Describing and naming of organisms in the Linnean system is an important exercise that facilitates broadly understood scientific communication. Standardising English and other regional names of organisms also makes it possible to facilitate communication among scientists, naturalists, general public, and policy making/implementing agencies. To serve these critical goals in the context of Indian Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies), The Indian National Consortium on Odonata Names, established in 2024 and also known by its Hindi name, Rashtriya Bhambhiri Namkaran Sabha, is tasked with:
- Compiling and continually updating the systematics, taxonomy and nomenclature of Indian Odonata based on:
(a) new scientific works and assessments of total evidence (genetic/genomic, genitalia structures and other morphological distinctions, distributional ranges, biology, etc.),
(b) modern concepts of species and subspecies, and phylogenetic principles. - Standardising scientific names of Indian Odonata based on:
(a) evaluating total evidence for genus-species combinations based on recent scientific literature (including phylogenetic resolutions), inspection of museum specimens, and current opinions of subject experts,
(b) compliance of scientific names, especially species and subspecies names, used in the Indian context with internationally well-established systematics and taxonomic practices based on the ICZN Code and other standard scientific authorities,
(c) inspection of specimens in museums, and
(d) advice of international subject experts on molecular systematics and taxonomy of Odonata. - Standardising English names of Indian Odonata based on:
(a) names used in the past, as long as they comply with current scientific knowledge and expert opinion,
(b) names that conform with current social norms,
(c) names that are descriptive and specific in terms of distinctive identification features, behaviours, narrow endemism, and other meaningful biological aspects of a species, rather than based on names of people, or vague terms such as 'southern' and 'eastern'.
Updating scientific and English names of Odonata species is a continually ongoing exercise as new scientific research papers get published and expert and public opinions change. Hence, if you find any discrepancies between the names standardised by this Consortium in relation to names used elsewhere, please bring this to our notice. We will re-review the scientific and English names based on the above principles, and update the notes on species names as required.
Proposed Composition of The Indian National Consortium on Odonata Names:
Chair: Prof. Krushnamegh Kunte (National Centre for Biological Sciences, and Indian Foundation for Butterflies Trust, Bengaluru)
Secretary: Dr. Dattaprasad Sawant (Indian Foundation for Butterflies Trust, Bengaluru)
Members of The Consortium Committee (proposed, yet to be finalised):
- Dr. Chandran A. V. (Kerala Agricultural University)
- Dr. Shantanu Joshi (Indian Foundation for Butterflies Trust, Bengaluru, and University of Arkansas, USA)
- Mr. Fahim Khan (Indian Foundation for Butterflies Trust, Bengaluru)
- Pankaj Koparde (Dr. Vishwanath Karad MIT World Peace University, Pune)
- Dr. Dattaprasad Sawant (Indian Foundation for Butterflies Trust, Bengaluru)
- Subramanian K. A. (Zoological Survey of India, Chennai)
Members of the International Scientific Advisory Committee (proposed, yet to be finalised):
- Klaas-Douwe B Dijkstra (Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, The Netherlands)
- Vincent Kalkman (Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, The Netherlands)
- John Abbott (University of Alabama, USA)
EXPLORE OUR ODONATA NAMES PROJECTS:
- The Indian National Consortium on Odonata Names (this project)
If you are interested in joining one of our naming projects, or wish to start a new naming project in your regional language under the umbrella of The Indian National Butterfly Naming Consortium, then contact us.