R. POUN PRASATH GOWTHAMSEMINAR ON

AESTHETIC AND SCIENTIFIC VALUE OF INSECTS

Aesthetic Insects…

Aesthetic value

Generally, butterflies are known to be the most beautiful insects in the world.

Artists, designers, poets and songwriters have been using butterflies as subjects and inspirations in their work.

In some cultures, butterflies are often portrayed as symbols of souls, freedom, love and peace.

Blue Morpho Butterfly

Kingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: ArthropodaClass: InsectaOrder: LepidopteraFamily: NymphalidaeGenus: Morpho Fabricius,

Zebra Long tail Butterfly

Phylum : Arthropoda  Class : Insecta  Order : Lepidoptera  Family : Heliconiidae   Genus :  Heliconius Species : charitonius

The zebra long tail butterfly (Heliconius charitonius) was designated the official state butterfly of Florida in 1996. 

Kingdom AnimaliaClass Insecta

Order Lepidoptera

Family Nymphalidae

Genus Inachis (1)

Peacock Butterfly

Butterfly Parks

India’s First Butterfly Park – Butterfly Park, Bangalore

India’s Second Butterfly Park – Butterfly Park, Shimla

Butterfly Park in Pune Butterfly Park in Chandigarh

India’s first Open-air Butterfly Park in Sikkim

Butterfly Conservatory of Goa, Rajnagar, Pisgal – Priol, Ponda, Goa.

Sri Venkateswara Engineering College (SVCE), Irungattukottai

Silk from SilkwormSilk, it’s a fiber obtain from Silk worm (Bombyx mori).

SubClass – Pterygota, Order – Lepidoptera

Silk fabrics are widely used in South Asia.Depending upon the nature of the silk the value increased.

TYPES OF SILKS

Mulberry silk (Bombyx mori) it belongs to the family Bombycidae, found in Mulberry leaves, commercially ,cost effective. ( White & Yellow in colour)

Non Mulberry SilkTasar silk ( Antheraea paphia) found in forest, feed on Dalberfia, Shoran, Ficus.

Eri Silk (Philosamia ricini. (also called as castor silkworm)

Muga Silk – ( Antheraea assamensis) -Assam (India). Feed on machilus, Cinnamon

Fire flies (Glow Worms)

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: InsectaOrder: Coleoptera

Family: Lampyridae

Genus: Photuris

The insects take in oxygen and, inside special cells, combine it with a substance called luciferin to produce light with almost no heat.

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SCARAB BEETLE1. Prehistory to Buddhism and Taoism including Shamanism, The Scarab as Creator, and Buddhism and Taoism.2. Ancient Egypt including Khepri and the pyramids, The scarab and the mummy, The auspicious scarab, and Ptah and Neith.3. Indo-Europeans including Old Europe, India and Iran.4. Judeo-Christian culture including Semitic people and the Bible,Christian authors, and Modern Europe.

Ancient Egyptians and insects

Scarab beetle - powerful symbols of resurrection and eternal life.

Jwell Beetle- symbol of rebirth

Click Beetle –unclear, some releigious impact

Honey Bee – associate with sun God Ra- Ra’s Tear

Flies- protect against misfortune n disease

SCIENTIFIC VALUE OF INSECTS

HONEYHoney can be the all-natural cure when it comes to pesky colds. A persistent cough that won’t go away can easily be remedied with two teaspoons of honey, according to a 2012 study published in the journal Pediatrics. Children between the ages of 1 and 5 with night time cough due to colds coughed less frequently when they received two teaspoons of honey 30 minutes before bed.

The golden liquid’s thick consistency helps coat the throat while the sweet taste is believed to trigger nerve endings that protect the throat from incessant coughing.

SLEEP AID

Honey can be a health aid for sleepless nights. Similar to sugar, honey can cause a rise in insulin and release serotonin — a neurotransmitter that improves Good moods and happiness.

“The body converts serotonin into melatonin, a chemical compound that regulates the length and the quality of sleep.

Moreover, honey also contains several amino acids, including tryptophan. Honey’s steady rise in insulin, causes the tryptophan in honey to enter the brain, where it’s then converted into serotonin and then into melatonin, which is a sleep aid. This hormone is responsible for regulating sleep and wake cycles.

TREATS DANDRUFFBy applying honey diluted with 10 percent warm water to problem areas and leaving it on for three hours before rinsing led to itch relief and no scaling within a week. Skin lesions healed within two weeks and patients even showed an improvement in hair loss. The patients did not relapse even after six months of use.

TREATS WOUNDS AND BURNSHoney is a natural antibiotic.It can be used as a conventional treatment for wounds and burns by disinfecting wounds and sores from major species of bacteria such as Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

A 2005 study published in the British Journal of Surgery found all but one of patients who suffered from wounds and leg ulcers showed remarkable improvement after applying a topical application of honey.

Gastro Oesophagus Reflux : heartburn and honey

Alginates form viscous raft on top of the gastric contents and this acts as a physical barrier to prevent gastro oesophageal reflux.

Honey which is 125.9 times more viscous than distilled water at 37cmay be helpful in preventing gastro oesophageal reflux as it can form a coating on the Oesophageal mucosa.

Pain Management

Bees - you might have seen holistic and natural remedies that use bees and substances produced by bees as treatment for a number of things. Some studies done have claimed to show that processed bee venom used in the style of acupuncture can reduce swelling and alleviate the pain of people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. Many of the studies used standard pain medication with the bee venom for faster results.

SILK WORM – SILK AS SURGICAL SUTURE

Often obtain from Bombyx mori Medically, biodegradable silkworm fibers are highly valued for their bio compatibility (i.e. minimal immune response) when sewn with human tissues as sutures or stitches. Various formulations of silk are also useful in surgical or bioengineering operations such as growing new bones, nerves or blood vessels.

SCAFFOLD

The idea being to use silk “as SCAFFOLD material to prepare the tissue engineering for regenerating of tissues and nerve grafts for promoting peripheral nerve regeneration.

Silk Protein exhibits high mechanical strength and flexibility, permeability to water and oxygen and can be made into nets, sponges or membranes, being easily handled, manipulated and sterilized…especially in tissue engineering for the generation of Artificial Bones Or Ligaments

Silks can also be naturally colored or made luminescent (fluorescent) by incorporating colouring agents into silkworm mulberry leaf diets: Hence, “novel silk-based material that maintains the superior properties of natural silk.

Silkworms – a bacteria that lives in the digestive system of silkworms contains a substance known as Serrapeptase. This substance appears to offer tremendous pain relief for people with things like back injuries and back pain. There are studies underway to see if they can also help with arthritis and with sports injuries.

Dr. Roy Altman and a team of researchers at the University of Miami recently completed their first controlled study of ant venom’s benefits for rheumatoid arthritis patients The reduction in the number and intensity of inflamed joints, and they showed marked increases in their freedom of motion. Patients who received the placebo showed little or no improvement. “They weren’t even in the same ballpark,” said one researcher. None of the patients had an allergic reaction to the venom, and none experienced even mild side effects.

South American Jungle Ants

Genus : Dinoponera

Skin-healers and Crime FightersMaggots eat necrotic (dead) flesh and leave the healthy flesh alone. The effects of how this can help people with serious injuries were first studied in the battlefields of World War I, but the treatments fell out of fashion when penicillin and other antibiotics were developed.

These days maggots are being used again to help people who suffer from flesh-eating bacteria or who are not responding to standard antibiotic treatment. Staph infections and burn treatments are also helped by maggots that will eat away dead and dying tissue and allow new and healthy tissue to grow.

Maggot Therapy

Blow flies (Chrysomya megacephala)Blow flies are often one of the first creatures to set up their homes in dead bodies. They often lay their eggs within just a few hours after they die. The life cycle of the average blow fly is so predictable and easy to follow that crime scene investigators can use them and their colonies to help determine a time of death.

Blister Beetles - beetles secreted a substance known as Cantharidan which helped alleviate pain for people experience kidney stones, urinary tract infections and burns.

Further studies showed that cantharidan contains something known as a protein blocker. Protein blockers are used to fight infections, and appeared to attack only the infected cells. Then scientists discovered it also attacked viral cells.

Now studies show that the blister beetle secretions attack hostile cells – including cancer. There are studies that indicate blister beetles might be used to battle tumors and in chemotherapy treatments.

INSECT AS BIOINDICATOR

Bioindicators are species that can be used to monitor the health of an environment or ecosystem.

Such organisms can be monitored for changes (morphological, physiological, or behavioral) that may indicate a problem within their ecosystem.

Bio indicators can tell us about the cumulative effects of different pollutants in the ecosystem.

Dragonflies and Damselflies

Dragonflies and damselflies (known collectively as the “Odonata”) are an important group in biological water quality monitoring, as they are particularly sensitive to pollution.

Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) larvae are recognized worldwide for their sensitivity to oxygen depletion in running waters, and are therefore commonly used as bioindicators in many monitoring programs.Mayflies inhabiting fresh waters like lakes and ponds.

Mayflies

MidgesSpecies of Chironomidae (Order: Diptera) are widely used as bioindicators of water quality, since their larvae undergo morphological deformities when in contact with water contaminated with chemicals

Midges are also used to calibrate or forecast the changes in temperature

The honey bees (Hymenoptera) act as bio indicator of environment in two ways as it signals via high mortality rates the presence of toxic molecules or via residues in honey, pollen and larvae the presence of heavy metals.

Thank You…

Rule the Small Wonders