Pritha Dey

About

I am a moth biologist fascinated by the diversity of forms and functions existing in these groups of insects. For my PhD (2014–2019), I studied diversity patterns of Geometrid moths along the elevation gradient in a western Himalayan Protected Area. As a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholar (2016-2017), I also created a DNA barcode reference library for Geometrid moths from western Himalaya at Zoologische Staatssammlung Munich, Germany. Subsequently (2018-2019), I completed an independent project, where I looked at the morphological trait space of Geometrid moths at the community level in different habitats along the elevation of another western Himalayan protected area. My post-doctoral research (since 2020) is on prey-predator interactions, focusing on the bat-moth system. I am also a visiting post-doctoral researcher at the Natural History Museum, Helsinki (since 2023), where I am leading the project on the phylogeography of Asian lineages in the global Geometroidea phylogeny. Thus, I have extensive training in Geometrid taxonomy, phylogenetics, and trait-based functional ecology.

Employment

• National Centre for Biological Sciences Head
  2024 - Present
• Finnish Museum of Natural History Post-doctoral fellow
  2024 - 2024

Education

• Wildlife Institute of India PhD
  2014 - 2019

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (13)

• Consistent Trait Patterns in a Hyper Diverse Moth Clade Along a Western Himalayan Elevational Gradient
  Ecology and Evolution 2026 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.73083
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• Linking eras and data: natural history collections as the foundation of India’s biodiversity science
  Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 2025 DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blaf100
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• A trait‐based understanding of the vulnerability of a Paleotropical moth community to predation by a sympatric bat with flexible foraging strategies
  Ecological Entomology 2024 DOI: 10.1111/een.13335
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• Trait distribution in Geometrid moth assemblages does not vary along a western Himalayan elevational gradient
  2024 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.01.587530
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• A trait-based understanding of the vulnerability of a paleotropical moth community to predation by a sympatric bat with flexible foraging strategies
  2023 DOI: 10.1101/2023.08.10.552891
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• New distribution and range extension records of geometrid moths (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) from two western Himalayan protected areas
  Journal of Threatened Taxa 2021 DOI: 10.11609/jott.6481.13.7.18817-18826
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• Revision of the genus Prometopidia Hampson, 1902, with description of the new species P. joshimathensis sp. nov. from West-Himalaya and its subspecies P. j. yazakii ssp. nov. from Nepal (Lepidoptera: Geometridae, Ennominae)
  Zootaxa 2021 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4980.1.2
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• First records of Agnidra vinacea (Moore, 1879) (Lepidoptera: Drepanidae: Drepaninae) from the western Himalaya, extending its known range westwards
  Journal of Threatened Taxa 2019 DOI: 10.11609/jott.4593.11.5.13622-13624
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• Towards creating a DNA Barcode reference library of geometrid moths from western Himalaya, India
  Spixiana 2019
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• A Prefatory Estimation of Diversity and Distribution of Moths in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, Western Himalaya, India
  National Academy Science Letters 2017 DOI: 10.1007/s40009-016-0534-1
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