P.S. Nathan

P. S. Nathan, P. Susai Nathan or P. Susainathan was an Indian naturalist, entomologist and a natural history specimen collector and dealer. His natural history business was continued by his daughter-in-law Theresa Rajabai Susai Nathan and still later by her daughter-in-law Nellie J.P. Nathan. A number of species are named after the collections made by him and his family.

Life and work

Nathan came from Kurumbagaram, Nedungadu, near Karaikal. The initial "P." stands for his father's name Prabalanathan, although some sources note it incorrectly as "Peter". He collected insects while still in school and became a government entomologist and later an entomological assistant at the Coimbatore Agricultural College. He then worked at Basra, Iraq under the British as a port officer working in quarantine service. He retired voluntarily in 1929 to become a professional insect collector and natural history dealer. He was elected Fellow of the Entomological Society in 1919. Although he specialized mainly in insects he also sold mollusc shells across Europe and North America and numerous species have been described on the basis of specimens collected by him, several named after him, including:

Nathanella.
Petersula nathani
Ephemera nathani
Bolivaritettix nathani
Diplatys nathani .
Gonolabidura nathani .
Timmomenus nathani
Dysaulophthalma nathani
Calamothespis nathani
Aphelocheirus nathani
Onychomesa susainathani
Stenolemus susainathani
Scaphidium nathani.
Autoserica nathani
Holotrichia nathani
Myllocerus susainathani
Notosacantha nathani
Lycostomus nathani
Nosodendron nathani
Pachynomia nathani
Maynenomia nathani
Lasioglossum nathanae
Entomognathus nathani
Kristotomus nathani
Teucholabis susainathani
Boettcherisca nathani
Sarcophaga susainathani
Sarcosolomonia nathani
Laphria nathani
Stenopogon nathani
Haematopota nathani
Chersonesometrus nathanorum

Alexander named a cranefly Styringomyia susilae after his then infant daughter. After his retirement from active collecting in 1969, his daughter-in-law Theresa Rajabai Susai Nathan continued the natural history specimen business. The tiger beetle Cicindela nathanae is named after her but not all species described after her have been correctly formed with the feminine form. Nathanacris is a genus of grasshoppers which is also named after her. In 1993 T.R.S. Nathan handed the collecting business to her daughter-in-law Nellie J.P. Nathan and a nephew of T.R.S. Nathan, S.A. Surender also collected specimens. The tiger beetle species Jansenia nathanorum was named for the Nathan family by Fabio Cassola and Karl Werner in 2003. A specimen collected in 1970 indicates that P.S. Nathan collected briefly in Zambia.

Publications

. Proc. 5th Entom. Mtg. Pusa p. 28-33, 1924
Agric. J. India 19:402-4, 1924
. Proc. 5th Entomol. Mtg. Pusa p. 23-27. 1924
With Y. Ramachandra Rao. Proc. 5th Entom. Mtg Pusa p. 136-40, 1924
. Bull. Dept. Agric. Madras 81:24, 1921
Ayyar, T.V.R., Muliyil, J.A. and Susainathan, P. A Preliminary investigation of "pollu" disease of pepper in north Malabar in 1918. Madras Agric. Year Book, 1920-21 pp. 18–31.