Benoy Krishna Tikader (1928–1994) was an Indian

arachnologist Arachnology is the scientific study of arachnids, which comprise spiders and related invertebrates such as scorpions, pseudoscorpions, and harvestmen. Those who study spiders and other arachnids are arachnologists. More narrowly, the study of sp ...

and

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

and a leading expert on Indian

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

s in his time. He worked in the

Zoological Survey of India The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), founded on 1 July 1916 by Government of India Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, as premier Indian organisation in zoological research and studies to promote the survey, exploration and r ...

and published the ''Handbook of Indian Spiders'' in 1987. The book describes 40

families Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideall ...

and 1066

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of India, many of which were described by Tikader himself. The handbook is a guide to all arachnids including

scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...

s, and not just spiders. He was also a popular scientific author in his native language of

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

, and was the author of ''Banglar Makorsha'' (literally: "Bengal's spiders") for the layman.

Focus on eastern India

Working in the Zoological Survey of India based in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

, Tikader was especially interested in the spiders of eastern India and the

Andaman and Nicobar Islands The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated f ...

. Many of his nomenclatures thus bear names of places in eastern India as part of their specific scientific name - like ''andamanensis'' (from the Andaman Islands), ''bengalensis'' (from the region of

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

, and ''dhakuriensis'' (from the neighbourhood of

Dhakuria Dhakuria is a locality in the city of Kolkata, (previously Calcutta), in West Bengal, India. It is located in the southern part of the city and is surrounded by Ballygunge and Kasba in the north, Haltu in the east, Jadavpur/ Garia in the south ...

, in

, often based on the region of discovery or distribution.

Honours

He held PhD and DSc degrees from Calcutta University.Bose, Anjali (editor), 1996/2004, ''Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan'' (Biographical dictionary) Vol II, , p217, A number of species were named after him by his colleagues: Fish: * ''

Nemacheilus ''Nemacheilus'' is a genus of stone loaches native to Asia. Species There are currently 44 recognized species in this genus: * '' Nemacheilus anguilla'' Annandale, 1919 (eel loach) * '' Nemacheilus arenicolus'' Kottelat, 1998 * '' Nemacheil ...

tikaderi'' (originally ''

Aborichthys ''Aborichthys'' is a genus of stone loaches found in streams of India with one species also found in Myanmar. Species There are currently 9 recognized species in this genus: * '' Aborichthys boutanensis'' (McClelland, 1842) Thoni, R.J. & Hart, R ...

tikaderi'' ) of the family

Balitoridae The hillstream loaches or river loaches are a family, the Balitoridae, of small fish from South, Southeast and East Asia. The family includes about 202 species. They are sometimes sold as "lizardfish" or (in Germany) "flossensaugers". Many of the ...

(Barman, 1985) Spiders: *'' Nodocion tikaderi'' of the family Gnaphosidae (Gajbe, 1992) *'' Eilica tikaderi'' of the family

Gnaphosidae Ground spiders comprise Gnaphosidae, the seventh largest spider family with over 2,000 described species in over 100 genera distributed worldwide. There are 105 species known to central Europe, and common genera include ''Gnaphosa'', ''Drassodes ...

(Platnick, 1976) *''

Drassodes ''Drassodes'' is a genus of ground spiders that was first described by Niklas Westring in 1851. They are brown, gray, and red spiders that live under rocks or bark in mostly dry habitats, and are generally long, but can reach up to in length. ...

tikaderi'' (Gajbe, 1987) *'' Poecilochroa tikaderi'' of the family Gnaphosidae (Patel, 1989) *'' Petrotricha tikaderi'' of the family Gnaphosidae (Gajbe, 1983) *''

Scopoides ''Scopoides'' is a genus of Gnaphosidae, ground spiders that was first described by Norman I. Platnick in 1989. Species it contains fifteen species: *''Scopoides asceticus'' (Chamberlin, 1924) – Mexico *''Scopoides bryantae'' (Platnick & Shad ...

tikaderi'' of the family Gnaphosidae (Gajbe, 1987) *'' Mimetus tikaderi'' of the family

Mimetidae Pirate spiders, members of the family Mimetidae, are araneomorph spiders which typically feed on other spiders. The family Mimetidae contains roughly 200 species divided among 12 genera, of which '' Mimetus'' and ''Ero'' are the most common. Mi ...

(Gajbe, 1992) *'' Marpissa tikaderi'' (Biswas, 1984) *'' Chorizopes tikaderi'' of the family

Araneidae Orb-weaver spiders are members of the spider family Araneidae. They are the most common group of builders of spiral wheel-shaped webs often found in gardens, fields, and forests. The English word "orb" can mean "circular", hence the English name ...

(Sadana & Kaur, 1974) *''

Olios ''Olios'' is the largest genus of huntsman spiders, containing 166 species. They are found throughout the world, with most species occurring in hot countries. The genus was first described by Charles Athanase Walckenaer in 1837. Description T ...

tikaderi'' of the family

Sparassidae Huntsman spiders, members of the family Sparassidae (formerly Heteropodidae), are known by this name because of their speed and mode of hunting. They are also called giant crab spiders because of their size and appearance. Larger species sometim ...

(Kundu, Biswas & Raychaudhuri, 1999) *''

Clubiona ''Clubiona'' is a genus of sac spiders that was first described by Pierre André Latreille in 1804. Species the genus contains 493 species and seven subspecies. These species and subspecies are found in Oceania, Africa, North America, the Carib ...

tikaderi'' of the family

Clubionidae The sac spiders of the family Clubionidae have a very confusing taxonomic history. Once, this family was a large catch-all taxon for a disparate collection of spiders, similar only in that they had eight eyes arranged in two rows and conical anter ...

(Majumder & Tikader, 1991) *''

Pardosa ''Pardosa'' is a large genus of wolf spiders, commonly known as the thin-legged wolf spiders. It was first described by C. L. Koch, in 1847, with more than 500 described species that are found in all regions of the world. Description THey a ...

tikaderi'' of the family

Lycosidae Wolf spiders are members of the family Lycosidae (). They are robust and agile hunters with excellent eyesight. They live mostly in solitude, hunt alone, and do not spin webs. Some are opportunistic hunters, pouncing upon prey as they find it or ...

(Arora & Monga, 1994) *''

Oxyopes ''Oxyopes'' is a genus of lynx spiders found worldwide. It includes arounds 300 species and is classified under the lynx spider family Oxyopidae. Like other lynx spiders, they are easily recognizable by the six larger eyes arranged hexagonally on ...

tikaderi'' of the family

Oxyopidae Lynx spider (Oxyopidae) is a family of araneomorph spiders first described by Tamerlan Thorell in 1870. Most species make little use of webs, instead spending their lives as hunting spiders on plants. Many species frequent flowers in particular, ...

(Biswas & Majumder, 1995) *''

Theridion ''Theridion'' is a genus of tangle-web spiders with a worldwide distribution. Notable species are the Hawaiian happy face spider (''T. grallator''), named for the iconic symbol on its abdomen, and '' T. nigroannulatum'', one of few spi ...

tikaderi'' (Patel, 1973) *'' Pistius tikaderi'' (Kumari & Mittal, 1999) *''

Xysticus ''Xysticus'' is a genus of ground crab spiders described by C. L. Koch in 1835, belonging to the order Araneae, family Thomisidae. The genus name is derived from the Ancient Greek root ''xyst'', meaning "scraped, scraper". Description ''Xysticu ...

tikaderi'' (Bhandari & Gajbe, 2001) *''

Storena ''Storena'' is a genus of Zodariidae, ant spiders first described by Charles Athanase Walckenaer in 1805. Description Members of this genus are medium to large spiders with exoskeletons that may be smooth or granulated in texture, lightly covere ...

tikaderi'' of the family

Zodariidae Ant spiders are members of the family Zodariidae. They are small to medium-sized eight-eyed spiders found in all tropical and subtropical regions of South America, Africa, Madagascar, Australia-New Guinea, New Zealand, Arabia and the Indian sub ...

(Patel & Reddy, 1989)

Important publications

*Tikader B K (1982), Fauna of India: Arachnid Vol 2: Spiders, Zoological Survey of India *Tikader B K (1983), Threatened Animals of India, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta *Tikader B K and Bastwade D (1983), Fauna of India: Arachnid Vol 3: Scorpions, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta, India. *Tikader B K (1987
Handbook of Indian Spiders
Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta, India. * Tikader B K and RC Sharma (December 1985), Handbook of Indian Testudines, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta, India * Tikader B K and Ramakrishna (December 1988), Role of Spinning Apparatus in Non-Orb-Weaving and Orb-Weaving Spiders from India, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta, India. * Tikader B K and Animesh Bal (January 1981), Studies on Some Orb-Weaving Spiders of the Genera Neoscona Simon and Araneus Clerck of the Family Araneidae from India, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta, India

Personal life

He was married to Late Mridula Tikader and is survived by his daughter, Sujata Mazumdar, and sons Shyamal Tikader and Sajal Tikader.

References

External links

Scanned publications by Tikader
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tikader, B.K. Indian entomologists Indian naturalists 1928 births 1994 deaths Arachnologists University of Calcutta alumni 20th-century Indian zoologists 20th-century naturalists