Taracad Narayanan Ananthakrishnan (15 December 1925 – 7 August 2015) was an Indian entomologist and insect ecologist. His areas of specialization was in the study of gall insects (Cecidology) and chemical ecology. He did extensive study of Indian thrips (

Thysanoptera Thrips ( order Thysanoptera) are minute (mostly long or less), slender insects with fringed wings and unique asymmetrical mouthparts. Different thrips species feed mostly on plants by puncturing and sucking up the contents, although a few are ...

) and made immense contributions to this field of science.

Early life

Ananathakrishnan, a native of Taracad in

Palakkad district Palakkad District () is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala. It was carved out from the southeastern region of the former Malabar District on 1 January 1957. It is located at the centre of Kerala. It is the largest district i ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, was the eldest son of T. K. Narayanan and T. A. Annapurani. After completing schooling at Mangalore and Palghat, he completed undergraduate study in zoology at the

Madras Christian College Madras Christian College (MCC) is a liberal arts and sciences college in Chennai, India. Founded in 1837, MCC is one of Asia's oldest extant colleges. The college is affiliated to the University of Madras but functions as an autonomous institu ...

, Madras (now Chennai) with honours in 1946. He completed M.Sc. by research, obtained a Ph.D. followed by a D.Sc., all from the University of Madras.

Career

Ananthakrishnan started his teaching career in Madras Christian College and was a lecturer in zoology there until 1948 before moving to Loyola College, Madras. At Loyola, he was a lecturer in zoology and was the Head of Department of Zoology until 1968 when he took up position as the founder director of the Entomology Research Institute that functions within the Loyola College campus at Chennai. He took up the position of director of

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 ...

in 1977 and served for five years. He was greatly influenced by the Indian entomologist M. S. Mani. and M.Ekambaranathan (retired professor of zoology, Presidency College, Madras). He was inspired to study insects by T. V. Ramakrishna Ayyar and Y. Ramachandra Rao. Being one of the early recipients of support from PL-480, he dedicated nearly three decades in the study and research of Indian thrips. From the late 1990s onwards, every year he conducted a meeting to discuss on the subject of entomology in Chennai.

Publications

Ananthakrishnan authored and co-authored numerous books on thrips. He published numerous research articles in Current Science, Bulletin of Entomology, Journal of Zoological Survey of India, Annual Review of Entomology, Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research, Indian Journal of Plant Protection and several others

Awards

Ananthakrishnan was a Fellow of the

Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and Nobel Laureate C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 24 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it began with 65 founding fellows. The first general meet ...

, Indian Natural Science Academy and the

National Academy of Agricultural Sciences The National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) is a Government of India funded agency, established in 1990, is a research platform in the fields of crop husbandry, animal husbandry, fisheries and agro-forestry. It acts as a research base for ...

. He was awarded the Dr K.V. Mehta Memorial Award in the year 1998 and J.C. Bose Memorial award in 2000.

Personal life

Ananthakrishnan married Menaka of Taracad in 1950 and they have two children, Ranee and Ramdas. He was an ardent cricket fan and captained the Loyola College Academic and General Staff cricketing team. He died in New Jersey on 7 August 2015.

Influences

Fellow thysanopterists from India and overseas have named several new species of thrips after him. G.S. Gill Research Institute awards the Prof T. N. Ananthakrishnan Foundation award every year to one young Indian entomologist to recognize his/her contributions in the field of Entomology for their work done in India.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ananthakrishnan, T.N. Indian entomologists 1925 births 2015 deaths