Studies on Some Giant Crab Spiders of the Family Heteropodidae from India

Dr. Benoy Krishna Tikader, born inj Joydihi, a small village in the District of Khulna, now in Bangladesh, was educated at the University of Calcutta.  Dr. Tikader, was awarded the Ph.D. and D.Sc. Degree of the Calcutta University for his outstanding and meritorious contributions on spiders.  He has been actively engaged in taxonomic and ecological research on spiders and scorpions of the Indian region for the past three decades.  The author is also writing a Handbook on Indian Spiders which will give complete information about the Arachnida of India.  Some other books by this author on various subjects are also under publication, viz., Sea Shore Animals of Andaman and Nicobar Islands (with colour illustrations), Glimpses of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Beautiful Shells of Andaman and Nicobar Sea and their Utility for Cottage Industry, Endemic Birds of India and Handbook of Indian Testudines.  Dr. Tikader has a hobby of wildlife and nature photography and majority of the photographs which will be used in the above mentioned books are by him.  Dr. Tikader is at present the Director of the Zoological Survey of India and is a member of the Indian Board for Wildlife.