Lepidoptera

Solan district is situated in the northeast region of Himachal Pradesh. During the present study, One hundred
and five species of butterflies belonging to 5 families of 72 genera are recorded. The most abundant family is
Nymphalidae followed by Lycaenidae, Hesperidae, Pieridae and Papilionidae. Analysis of these species for
abundance revealed that 54 species (51.42%) were common, 16 (15.23%) fairly common, 22 (20.9%)
uncommon and 13 (12.38%) were rare. Moreover, 13 species were placed under Wild Life Protection Act
(1972). The relative percentage of scheduled species is maximum in Lycaenidae (5.71%) followed by
Nymphalidae (4.76 %), Hesperidae is equal to Papilionidae (0.95%) and lastly Pieridae (0%).

The life cycle of Eurema laeta (Boisduval, 1836) has been studied for the first time in details at
Solan, Himachal Pradesh. The larvae of the species are found on the plant Cassia pumila Lamk. (Fabaceae:
Caesalpiniaceae). The species occurs in two distinct seasonal forms. The durations and dimensions of various
life history stages have been discussed besides studying the different behaviours including mating, ovipositing
and mud puddling.

The role of Zn in the induction of systemic inflammation in obesity and obesity related diseases has been documented. Excessive Zn
in diet was found to increase the subcutaneous fats resulting higher gain in body weights resulting obesity. The present study revealed
that Zn- induced obesity leads to systemic inflammation. TNF- α is directly related to concentration of Zn in tissues, insulin and
correlating leptin levels causes insulin and leptin resistance which have been linked to the fall in antioxidant enzyme activities
including superoxide dismutase and catalase due to Cu-deficiency in the tissues leading to rise in liver lipid peroxidation reactions
pertaining to increased outcome of oxidative stress.

The moths of the family Psychidae (Insecta: Lepidoptera) are commonly known as bagworms, because they complete their larval development within a self-enclosing case, which hangs on the branches of a tree or a twig on height. The females of these moths have reduced wings and legs, so they cannot move after attaining maturity and hence they are virtually an egg producing machine.
Bagworm species are commonly polyphagous and known as minor pests which damage different crops by defoliating the leaves. In Southeast Asia, these insects sometimes do serious damage in Palm plantations and plants of the family Leguminosae.
The bagworms family includes 1350 described species belonging to 241 genera distributed throughout the world (Van Nieukerken et. al., 2011) except Antarctica. They are found throughout the tropical and subtropical parts of the world excepting the genus Clania , which is only recorded from the Indo- Australian region.
In the year 1892, Hampson published 36 species from British India including Sri Lanka and Myanmar. Presently, in India 106 species belonging to 34 genera have been found to occur (Sobczyk, 2011), as listed below along with their systematic position.

This present communication reports Mimegralla albimana (Doleschall, 1856), a dipteran species under family
Micropezidae, for first time from the Indian part of Sunderban and this species is also the first representative of the
family Micropezidae from the Sunderban Mangrove ecosystem.

Tea is a perennial cash crop which is grown at a large scale in Northern parts of West Bengal, India with
a great susceptibility to attack of variety of insect pests throughout the year. Regular field surveys were
conducted in tea gardens of West Bengal from 2011 to 2013 with the objectives of collection,
Preservation and identification of Lepidopteron pests. The study revealed fourteen adult moth species of
the family Erebidae of which two species Arctornis submarginata Walker and Somena scintillans
(Walker) have been found pests.

Overall aim of this study was to know the diversity of aquatic beetles and their distribution pattern in different islands of Sunderban, West Bengal. Among the eleven orders of aquatic insects the most common ones are aquatic Coleoptera or aquatic beetles. Aquatic beetles are generally involved in nutrient recycling and form an important component of natural food web in aquatic ecosystem. Sometimes they serve as reliable indicators of aquatic system. A total of 37 species under 5 families of aquatic beetles (Coleoptera) have been recorded from different water bodies of Sajnekhali (22° 07'242'' N and 088° 49'458'' E), Gosaba (22° 09'470'' N and 088° 48'100'' E), Bali (22° 04'324'' N and 088° 42'243'' E) and Satjelia (22° 08'547'' N and 088° 51'664'' E) (Eastern side) and Sagar island (Western side) of Sunderban in West Bengal part. It has been found that the family Dytiscidae was the most abundant group constituting 51% of the total aquatic beetle species reported from Sunderban, West Bengal, followed by Hydrophilidae (27%), Noteridae (11%), Gyrinidae (8%) and Spercheidae (3%). Of them, Canthydrus laetabilis (Walker) of the family Noteridae is the most common species found in all the islands. Globeria leachi Hope of the family Hydrophilidae is found only in Bali island whereas, Helochares lentus Sharp of the family Hydrophilidae and Laccophilus sharpi Regimbart of the family Dytiscidae are only found in Sagar island. Besides this, three species of the family Gyrinidae, namely, Orectochilus (Patrus) haemorrhous Regimbart, Orectochilus (Patrus) ribeiroi Vazirani and Orectochilus (Patrus) similis Ochs and one species of the family of Spercheidae, namely, Spercheus gibbus Champion are only reported from Sajnekhali.

Present paper confirms the report of 591 species, under 404 genera of 100 families belonging to 13 orders of insects from the Indian parts of Sunderbans. In terms of species richness, the order Lepidoptera is the most speciose (163 species), followed by Diptera (133 species), Hyemnoptera (96 species), Coleoptera (81 species), Orthoptera (19 species), Dermaptera (8 species), Isoptera (7 species), Neuroptera (6 species), Thysanoptera (2species), Blattodea (2species) and Phthiraptera (2 species).