Experts --> Peter Smetacek

Name: Peter Smetacek
Location:
Butterfly Research Centre,
The Retreat, Jones Estate, Bhimtal,
Uttarakhand 263 136, India.

Present Position:
Founder, Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal.

Research Direction:
Analysis of Lepidopteran communities and forest ecosystems; using insects as bio-indicators of forest ecosystem health and groundwater resources.
Taxonomy and zoogeography of Lepidoptera.
Clarifying and understanding the co-relation of Lepidoptera with respective larval hostplants and adult feeding resources.

E-mail ID: petersmetacek at rediffmail dot com
Phone: +91-9359948490

Flutters

Research resources:

My personal identified reference collection of Lepidoptera contains type material of over a dozen Lepidopteran taxa belonging to 7 families described by me. It includes over 1200 moth species and over 300 butterfly species. Duplicates have been donated to various National Collections. I have an extensive library of relevant literature.
My family's private forest estate, protected for the last 60 years, is home to thousands of species of fauna including insects, birds and mammals.
Several insect taxa new to Science have been described from populations extant on the Estate.

Editorial and referral:

I am a subject editor (Lepidoptera) for the Journal of Threatened Taxa (India); referee for Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society (U.S.A.), Check List (Brazil), Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (India), Current Science (India), Zoos' Print Journal (India), Resonance (India), Project Lifescape (India) and the Eastern and Western Ghats Committee of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi, India.

Research Highlights:

Discovered, named and described 3 new subspecies of Indian butterflies; pioneered use of Lepidopteran community as bio-indicators of climatic change; pioneered analysis of Lepidopteran community as an indicator of forest health and ground water; etc.

Publications:

1)1987. A new type of mimicry in butterflies. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 83:471.

2) 1992. Record of Plebejus eversmanni (Stgr.) from India. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 89:385-386.

3) 1993. Catopsilia pomona Fab. (Lep.: Pier.) at high elevation in the U.P. Himalaya. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 90: 303-304.

4) 1993. Neptis cartica Moore (Lep.: Nymph.) in the U.P. Himalaya. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 90: 527 -- 528.

5) 1994. An annotated list of the Hawkmoths (Lep.: Sphing.) of Kumaon, North India: a probable case of faunal drift. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, Occasional Paper 156: 1 -55.

6) 1995. A new altitudinal and range record for the Copper Flash butterfly Rapala pheretimus Hew. (Lyc.). J. Bombay Nat. HIst. Soc. 92:127 -- 128.

7) 1997. Pieris brassicae L. (Lep.: Pier.) in Delhi. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 94 :584 -- 585.

8) 1997. The Notodontid moth Cyphanta chortochlora Hampson in Kumaon, N. India. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 94: 585.

9) 1997. Record of a diurnal moth Callidula erycinoides (Lep. Call.) from the W. Himalaya. Indian Journal of Biodiversity: 1: 171 -- 172.

10) 1998. On an unusual Endoclyta (Lep.: Hepial.) from Kumaon, in the N.W. Himalaya, India. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 95: 136 -- 137.

11) 1999. Notes on species of Phalera moths from the Kumaon Himalaya (Ins.: Lep.: Notod.). Bionotes 1(1): 8-10.

12) 1999. The distribution and ecology of Polyura agraria Swin. (Lep.: Nymph.) in India. J. Bombay Nat. Hist.Soc. 96: 487 -- 488.

13) 2000. (with Rajani Smetacek). A supplementary list of the hostplants of Indian Lepidoptera. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 97: 157 -- 160.

14) 2001. Forms of Danaus chrysippus L. (Lep.: Nyp.) in the Kumaon Himalaya, India. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 98 : 131 -- 132.

15) 2001. Resolution of the controversial western limit of the range of Delias acalis God. (Lep. : Pier.). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 98 : 298 -- 300.

16) 2002. Individual variation and sexual dimorphism in Thamnoecha uniformis (Butler) (Lep.: Sphing.). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 99 : 26 -- 29.

17) 2002. The genus Pontia Fab. (Lep.: Pier.) in the Kumaon Himalaya. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 99 : 224 -- 231.

18) 2002. Notes on new records of Hooktip moths (Lep.: Drep.) from the Kumaon and Garhwal Himalaya. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 99 : 446.

19) 2004. On the occurrence of Marumba cristata Butler (Lep.: Sphing.) in Shimla, H.P.. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 101: 171 -- 172.

20) 2004. Pleurona falcata Walker, an addition to the Noctuid fauna of the Indian mainland. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 101: 172 -- 173.

21) 2004. The genus Corymica Walker (Lep.: Geom.) in the Kumaon Himalaya with the description of a new form of C. deducata caustolomaria Moore. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 101: 173 -- 176.

22) 2004. Taxonomic comments on Lepidoptera reported recently in Bionotes. Bionotes 6(3): 72.

23) 2004. Descriptions of new Lepidoptera from the Kumaon Himalaya. J.Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 101: 269 -- 276.

24) 2005. On the taxonomy and appearance of Mixolophia ochrolauta Warren (Lep.: Geom.) in the Kumaon Himalaya. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 102: 130 -- 131.

25) 2005. The Epipleminae (Lep.: Uran.) of the Kumaon Himalaya. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 102: 186 -- 194.

26) 2005. Batesian mimic butterflies taken in by their models and the mimetic status of Argyreus hyperbius L. (Nymph.). J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 102 : 352-353.

27) 2006. How wild monkeys eat large hawkmoths. News of the Lepidopterists' Society 48 (1): 27.

28) 2006. Are the Marpesinae distasteful? News Lep. Soc. 48(2):

29) 2006. Some distasteful Asian Papiloninae (Papilionidae). Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 60 (2): 82 -- 85.

30) 2006. Checklist of South Asian Skipper butterflies (Lep.: Hesp.). Bionotes 8(4) 92 -- 95; 9(1):13 -- 17.

31) 2007. Author's response to Technical Comment. J. Lep. Soc. 61(1): 121- 122.

32) 2007. (with Rajani Smetacek) The aggressive defence mechanism of a Himalayan moth. News Lep. Soc. 49(2): 59, 67, 69.

33) 2008. Moths recorded from different elevations in Nainital district, Kumaon Himalaya, India. Bionotes 10(1): 5 -15.

34) 2009. Additions to the butterflies of Delhi. Bionotes 11(1):15.

35) 2009. Dragonflies and cycle wheels. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 105 (3): 351- 352.

36) 2009. Additions and corrections to the list of moths recorded from different elevations in Nainital district, Kumaon Himalaya, India. Bionotes 11(4): 117 -- 118.

37) 2010. Subspecific status of the Southern Indian population of Nyctemera coleta (Stoll) (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae). Journal of Threatened Taxa 2(4): 835- 836.

38) 2010. A new species of Ceryx Wallengren (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) from the Kumaon Himalaya. Journal of Threatened Taxa 2 (5): 894 -- 895.

39) 2010. The hitherto undescribed male of Calocalpe abraxidia Hampson (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Larentiinae). Journal of Threatened Taxa. 2(8):1103-1104.

40) 2010. (M. Bhakare and P. Smetacek) Two instances of inter-generic mating by Lycaenidae (Lepidoptera) in Maharashtra, India. Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 43: 23-25.

41) 2010. Climate Change and Himalayan Lepidoptera. International Workshop on Mountain Biodiversity and Impacts of Climate Change with special reference to Himalayan Biodiversity Hotspot. G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Kosi-Katarma, Almora. Abstract Book: 130 -- 134.

42) 2010. Ypthima kedarnathensis A.P. Singh (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) from the Kumaon Himalaya. Journal of Threatened Taxa. 2(13) 1390-1391.

43) 2011. Four new Lycaenid records from the Kumaon Himalaya. Journal of Threatened Taxa 3(2): 1555 -- 1558.

44) 2011. (Ankita Gupta and Peter Smetacek) A new larval host record for Sphingomorpha chlorea (Cramer) (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) from Karnataka, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 3(2): 1553 -- 1554.

45) 2011. Detrimental effects of low atmospheric humidity and forest fire on a community of western Himalayan butterflies. Journal of Threatened Taxa 3(4): 1694 -- 1701.

46) 2011. Notes on the Bombycidae (Insecta: Lepidoptera) of the Kumaon Himalaya, Uttarakhand, India. Bionotes 13(2): 72 -- 74.

47) 2011. On the anomalous altitudinal distribution of the West Himalayan Troidini and Papilionini (Papilionidae). Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 65(2): 126 -- 132.

48) 2011 (Alok Mahendroo and P. Smetacek) Extension of the known distribution of the Red Pierrot butterfly, Talicada nyseus nyseus Guerin-Meneville to Kalatope Wildlife Sanctuary, Himachal Pradesh, India. Bionotes 13(3): 113.

49) 2011. A review of West Himalayan Neptini (Nymphalidae). Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 65(3): 153 -- 161. 50) 2011. Further additions to the moths (Lepidoptera: Heterocera) of Nainital district, Kumaon HImalaya, India. Bionotes 13 (4): 140 -- 141.

51) 2011. (with Rajni Smetacek) Additions to the known larval hostplants of Indian Lepidoptera. Journal of Threatened Taxa 3 (12): 2272 -- 2276.

52) 2012. A new subspecies of Mycalesis suaveolens Wood-Mason & de Niceville (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) from the Western Himalaya, India. Nachrichten des Entomologichen Vereins Apollo 32 (3/4): 105 -- 108

53) 2012. Preimaginal stages of Graphium (Pazala) eurous caschmirensis Rothschild (Lepidoptera, Papilionidae) from the Kumaon Himalaya, India. Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo 32 (3/4): 109 -- 112.

54) 2012. (with I.J. Kitching) The Sphingidae of Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, India. Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo 32 (3/4): 113 -- 115

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