B. K. Tikader
Benoy Krishna Tikader was an Indian arachnologist and zoologist and a leading expert on Indian spiders in his time. He worked in the Zoological Survey of India and published the Handbook of Indian Spiders in 1987. The book describes 40 families and 1066 species of India, many of which were described by Tikader himself. The handbook is a guide to all arachnids including scorpions, and not just spiders. He was also a popular scientific author in his native language of Bengali, and was the author of Banglar Makorsha for the layman.
Focus on eastern India
Working in the Zoological Survey of India based in Kolkata, Tikader was especially interested in the spiders of eastern India and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Many new species names chosen by him thus bear names of places in eastern India or the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. For e.g., andamanensis, bengalensis, and dhakuriensis.Honours
He held PhD and DSc degrees from Calcutta University. A number of species were named after him by his colleagues:Fish:
- Nemacheilus tikaderi of the family Balitoridae
- Nodocion tikaderi of the family Gnaphosidae
- Eilica tikaderi of the family Gnaphosidae
- Drassodes tikaderi
- Poecilochroa tikaderi of the family Gnaphosidae
- Petrotricha tikaderi of the family Gnaphosidae
- Scopoides tikaderi of the family Gnaphosidae
- Mimetus tikaderi of the family Mimetidae
- Marpissa tikaderi
- Chorizopes tikaderi of the family Araneidae
- Olios tikaderi of the family Sparassidae
- Clubiona tikaderi of the family Clubionidae
- Pardosa tikaderi of the family Lycosidae
- Oxyopes tikaderi of the family Oxyopidae
- Theridion tikaderi
- Pistius tikaderi
- Xysticus tikaderi
- Storena tikaderi of the family Zodariidae
Important publications
- Tikader B K, Fauna of India: Arachnid Vol 2: Spiders, Zoological Survey of India
- Tikader B K, Threatened Animals of India, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta
- Tikader B K and Bastwade D, Fauna of India: Arachnid Vol 3: Scorpions, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta, India.
- Tikader B K, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta, India.
- Tikader B K and RC Sharma, Handbook of Indian Testudines, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta, India
- Tikader B K and Ramakrishna, 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, 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