No abstract

No abstract

Background Entomophagy, the consumption of insects, is a common practice among various tribal communities across the globe. Various factors such as flavour, nutrient content, availability and claimed medicinal values have contributed to the increased consumption of insects. Two commonly consumed insects among the Bodo tribe in Assam, namely, Samia cynthia ricini Boisduval, 1854 (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) and Dytiscus marginalis Linnaeus, 1758 (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae), were procured from local markets in Kokrajhar and evaluated for their proximate and mineral contents using Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) guidelines and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Both the insects are available throughout the year and are consumed on a large scale. Results S. cynthia ricini showed higher contents of moisture (7.89 ± 0.020%), ash (4.10 ± 0.077%), fat (22.23 ± 0.209%) and carbohydrate (7.78 ± 0.057%) whereas higher contents of crude fibre (14.28 ± 0.102%), protein (56.37 ± 0.366%) and nitrogen (9.02 ± 0.058%) were observed in D. marginalis. The calorific value of S. cynthia ricini was higher with 430.19 ± 2.241 kcal whereas D. marginalis showed a lower value of 382.58 ± 1.527 kcal. D. marginalis showed the presence of arsenic (As) (0.014 ppm), and sodium (Na) was not detected. S. cynthia ricini did not show the presence of As and magnesium (Mg). Lead (Pb) showed a value of 0.026 and 0.044 ppm, and cadmium (Cd) showed a value of 0.005 and 0.005 ppm in S. cynthia ricini and D. marginalis respectively. Conclusions Both the studied insects showed high protein and fat contents and a high calorific value. Although the insects show the presence of several essential minerals in considerable amounts, they showed the presence of toxic heavy metals in trace amounts. Hence, their consumption must be done in a controlled manner owing to the presence of As, Pb and Cd which are capable of causing adverse reactions in its consumers.

No abstract

The study was conducted in Chakrashila Wildlife Sanctuary of western Assam to explore diversity and habitat preference of odonata (both dragonflies and damseldly) from April 2018 to March 2019. During study period we recorded total 57 species of odonate from 39 genera and 8 families out of which, dragonfly (Anisoptera) represented by 37 species and damselfly (Zygoptera) represented by 20 species. Suborder Zygoptera were represented by the families Chlorocyphidae, Coenagrionidae, Platycnemididae, Euphaeidae, Calopterygidae and suborder Anisoptera by the Aeshnidae, Gomphidae and Libellulidae. Libellulidae was the largest family with 29 species, while Chlorocyphidae and Euphaeidae represent only single species. Among the five habitats highest species were recorded from wetland (63%) and lowest from dense forest (41%) while 20 species were recognized as habitat specialist and 7 species were habitat generalist.