with specialisation of Entomology. But he plunged into the field of taxonomy out of sheer passion, and went on to discover 40 new species and three new genus in the parasitoid group. And he names every species he discovers with his heart.
“I am crazy about cricket. Sachin and Yuvraj are my favourite cricketers. One of the species I discovered was completely different from the others in the genus, just like Sachin. So I named it after Sachin, and the other after Yuvraj,” he says.
A scientific name comprises of three parts, the first being the genus, followed by species name given by the researcher who discovers it, and the third part is the name of the researcher who discovered it. “Even after we die, we get to live through these species. That’s the remarkable part of this job,” he says.When asked about other celebrities after whom he wished to name the species he discovers, he laughs and adds the list is endless. “I wish to name one after musician A R Rahman and our chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. You will get to know in time,” he chuckles.