Bokinakere Ramakrishnaiya Subba Rao (25 August 1925 – 29 November 2020) was an Indian-origin entomologist who worked at the

Commonwealth Institute of Entomology CABI (legally CAB International, formerly Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux) is a nonprofit intergovernmental development and information organisation focusing primarily on agricultural and environmental issues in the developing world, and the c ...

. He was a specialist on biological control and described many species of parasitic wasps including ''

Neodusmetia sangwani ''Neodusmetia sangwani'' is an encyrtid parasitoid from India that was used in classical biological control of the Rhodesgrass Scale, '' Antonina graminis'' (Maskell) (Pseudococcidae) which is a major pest of grasses outside of its native range ...

'' which is considered one of the most successful examples of classical biological control. Rao also served as a linesman and umpire at Wimbledon from 1969 to 1995.

Life and work

Rao was born in Mysore to B. K. Ramakrishnaiya (a District and Sessions Judge) and Parvathamma. He received his B Sc (Hons.) Zoology from Central College, Bangalore, then under the

University of Mysore The University of Mysore is a public state university in Mysore, Karnataka, India. The university was founded during the reign of Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore. The university is recognised by the University Grants Commissio ...

, as also his PhD. He worked at the

Indian Agricultural Research Institute The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), commonly known as the Pusa Institute, is India's national institute for agricultural research, education and extension. The name Pusa Institute is derived from the fact that the institute was or ...

with E.S. Narayanan and then at the Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control in Bangalore. He moved to the Commonwealth Institute of Entomology in London in June 1968. He specialized in the taxonomy of the superfamily

Chalcidoidea Chalcid wasps (, , for their metallic colour) are insects within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, part of the order Hymenoptera. The superfamily contains some 22,500 known species, and an estimated total diversity of more than 500,000 species, m ...

. One of the insect species discovered in Hessarghatta was described by Subba Rao, ''

'', a parasitic wasp considered one of the successful examples of classical biological control. It was used to control an outbreak of Rhodesgrass scale insect ''

Antonina graminis ''Antonina graminis'' or Rhodes grass scale is a species of mealybug in the family Pseudococcidae. In the 1940s the species, originating in Asia, infested nearly 69 species fodder and turf grasses in Texas causing major economic loss. Classical bi ...

'' in the United States of America in the 1960s. Another species that he described was ''Thompsonisca sankarani'', named after T. Sankaran who headed the Indian CIBC station which is an important biological control agent of the mango scale ''

Pseudaulacaspis barberi ''Pseudaulacaspis'' is a genus of scales and mealybugs in the family Diaspididae. There are at least 60 described species in ''Pseudaulacaspis''. Species References Further reading * * * * Sternorrhyncha genera Diaspidini { ...

''. Rao was also a keen sportsman who played cricket, tennis and took part in athletics in his undergraduate days. A shoulder injury made him quit tennis but he served as an umpire in India at the

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the orga ...

in 1950 and after moving to London he was selected to serve at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Association in 1969. He was awarded the Alistair Wotherspoon Salver by the British Tennis Umpires Association for 1989 and retired in 1995. Among his recollections was an incident at the court:

I was at the net cord on No. 1 Court, Martina Navratilova was playing. An insect was flying around her, so unable to play. The Chair asked me to sort it. I went over and caught the insect in my hand,-it was a male bee. I said “it’s only a male it can’t hurt you” ...afterwards I realized what I said!

He also took a keen interest in Indian classical music, knew the

raga A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradition, and as a ...

s, could play the violin, and was a regular at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in London. In 1998 he published a compilation of biographies of Indian entomologists. His wife Saroja predeceased him and he was survived by his two sons Somashekar and Sundaresh in London.

References

External links

Publication list
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, B.R. Subba Indian entomologists 1925 births 2020 deaths University of Mysore alumni Tennis umpires