Mithan Lal Roonwal (18 September 1908 – 22 July 1990) was an Indian zoologist and director of 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 ...

. Roonwal studied a range of taxa from termites to mammals. His landmark works were on the biology of termites and a monograph on the

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...

s of South Asia. He was the first to note geographic patterns in the shape in which

gray langur Gray langurs, also called Hanuman langurs and Hanuman monkeys, are Old World monkeys native to the Indian subcontinent constituting the genus ''Semnopithecus''. Traditionally only one species ''Semnopithecus entellus'' was recognized, but since a ...

s (treated in his time as a single species) carried their tails. He described many new species during his career at the Zoological Survey of India. Roonwal was born in

Jodhpur Jodhpur (; ) is the second-largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan and officially the second metropolitan city of the state. It was formerly the seat of the princely state of Jodhpur State. Jodhpur was historically the capital of the Ki ...

where he received his early education at Sir Pratap School, Sardar School and Darbar High Schools. He then studied at Lucknow where he obtained a Bachelors (1929) and a Master of Science in 1930. He began work at the Locust Research Institute in 1931 at

Lyallpur Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur ( Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pak ...

and went to Cambridge where he worked on the embryology of ''

Schistocerca gregaria The desert locust (''Schistocerca gregaria'') is a species of locust, a periodically swarming, short-horned grasshopper in the family Acrididae. They are found primarily in the deserts and dry areas of northern and eastern Africa, Arabia, and sou ...

'' under the guidance of

Augustus Daniel Imms Augustus Daniel Imms FRS (24 August 1880, in Moseley, Worcestershire – 3 April 1949 in Tipton St. John near Sidmouth, Devon) was an English educator, research administrator and entomologist. An influential textbook of entomology that he first ...

and obtained a Ph.D. in 1935. He was a demonstrator at Cambridge University for a term in 1934 and taught at the Government College Ajmer for a few months in 1935. He joined the Zoological Survey of India where he worked at the birds and mammals section from 1939 to 1940. Roonwal joined the army during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and served as a Major in the 15th Punjab Regiment and received a

Burma Star The Burma Star is a military campaign medal, instituted by the United Kingdom in May 1945 for award to British and Commonwealth forces who served in the Burma Campaign from 1941 to 1945, during the Second World War. One clasp, Pacific, was ...

for his services. From 1946 he continued his studies on the desert locust and published ideas on predicting the formation of swarms. He joined the Forest Research Institute in 1949 as an entomologist and worked on cataloguing the insect collections held there. He continued working there until 1956 during which time he took an interest in the systematics of termites in which he collaborated with

Alfred E. Emerson Alfred Edwards Emerson, Jr. (December 31, 1896 – October 3, 1976) was an American biologist, Professor of Zoology at the University of Chicago, a noted entomologist and leading authority on termites. Life and work Emerson was born in Ithaca ...

. In 1956 he joined the Zoological Survey of India to succeed

Sunder Lal Hora Sunder Lal Hora (22 May 1896 – 8 December 1955) was an Indian ichthyologist known for his biogeographic theory on the affinities of Western Ghats and Indomalayan fish forms. Life Hora was born at Hafizabad in the Punjab (modern day Pa ...

as the director. He retired from the ZSI in 1965 and joined Jodhpur University. He received a Sc.D. for his work on the morphology and systematics of termites in 1962 from

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

References

External links

INSA biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roonwal, Mithan Lal 20th-century Indian zoologists People from Jodhpur 1908 births 1990 deaths Scientists from Rajasthan