GUWAHATI, June 11 ? A team of Zoologists, led by Dr (Smt) JK Grewal, former Head of the Department of Zoology in the city?s Handique Girls? College, has collected over 7,000 specimens referrable to more than 500 species of microlepidotream moths. Of the collected specimens, 50 are authentically identified and identification of the rest are also going on. The collection and identification of these moths are done or being done as part of a All India Co-ordinated Project on Taxonomy (AICOPTAX) Research on Microlepidoptera, initiated by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. Dr HS Rose of Punjab University, Patiala, who is one of the eminent lepidopterists of the country, is the Co-ordinator and Chief Principal Investigator of the project.
For the smooth operation of the project, five zones have been set up in the country and Dr Grewal is the collaboration in-charge of NE region zone. On March 1, 2000, the project started its operation and it will continue till March 31, 2004. The project is aimed at capacity building in taxonomy and it envisages establishment of centres for research in identified priority gap areas ? as for example, virus, bacteria, microlepidoptera etc in the field of taxonomy, education and training and strengthening the organisations like the Zoological Survey of India as the co-ordinating units.
The tasks assigned to the co-ordiantors and collaborators under the project are ? survey, collection, identification, preservation, maintenance of the collections and taxonomic databanks, development of the identification manuals and also imparting training to college teachers, students and local communities in parataxonomy. Dr Grewal and her team mates Sri Sarfaraj Newaj and Sri Diganta Sarma, both junior research fellows, have also collected detail information about the distribution of various microlepidoptera species in NE region, like the host plants, place of availability, physical condition of the region, ? including climatic and topographical condition etc, through regular intensive and extensive survey-cum-collection trips to various areas, Dr Grewal said. She was talking to The Assam Tribune.
Her team has surveyed most of the areas of the region, including Sikkim and North Bengal, during the pre and post-monsoon season for the last three years, she said. The species of micro-moths are quite large in number compared to the butterfly species. In India, there are little more than 1,500 species of butterfly, whereas the number of species of micro-moths is 200 times ore than the butterflies. But, till date, only about two per cent of the micro-moth species in the country has been studied and identified, she said.
On the significance of the study, she said that the study would finally help the forest departments in evolving plant protection measures. For, she explained, most of the young ones of micro-moths feed on the internal tissues of the plants and make tunnels in the tissues of the leaves, stems, roots and fruits etc and thus act as destructive agents to plants.
Cnophalocrocis medanalis, one of the most destructive insects for paddy plants, also belong to the micro-moth species. This insect folds the leaves of paddy plants around their bodies and feed on the chlorophyll of the epidermal cells of the leaves. It is found in the NE region throughout the year and specially in Assam, it is most abundant during the months of September, October and November.
The insect attains the highest rate of proliferation in November, as has been found during the study, and it affects mostly the sali paddy, Dr Grewal said, adding, NE region is very rich in micro-moth species diversity and more than 65 per cent of the micro-moth species of the country is available in the region. About four species of the chilo genus, which are the major pests of rice and jute, have also been identified by the team, she said.
Dr Grewal also maintained that the micro-moths also acted as disease spreading agents for various plants, affecting their yield and density. The team has also collected some species of the Zyganidae family of micro-moths. These moths? larvae feed on the tea leaves affecting tea production. These beautifully coloured moths remain active only during the day time, Dr Grewal said. However, she said, one of the differences between the butterfly and the moth was that while the butterflies used to remain active during the day time, the moths usually become active during night.
On the method of identifying the moths, she said that with the help of wing maculation, wing veination, structure of legs and also the structure of male and female external genitalia and comparing the characters with the already identified specimens preserved in the National Entomological Museum at the Zoological Survey of India?s Kolkata office, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun and Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, the conclusions were drawn. This is the first Indian study on micro-moths and hence there is a dearth of literature on this insect group in the country, unlike in the developed countries like the UK, the USA and Japan, she said.