Experts --> Dr. R. K. Varshney

Name: Dr. R. K. Varshney

Location: Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India
Education: M. Sc., Ph. D., D. Sc.
Employment: 1966 to 1997 in the Zoological Survey of India. Retired as Additional Director.
Interests: Biodiversity, nomenclature studies. (Dr. Varshney is an international authority on lac insects; of his more than 150 scientific publications, most are concerned with these insects.
He is credited with writing the first reference book on Indian butterflies in Hindi, titled Bharat ki Titliyan.
With Prof. S.K. Saxena, he has founded, published and edited the journal BIONOTES since 1997, besides serving on the editorial boards of several scientific journals.
E-mail ID: bionotes _india at yahoo.com dot com

Dr. R. K. Varshney

Scientific publications on Butterflies and Moths:

1. Varshney, R.K. & Sundaram, R.M. (1967) Acidity in the gut of Eublemma amabilis larvae- a predator of the lac insect. Journal of Economic Entomology, California. 60 (1): 272.

2. Varshney, R.K. & Sundaram, R.M. (1968). Free amino acid composition of the larvae of Eublemma amabilis Moore, a predator of the lac insect. Indian Journal of Entomology, New Delhi. 30(8): 324 - 326.

3. Sundaram, R.M. & Varshney, R.K. (1969) A preliminary study of the digestive enzymes in the last instar larva of Eublemma amabilis Moore (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Journal of Animal Morphological Physiology, Baroda. 16 (1): 79 - 83.

4. Varshney, R.K. & Nandi, B. (1970) A note on butterfly Eurema brigitta rubella, flying in night. Science and Culture, Calcutta. 36 (7): 405.

5. Varshney, R.K., Sundaram, R.M. & Griyaghey, U.P. (1970). Record of acidity in the gut of the caterpillar of Holcocera pulverea (Meyrick), a predator of the lac insect. Indian Journal of Entomology, New Delhi. 32 (3): 277 - 278.

6. Varshney, R.K., Griyaghey, U.P. & Sundaram, R.M. (1971). Effects of food and mating on the longevity, fecundity and fertility in Eublemma amabilis Moore (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Indian Journal of Agricultural Science, New Delhi. 41(9): 771 - 778.

7. Ganguly, G. & Varshney, R.K. (1970). A note on camouflage in the chrysalis of Papilio polyes (Linnaeus) (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae). Patna University Journal. 25: (2 & 4 ): 26 - 28.

8. Varshney, R.K. & Sundaram, R.M. (1971) The changes in fat content during metamorphosis of Eublemma amabilis Moore (Lep.: Noctuidae) and Holcocera pulverea (Meyrick) (Lep.: Blastobastidae), predators of the lac insect, Kerria lacca Kerr (Hem.: Tachardiidae). Entomologists' Monthly Magazine, Oxford. 107: 67 - 72.

9. Varshney, R.K. (1973) Peninsular Acraeid butterfly Acraea violae (Fabricius) in north India. Current Science, Bangalore. 42 (3): 107.

10. Varshney, R.K.& Chanda, S.K. (1971) Butterflies of the North Eastern India. Indian Museum Bulletin, Calcutta. 6 (1): 28 - 53.

11. Varshney, R.K. & Nandi, B. (1971) Delias aglaia aglaia (Linnaeus) from the Indian mainland. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 69 (3): 667 - 668.

12. Varshney, R.K. & Nandi, B. (1976) Butterflies from Hazaribagh National Park, Bihar. 1. Dry Season Forms. Newsletter of the Zoological Survey of India., Calcutta. 2 (1): 29 - 32.

13.. Nandi, B., Varshney, R.K & Ghosh, A.K. (1976) Relative growth of wing in Danaus chrysippus (Linnaeus) (Danaidae: Lepidoptera). Newsletter of the Zoological Survey of India., Calcutta. 2 (6): 237 - 239.

14. Varshney, R.K. & Nandi, B. (1976) Butterfly fauna of Patna (Bihar). Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 73 (2): 325 - 328.

15. Varshney, R.K. (1977) Generic name of the Painted Lady butterfly (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Newsletter of the Zoological Survey of India., Calcutta. 3 (1): 13 - 14.

16. Varshney, R.K. (1977) Index Rhopalocera Indica - an index of the local lists of butterflies from India and neighbouring countries. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta. 73: 159 - 178.

17. Varshney, R.K. (1977) Butterflies as pests of food-plants. Zoologiana, Calcutta.1 : 49 - 53.

18. Varshney, R.K. (1979) Revised nomenclature for taxa in Wynter-Blyth's book on the butterflies of the Indian Region. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 76 (1): 33 - 40.

19. Varshney, R.K. & Nandi, B. (1980) Parnara butterfly from Patna: a correction. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 77 (1): 157 - 158.

20. Varshney, R.K. (1981) Review of the book 'Coloured Illustrations of the Butterflies of Japan' by Akito Kawazoe & Morio Wakabayashi. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 78 (2): 359 - 361.

21. Varshney, R.K., Nandi, B.& Nahar, S.C. (1981) On a collection of butterflies from Hazaribagh National Park and nearby areas in South Bihar (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera). Occasional Paper, Records of the Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta. 31: 1- 39.

22. Varshney, R.K. (1983) Index Rhopalocera Indica - Part 2. Common names of butterflies from India and neighbouring countries. Occasional Paper, Records of the Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta. 47: 1- 49.

23. Varshney, R.K. (1984) A note on species named Lycaena pavana (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 81 (2): 493 - 494.

24. Varshney, R.K. (1984) Correct name of the Red base Jezebel butterfly (Lepidoptera: Pieridae). Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 81 (2): 495 - 496.

25. Varshney, R.K. (1985) Revised nomenclature for taxa in Wynter-Blyth's book on the butterflies of the Indian Region. Part 2. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 82: 309 - 321.

26. Varshney, R.K. (1985) Threatened butterflies of the Indian Region. In: Wildlife Wealth of India (ed. T.C. Majupuria), Kathmandu: 104 - 116.

27. Varshney, R.K. & Nandi, B. (1988) Butterflies from Tripura State, India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta. 85 (1): 119- 130.

28. Varshney, R.K. (1987) Scientific versus popular names of butterflies. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 84 (3): 695 - 696.

29. Varshney, R.K. (1988) Revised nomenclature for some butterflies of the Indian Region. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 85 (1): 222- 226.

30. Varshney, R.K. (1989) On Patala yama (Moore), a rare butterfly (Lepidoptera: Satyridae). Hexapoda, Madras. 1 (1&2): 3 - 6.

31. Varshney, R.K. (1990) Revised nomenclature for taxa in Wynter-Blyth's book on the butterflies of the Indian Region - 3. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 87 (1): 53 - 61.

32. Varshney, R.K. (1993) Index Rhopalocera Indica - Part 3. Genera of butterflies from India and neighbouring countries (Lepidoptera: (A) Papilionidae, Pieridae and Danaidae). Oriental Insects, Gainesville. 27: 347 - 372.

33. Varshney, R.K. (1994) Index Rhopalocera Indica - Part 3. Genera of butterflies from India and neighbouring countries (Lepidoptera: (B) Satyridae, Nymphalidae, Libytheidae and Riodinidae). Oriental Insects, Gainesville. 28: 151 - 198.

34. Varshney, R.K. & Gupta, I.J. (1996) Lepidopteran Fauna of Thar Desert. In Faunal diversity in the Thar Desert: gaps in research. (Eds. A.K. Ghosh, Q.H. Bagri & Iswar Prakash). Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur. 253 - 270.

35. Varshney, R.K. (1995) Nomenclatural status of genus Homoptera and genus Plecoptera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Science and Culture, Calcutta. 61 (7 - 9): 137.

36. Ghosh, S.K. & R.K. Varshney (1996) Lepidoptera: Heterocera, species known from Delhi. In Fauna of Delhi. Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta. State Fauna Series 6 : 419.


38. Varshney, R.K. (1997) Index Rhopalocera Indica - Part 3. Genera of butterflies from India and neighbouring countries (Lepidoptera: (C) Lycaenidae). Oriental Insects, Gainesville. 31: 83 - 138 A to 138 C.

39. Varshney, R.K. (1997) Mancipium deota and Mancipium devta are one or two species (Lepidoptera: Pieridae). Annals of Entomology, Dehra Dun. 13 (1): 79 -80.

40. Varshney, R.K. (1998) Titli udi, udh to chali (in Hindi). Swagat- Indian Airlines in-flight Magazine. Sept 1988: 32 - 33.

41. Varshney, R.K. (1998) Bharatiyan Titliyan. In Bharat ki Prani Vividhta (in Hindi). Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta. 129 - 136.

42. Varshney, R.K. (2006) An estimate of the numbers of butterfly species in the Indian Region. Bionotes, Aligarh. 8 (3): 61 - 63.

43. Varshney, R.K. (2007) Bharat ki titliyan (Butterflies of India- in Hindi). Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta. xii + 195.

44. Varshney, R.K. (2008 - 2009) First bibliography of the butterflies of Indian Region (serialized). Bionotes, Aligarh. 10 (2) - 11 (4).

45. Varshney, R.K. (2010) Genera of Indian Butterflies. Nature Books India, New Delhi. vi + 186 pp, 16 pl.

46. Varshney, R.K. (2011 - 2012) Subspecies Catalogue of the Butterflies of India (Nymphalidae). Bionotes, Aligarh 13 (2) to 14 (3).