Dr. Hem Singh Pruthi, Entomologist

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Dr. Hem Singh Pruthi (February 23, 1897 - December 23, 1969) was an Indian renowned entomologist who served as Imperial Entomologist, and served as the first native Indian in that position. He worked mainly on the Hemiptera. Several genera of Hemiptera have been named after him including Pruthiana, Pruthiorosius, Pruthius, a fly genus Pruthidiplosis, and a species of Indian lizard Subdoluseps pruthi. His main work was in taxonomy. He published a textbook of Agricultural Entomology. In 1938, he founded the Entomological Society of India.

He was born at Begowala, Sialkot where his father Dr. Bhagat Singh Pruthi was working in Hospital Gujranwala. He studied locally and competed his M.Sc. at the Government College Lahore. He joined Peterhouse, Cambridge and obtained a Ph.D in 1924 under the guidance of Charles Abercrombie Smith. He received a Sc.D. from the University of Cambridge in 1943. Pruthi then joined as Assistant Superintendent at the Zoological Survey of India at Calcutta. He worked mainly on the Hemiptera. He joined the Indian Agricultural Research Institute and became the Imperial Entomologist, succeeding T.B. Fletcher in 1934. In 1938, he founded the Entomological Society of India. During that period he mainly worked on insects of economic importance. He was also Plant Protection Adviser to the Government of India and helped to established a Locust Warning System. He retired in 1953. After retirement he published a Textbook of Agricultural Entomology. A number of genera of Hemiptera have been named after him including Pruthiana, Pruthiorosius, and Pruthius. His student M.S. Mani named a fly genus Pruthidiplosis after him. A species of Indian lizard Subdoluseps pruthi is named after him.