Linnean Shortfall Still a Major Concern in India: As Evident by the Micromoth Family Tortricidae (Lepidoptera)

Anthropogenic activities influence rapid environmental changes on earth and the reality of climate change is a significant feature in implementing conservation action plans in many countries. The knowledge of biodiversity data is an increasingly important source of information in studies of biogeography and conservation. Presence of temporal, spatial and taxonomical gaps in biodiversity documentation is a major concern. One of the major gaps or shortfalls is the lack of taxonomic work, i.e. species descriptions called Linnean shortfall. Here we evaluate patterns of species description in a major micromoth family Tortricidae from India during 1775 to 2018. We found that a total of 392 species of tortricid moths have been described from the country. Among all the authors who have contributed to the species description, eight have described more than 85% of tortricid species from India. The cumulative curve of the tortricid species described showed the highest peak during 1901–1925, wherein 226 species were described from the country. Among the biogeographic zones, the North East Zone recorded the highest species descriptions (47.19%) followed by the Deccan Peninsula (10.71%). Our analysis shows Linnean shortfall in this group and the taxonomic expeditions are skewed towards only a few regions. Accordingly, practices to increase taxonomic expeditions, including increased funding in exploratory research and increasing species discovery rate are the need of the hour in many insect groups.