Pragya Khanna recalls how, as a PhD scholar studying midge flies in Jammu, she came across species that didn’t match any of the 800 species of Chironomids known to the world and contacted Jon Martin—a University of Melbourne expert on the insects—on email, later sending him samples for identification. As Anthrax scare had gripped the world at the time, no courier service was prepared to carry a parcel containing ethanol to preserve the insects. Following an undertaking on stamp paper about the contents of the parcel, however, a courier service agency finally agreed to send the parcel to Australia.

That’s how the seven new species of midge fly, discovered by the 35-year-old lecturer of zoology at the Government College for Women in Parade Ground, Jammu, came to be called the PK series (PK1-7). Unlike the 800 species of Chironomus known to taxonomists across the world, the PK series is highly sensitive to pollutants in water.

Khanna says she had found 14 species of Chironomus in Jammu, of which seven were not known to the world earlier, and the others were being reported for the first time located in India.

Her studies are based on the genotoxic effects of heavy metals and pesticides in water on the chromosomes of Chironomids. The chromosome structure of these species changes when exposed to pollutants, making them good bio-level indicators of pollution in water bodies, Khanna says.

Khanna’s name has been included in 26th edition of Marquis Who’s Who in the World, published from New Jersey, USA. She has also been nominated for the prestigious International Educator of the Year 2009 award presented by Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England.

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