ICAR-NRCB

Dr. J.Poorani

Division

Crop Protection

Specialization / Discipline

Agricultural Entomology

Area of Interest

Insect taxonomy, biological control, IPM

Publications

103

Qualifications

Ph.D.

Poorani.j@icar.org.in
pooranij@gmail.com

Current Institute Projects:

Pest mapping in bananas and plantains of India (PI)
Biointensive management of major insect pests of banana (PI)

Current External Projects:
NIL

A reference collection of insect pests of banana, their natural enemies and other insects associated with banana ecosystem was built and strengthened further with the addition of specimens from different geographical locations.
Based on geographical coordinates of collection localities and literature records, distribution maps were prepared for banana weevils and fruit scarring beetles.
Species composition of banana skippers and their stage-specific natural enemies were documented for the first time from south and northeastern Indian states.
Three banana leaf and fruit feeding chrysomelids, namely, Basilepta subcostata (Eumolpinae), Bhamoina varipes (Jacoby), and Sphaeroderma cruenta Prathapan & Kumari (Galerucinae, Alticini), were documented from India. Records of Basilepta viridipennis (Motschulsky), a species frequently reported in the literature as a pest of banana in the Indian Subcontinent (India and Bangladesh), were found to be erroneous.
CO1 gene was sequenced for all the major banana pests, including Kophene cuprea, Aleurolobus musae , and Basilepta subcostata for the first time in the world.
Recent exotic invasive pests such as rugose spiralling whitefly ( Aleurodicus rugioperculatus Martin) and Jack Beardsley mealybug ( Pseudococcus jackbeardsleyi Gimpel & Miller) were found to be serious pests of banana and their natural enemies were recorded.
New thrips pests such as Asprothrips navsariensis Tyagi, Anascirtothrips arorai Bhatti and Pseudodendrothrips mori (Niwa) were recorded. Significant fruit damage by Helionothrips kadaliphilus (Ramakrishna & Margabandhu) was reported on banana.
Two mymarid egg parasitoids, Erythmelus panis (from Tamil Nadu) and Anagrus sp. (from Manipur) were identified from lacewing bug, the latter a first record.
Banana mites, fruit mealybugs, root mealybugs and scales and their natural enemies, both parasitoids and predators, were documented for the first time. New parasitoids of minor pests of banana including Olene mendosa, Olepa ricini and Kophene cuprea were identified.
A web-based identification aid to about 50 insect and mite pests of bananas and plantains in different parts of India was constructed and hosted in NRCB’s website (URL: nrcb.res.in/album) to easy field identification of banana pests by farmers and extension workers and updated regularly.

Ernst Mayr Travel Grant from the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA, to visit the Natural History Museum, London, in July-August 2019
Travel grant from NSF, USA, in 2005 to attend the Ladybird Workshop held at the NMNH, Washington, DC.
Partial research grants from ABRS to study Coccinellidae collections at CSIRO Entomology, Canberra, Australia, in 2006 and 2008
B.S. Bhumannavar Award for Team Research, 2015 (instituted by the Society for Biocontrol Advancement, Bangalore)

Poorani, J., Anuradha, C., Thanigairaj, R. & Prashina Mol, P. 2024, Coccinellid predators of mealybugs infesting banana in South India, including a new species and a new record of Scymnus Kugelann (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), with notes on other natural enemies. Zootaxa 5419 (4): 525–544
Poorani, J. 2023. An illustrated guide to lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) of the Indian Subcontinent. Part II. Tribe Chilocorini. Zootaxa, 5378 (1): 1–108
Poorani, J. 2023. An illustrated guide to lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) of the Indian Subcontinent. Part I. Tribe Coccinellini. Zootaxa, 5332 (1): 1–307
Poorani, J., Anuradha, C., Kalleshwaraswamy, C.M. et al. 2022. Manatha albipes Moore (Lepidoptera: Psychidae), an emerging pest of banana and arecanut in South India, with notes on diagnosis, biology, natural enemies and DNA sequence data. Phytoparasitica, 50: 101–115
Poorani, J. and Thanigairaj, R. 2019. Record of Asprothrips navsariensis Tyagi (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) as a pest of banana from Tamil Nadu, with notes on other thrips infesting banana. Indian Journal of Entomology , 81 (3): 434–438.
Poorani, J. , Padmanaban, B. and Thanigairaj, R. 2019. Natural enemies of banana lacewing bug, Stephanitis typica (Distant) in India, including first report of Anagrus sp. (Hymenoptera: Mymaridae) as its egg parasitoid. Munis Entomology & Zoology , 14 (1): 83–87.
Josephrajkumar, A., Mohan, C., Poorani, J. , Merin Babu, Daliyamol, Krishnakumar, V., Hegde, V. and Chowdappa, P. 2018. Discovery of a sooty mould scavenging beetle, Leiochrinus nilgirianus Kaszab (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) on coconut palms infested by the invasive rugose spiralling whitefly, Aleurodicus rugioperculatus Martin (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae). Phytoparasitica , 46 : 57–61.
Prathapan, K.D., Poorani, J. , Amritha Kumari, S., Anuradha, C., Padmanaban, B., Thanigairaj, R. 2019. Species composition and diagnoses of leaf- and fruit-scarring beetles (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) infesting bananas and plantains (Zingiberales, Musaceae) in the Indian subcontinent. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 66 (2): 179–202.
Sharanabasappa, Kalleshwaraswamy, C.M., Poorani, J. , Maruthi, M.S., Pavithra, H.B. and Diraviam, J. 2019. Natural enemies of Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae), a recent invasive pest on maize in South India. Florida Entomologist 102 (3): 619–623.
Poorani, J. 2017. Stethorus spp. (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) predatory on Schizotetranychus hindustanicus (Hirst) (Acari: Tetranychidae) from South India, including a new species and a new synonymy in Indian Stethorus . Zootaxa , 4277 (4), DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4277.4.9J

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Dr. J.Poorani