Ashok Captain

Ashok Captain is a snake expert specializing in the traditional taxonomy of Indian snake species. His affiliations include the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Indian Herpetological Society (IHS), Pune, Indian Institute of Science – Centre for Ecological Studies (Bengaluru), Madras Crocodile Bank Trust (MCBT), Chennai, State Forest Research Institute (SFRI), Itanagar, Pakke Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh (PTR), Natural History Museum, London (NHM), and the Institute of Environment Education and Research, Bharati Vidyapeeth University (BVIEER), among others.

He has taught traditional taxonomy at various “Schools of Herpetology” sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. He has co-authored Snakes of India: The Field Guide and Asian Pitvipers, as well as several notes and technical papers documenting first records of snakes in India, new species descriptions, and taxonomic revisions of certain Indian snakes. In recognition of his contributions to ophiology, two snakes have been named after him: Captain’s wood snake and Ashok’s bronzeback.