Entomology in the Doon Valley (Garhwal Himalaya) A Stronghold for Insect Research

Book excerpt: Entomology in the Doon Valley (Garhwal Region) is a unique journey into annals of the country’s most fascinating and highly entomofauna rich habitat – the Dehra Dun or the Doon Valley, tucked in the cosy climate of the foothills of the lower Himalayan region. Notwithstanding an unprecedented quantum of fragmented information available on the insects of the Doon Valley, courtesy various different long term research programmes carried out at the three major research institutions, viz., the Forest Research Institute & Colleges, the Zoological Survey of India and The Dayanand Anglo Vedic (PG) College, all located in Dehra Dun, yet no single entomological treatise detailing all the insect orders, supported by relevant local references, was ever offered to have a firsthand knowledge on the Doon Valley’s buoyant research tradition. For the first time, therefore, the present treatment comes forward to satiate a nature-lover’s desire to know completely about their own insect fauna. Besides offering an uncanny history of research, along with a string of researchers and institutions engaged in entomological research in the Doon Valley, the book describes entomologic characteristics of all the 32 Orders of Class Insecta, with emphasis on research contributions on the local and endemic fauna. To facilitate our understanding, the book offers as an example inventories of the extant taxa of a couple of orders and, still more importantly, bio-bibliographies of a few Doon Valley entomologists, as inspirational life stories for the beginners. The Book, written in a lucid language, will surely serve a good purpose for both the undergraduates, postgraduates and research scholars engaged in insect research, on one hand, and the professional entomologists not only from the Grahwal region but also across the country and beyond, on the other.