Harish Gaonkar
Encyclopedia
Harish S. Gaonkar (born 1946) is an India
n specialist on butterflies who contributed to the Zoological Museum at the University of Copenhagen
, Denmark
and wrote a 1996 compilation of butterflies of Western Ghats
, South India
cataloging 330 species. Gaonkar was born in Karwar district, India. Gaonkar earned his Ph.D. from University of California
Born and raised in Hanehalli
, Honnayya completed his high school from Anandashram High School, Bankikodla
in the year 1962. In 2001 Harish Gaonkar was a Scientific Associate of the Natural History Museum
in London. In the 2004 "Global Butterfly Names" proposal to the ECAT programme of GBIF submitted by J. Mallet, Professor of Biological Diversity, University College London, concerning a major collaboration between developed and developing countries backed by the Natural History Museum, London, to provide an open, online, complete and up-to-date database of all ~80,000 names applied to ~17,500 butterfly species" Gaonkar was described as one of the named NHM staff members, postdoctorate students and scientific associates "with leading skills in butterfly taxonomy" identified as "representing a critical mass of professional expertise unmatched elsewhere".
He is cited as the source of the list of butterflies endemic to Sri Lanka at Michael and Nancy van der Poorten's website "Butterflies & Dragonflies of Sri Lanka" in a personal communication of information from a work "The Atlas of the Butterflies of the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka", Natural History Museum, London, apparently still in preparation in Aug 2009. Gaonkar is frequently cited explaining the origin of the name of the Asian Mormon swallowtail butterflies. He wrote that "the origins of giving common English names to organisms, particularly butterflies for tropical species started in India around the mid 19th century. The naming of Mormons
evolved slowly. I think the first to get such a name was the Common Mormon (Papilio polytes), because it had three different females, a fact that could only have been observed in the field, and this they did in India. The name obviously reflected the . . . Mormon sect in America, which as we know, practiced polygamy."
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n specialist on butterflies who contributed to the Zoological Museum at the University of Copenhagen
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and wrote a 1996 compilation of butterflies of Western Ghats
Western Ghats
The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...
, South India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...
cataloging 330 species. Gaonkar was born in Karwar district, India. Gaonkar earned his Ph.D. from University of California
Born and raised in Hanehalli
Bankikodla-Hanehalli
Bankikodla-Hanehalli , twin villages of Uttar Kannada district are neighbouring villages in a valley in the south western section of Karnataka, India. Together they form a community of people from different castes and religions....
, Honnayya completed his high school from Anandashram High School, Bankikodla
Anandashram High School, Bankikodla
Ananadasharm High School , one of the oldest high schools in Uttar Kannada, was a private school located in Bankikodla-Hanehalli. The school was founded by M.N.Kulakrni and Datta master Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmins from Bankikodla-Hanehalli...
in the year 1962. In 2001 Harish Gaonkar was a Scientific Associate of the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
in London. In the 2004 "Global Butterfly Names" proposal to the ECAT programme of GBIF submitted by J. Mallet, Professor of Biological Diversity, University College London, concerning a major collaboration between developed and developing countries backed by the Natural History Museum, London, to provide an open, online, complete and up-to-date database of all ~80,000 names applied to ~17,500 butterfly species" Gaonkar was described as one of the named NHM staff members, postdoctorate students and scientific associates "with leading skills in butterfly taxonomy" identified as "representing a critical mass of professional expertise unmatched elsewhere".
He is cited as the source of the list of butterflies endemic to Sri Lanka at Michael and Nancy van der Poorten's website "Butterflies & Dragonflies of Sri Lanka" in a personal communication of information from a work "The Atlas of the Butterflies of the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka", Natural History Museum, London, apparently still in preparation in Aug 2009. Gaonkar is frequently cited explaining the origin of the name of the Asian Mormon swallowtail butterflies. He wrote that "the origins of giving common English names to organisms, particularly butterflies for tropical species started in India around the mid 19th century. The naming of Mormons
Papilio
Papilio is a genus in the swallowtail butterfly family, Papilionidae. The word papilio is Latin for butterfly.The genus includes a number of well-known North American species such as the Western Tiger Swallowtail...
evolved slowly. I think the first to get such a name was the Common Mormon (Papilio polytes), because it had three different females, a fact that could only have been observed in the field, and this they did in India. The name obviously reflected the . . . Mormon sect in America, which as we know, practiced polygamy."
Selected books and publications
- Gaonkar, H. 1995. An Annotated Bibliography of the Butterflies of the Indian Region. The Natural History of the Butterflies of the Indian Region. Bibliography. Copenhagen, London, Bangalore.
- Gaonkar, Harish (1996) Butterflies of the Western GhatsWestern GhatsThe Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...
, India (including Sri LankaSri LankaSri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
) - A BiodiversityBiodiversityBiodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
Assessment of a threatened mountain system. A report submitted to the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Bangalore, India, 86pp - A New Subspecies of EuremaEuremaEurema is a widespread genus of grass yellow butterflies in the family Pieridae.Species range from Asia, Africa, Australia, and Oceania, to the New World. The type species is the North American Barred Yellow ....
andersoni (LepidopteraLepidopteraLepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
: PieridaePieridaeThe Pieridae are a large family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing approximately 1,100 species, mostly from tropical Africa and Asia. Most pierid butterflies are white, yellow or orange in coloration, often with black spots...
) from South India, O. Yata, H. Gaonkar - Entomological science, 1999 - ci.nii.ac.jp - The ArhopalaArhopalaArhopala is a very large genus of gossamer-winged butterflies . They are the type genus of the tribe Arhopalini. In the relatively wide circumscription used here, it contains over 200 species collectively known as oakblues. They occur from Japan throughout temperate to tropical Asia south and east...
butterflies described by FabriciusFabriciusFabricius may refer to:*people from the Ancient Roman gens Fabricia:*Gaius Fabricius Luscinus, the first of the Fabricii to move to Rome* Carel Fabricius , painter...
: A. centaurusCentaurusCentaurus is a bright constellation in the southern sky. One of the largest constellations, Centaurus was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations.-Stars:...
is from Java, A. democritusDemocritusDemocritus was an Ancient Greek philosopher born in Abdera, Thrace, Greece. He was an influential pre-Socratic philosopher and pupil of Leucippus, who formulated an atomic theory for the cosmos....
from Phuket (Lepidoptera: LycaenidaeLycaenidaeThe Lycaenidae are the second-largest family of butterflies, with about 6000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies...
), Entomological science, Volume 9 Issue 3, Pages 295 - 311, Published Online: 27 Sep 2006, Richard I. Vane-Wright and Harish Gaonkar, Department of Entomology, the Natural History Museum, London, UK (September 2006).