The Zoological Survey of India has decided to withdraw a book on butterflies of Arunachal Pradesh from the market following charges of plagiarism by its author.
"There was an enquiry committee after which we warned the author and action has been taken against him. He has been asked to be more careful from now. To avoid any controversy I thought that we must withdraw the book from the market," ZSI Director Dr K Venkataraman told reporters.
Published earlier this year by ZSI, the Handbook on Butterflies of Arunachal Pradesh was authored by the research institute's Dehradun-based zoologist Parmod Kumar. It contains an illustrated account of 472 species of common and fascinating butterflies belonging to five families of the suborder Rhopalocera that are common in Arunachal Pradesh.
The matter came to light after lepidopterists complained against it to the authorities. "This book contains numerous mis-identifications and false explanations. To my surprise, many images had been stolen from internet. On Bhutanitis lidderdalii, the image is my friend's one from western Myanmar. I am quite surprised to know such a careless book was published without any hesitation," said Saito Motoki, Secretary of the Lepidopterists' Society of Japan.
Venkataraman said the images were taken from Wikipedia, but the author did not acknowledge the individual photographers. "He has acknowledged Wikipedia but not individuals. He did not copy intentionally. Once we have the original photographs we may even publish the book again," he said.
Uttarakhand-based lepidopterist Peter Smetacek, who is considered an authority on Indian butterflies and moths, said the authorities were not serious about substandard work by incompetent authors misleading readers. "The fact that there are many errors in the book and it cannot be relied upon is sad, but that is the unfortunate case with all Indian books on butterflies. Only Isaac Kehimkar's book is free from this problem," he said.
Established in 1916, the Kolkata-headquartered ZSI is responsible for survey, exploration and research of fauna.
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