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Czech entomologists arrested in India

Authorities jail Czech scientists on suspicion of insect smuggling

By Markéta Hulpachová
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
July 2nd, 2008 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Petr Švácha has devoted his career to the study of insects such as the long-horned beetle, shown above in larva form and below, fully grown. The wasp beetle, bottom, has been studied for its ability to camouflage.
COURTESY PHOTO
Švácha is one of the world's foremost experts on beetle larvae.
Bugs are Petr Švácha’s life passion. Described by his co-workers as an ardent entomologist with “no personal life,” the 51-year-old Academy of Sciences researcher devoted his career to the study of long-horned beetles.
So when an Indian newspaper linked his June 23 arrest for collecting rare beetles, butterflies and moths in a north Indian nature preserve to commercial insect smuggling, his colleagues joined forces to restore Švácha’s good name.
“We know Švácha as a man who is motivated purely by his work,” a trio of Institute of Entomology scientists wrote in a June 27 open letter. “In his case, we can fully exclude [the possibility of] collecting beetles for reasons other than research.”
Meanwhile, the rail-thin, bespectacled scientist and his friend, 52-year-old forester Emil Kučera, await trial in Darjeeling, where the chief judicial magistrate court denied them bail upon their arrest.
“Švácha and Kučera remain in custody. Their trial is scheduled for July 7, but an ongoing justice-workers’ strike may delay the process,” said Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Zuzana Opletalová.
Švácha and Kučera’s odyssey began early last month, when they embarked on a mission to the hills of Darjeeling, a region in the north Indian province of West Bengal. Currently lacking grants to finance his research, Švácha funded the trip out of his own pocket, which technically classified it as a vacation, according to his colleague František Marec, chairman of the Biology Center at the Institute of Entomology.
“When you are studying insects, there are basically three ways to obtain samples of particular species,” Marec said. “You can use existing collections, which are often devoid of new species, or you can request samples from larger institutions or on-location scientists, which is expensive. The third option, of course, is to go out and obtain the samples yourself.”
As one of the world’s foremost experts on long-horned beetle larvae, Švácha evidently opted for the latter, with little awareness of the personal risk involved.
“He had no idea what he was getting into,” Marec said.
Upon arresting Švácha and Kučera in the Singalila National Park, rangers confiscated 200 live beetles and more than 200 butterflies, moths and larvae, as well as a specialized insect collection apparatus from the cottage where the duo was staying, according to the Indian newspaper The Statesman.
According to Merisource, another Indian news server, the forest officials were following a tip-off that two suspicious foreigners were “making forays” into the hillside.
If indicted, the two Czechs could face two to seven years of imprisonment under Indian law, which prohibits the collection of flora and fauna from national parks.
“[Švácha and Kučera] were collecting rare beetles and butterflies, [which violates] … the Wildlife Protection Act,” park official Utpal Nath told The Statesman. “They claim that the intention for collection was mainly for research, but there is a serious implication of an import and export business on rare insects.”
Describing the arrest as a “lamentable error,” Marec said Švácha and Kučera were most likely oblivious to the fact that they were gathering insects on national park territory.
“They allegedly did not realize this, because they saw cows grazing and people cutting wood nearby,” Opletalová said.
 
From bad to worse
In addition to misunderstanding the local park classification system, the duo may have failed to notice current political unrests in the region, whose hillside inhabitants, the Gorkhas, recently renewed their decades-old struggle for independence.
“At a time when the hills of Darjeeling are restless on the demand of a separate state … a few foreigners have been gadding around the hillside collecting beetles,” Merisource wrote.
Indian authorities, who estimate the confiscated insects’ total value at 7,000 rupees (around 3,800 Kč), have a history of apprehending foreigners for collecting the same types of insects as Švácha and Kučera. These include the tiger beetle, a highly demanded insect used in traditional Chinese, Japanese and Latin American medicine.
In 2005, Darjeeling Forest officials arrested a group of Japanese nationals, who served unspecified prison sentences for collecting such creatures, The Statesman reported.
As Švácha and Kučera prepare for their upcoming trial, Marec and his colleagues continue to worry. “When [a co-worker] spoke to him on the phone, Švácha was not complaining,” he said. “But, at 184 centimeters tall, he only weighs around 60 kilos, and with the conditions in Indian jails, he could catch salmonella.”
In addition to bemoaning the misfortune of his colleague, who he describes as an integral wheel at the entomology institute, Marec voiced concern that the event would discourage certain future research expeditions.
“Of course, it will deter scientists from West European countries, who are warier of these regions,” he said. “But we former communists are not so afraid of this, although the consequences are sometimes awful.”

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at mhulpachova@praguepost.com


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[01:13 02/09/2008] : Petr Švácha claims to be a leading entomologist and you claim that he is one of the world's foremost experts. A quick research in scientific journals shows that for an "expert" he has no published research that can bolster this claim. Most of the references (where his name appears) are to his collections. And Švácha's "co-researcher", Emil Kučera is a forester! This reinforces the suspicion that both are traders in rare insects and not really scientists. In fact if they are world famous scientists where is the reference? (their university positions, research, awards etc.)
Werner Meisner
Cologne
[01:14 02/09/2008] : Petr Švácha claims to be a leading entomologist and you claim that he is one of the world's foremost experts. A quick research in scientific journals shows that for an "expert" he has no published research that can bolster this claim. Most of the references (where his name appears) are to his collections. And Švácha's "co-researcher", Emil Kučera is a forester! This reinforces the suspicion that both are traders in rare insects and not really scientists. In fact if they are world famous scientists where is the reference? (their university positions, research, awards etc.)
Werner Meisner
Cologne
[11:46 04/09/2008] : ust for your information:
Dr Svacha is Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Entomology.
For last 4 years he has been working on large book ?Cerambycoid larvae of Palearctic? which is part of the series ?Handbook of Zoology? (Eds Beutel and Leschen), Published by De gruyter, scheduled in 2009.
Some recent papers include:
Švácha P. (2001) Unterfamilie Lamiinae. In: Klausnitzer B.:Die Larven der Kafer Mitteleuropas. Band 6. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin, pp. 248-298.
Švácha P., Wang J.J., Chen S. C. (1997) Larval morphology and biology of Philus antennatus and Heterophilus punctulatus, and systematic position of the Philinae (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae and Vesperidae). Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. N.S., 33, 323-369.
Švácha P. (1997) Unterfamilie Lamiinae. Tabelle fuer die Gattungen. In: Die Larven der Kaefer Mitteleuropas, Band 4. (B. Klausnitzer.) Goecke & Evers, Krefeld, im Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena, pp. 238-242.
Sehnal F., Švácha P., Zrzavý J. (1996) Evolution of insect metamorphosis. In: L.I.Gilbert, B.G. Atkinson, J. Tata (eds.) Metamorphosis: Postembryonic reprogramming of gene expression in amphibian and insect cells, Academic Press, pp. 3-58.
Švácha P., Akai H. (1995) The mechanism of cocoon opening in Bombyx mori (Lepidoptera, Bombycidae). Sericologia 35, 29-34.
Švácha P. (1995) The larva of Scraptia fuscula (P.W.J. Müller) (Coleoptera: Scraptiidae): autotomy and regeneration of the caudal appendage. In: Pakaluk J. & Šlipiňski S.A. (eds) Biology, Phylogeny, and Classification of Coleoptera, p. 473-489. Muzeum i Instytut Zoologii PAN, Warszawa.
Švácha P. (1994) Bionomics, behaviour and immature stages of Pelecotoma fennica (Paykull) (Coleoptera: Rhipiphoridae). J. Nat. Hist. 28, 585-618.
Švácha P. (1992) What are and what are not imaginal discs: Reevaluation of some basic concepts (Insecta, Holometabola). Dev. Biol. 154, 101-117.
Michal Zurovec
Ceske Budejovice
[14:07 04/09/2008] : Werner Meisner's comment (above) is quite simply not true. He claims Svacha "has no published research" based on "a quick search in scientific journals" - how do you do a quick search of scientific journals, there are hundreds. Svacha is in fact the author of several major studies, and his series of monographs (Svacha & Danilevsky) on the larvae of cerambycidae (what he was collecting in India) is one of the most important works ever published on this extremely difficult and poorly known (and totally non commercial) field. Contrary to Meisner's statement he also has an academic position (senior researcher) and awards (including an editorship and a PhD). Meisner's comment is nothing but false libel! Why does he do that, to tell untruths to hurt people who are already suffering?!?!
- and if Kucera is a forester, what is so strange about him being interested in forest organisms!
Max Barclay
(apologies if this appears twice-!)
Maxwell Barclay
London
[19:41 04/09/2008] : Dear Werner,

Your comment contributes very well to all the nonsense that has been written about this subject. How sad that spectacularly misinformed people like you have the urge to comment on what others could perceive as a personal tragedy.

Kind regards, Martin Rejzek

P.S.: just a few examples of Peter's publishing activity:

ŠVÁCHA Petr, DANILEVSKY Mikhail L. 1987
Cerambycoid Larvae of Europe and Soviet Union (Coleoptera, Cerambycoidea). Part I.
Acta Universitatis Carolinae - Biologica, 30: 1-176.

ŠVÁCHA Petr, DANILEVSKY Mikhail L. 1988
Cerambycoid Larvae of Europe and Soviet Union (Coleoptera, Cerambycoidea). Part II.
Acta Universitatis Carolinae - Biologica, 31: 121-284.

ŠVÁCHA Petr, DANILEVSKY Mikhail L. 1989
Cerambycoid Larvae of Europe and Soviet Union (Coleoptera, Cerambycoidea). Part III.
Acta Universitatis Carolinae - Biologica, 32: 1-205.

ŠVÁCHA Petr, WANG Ji-J., CHEN Su-C. 1979
Larval morphology and biology of Philus antennatus and Heterophilus punctulatus, and systematic position of the Philinae.
Ann. Soc. Entomol. Fr. (N.S.), 33(3): 323-369.

ŠVÁCHA Petr 2001
Überfamilie: Chrysomeloidea, Familie: Cerambycidae, Unterfamilie Lamiinae.
In KLAUSNITZER Bernhard: Die Larven der Käfer Mitteleuropas. 6. Band: Polyphaga, Teil 5, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag Heidelberg, Berlin, pp. 248 - 298.
Martin Rejzek
Norwich
[12:11 05/09/2008] : see this: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080706/jsp/frontpage/story_9511154.jsp
esp. ?The insects they study do not have commercial value. They include major forestry pests, and Dr Svacha's publications are of great use to forestry authorities all over the world,? Max Barclay, a curator at the Natural History Museum, London, said in an email sent to Indian scientists.

until now they are waiting for the sentence...
marian hronek
new delhi
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