We report preliminary results from an ongoing series of experiments on lifespan extension by appropriately modified Ayurvedic rasayanas in animal models. Here data are presented indicating lifespan extensions of 51–55% (up to 70–95% in the pilot experiment) in a standard strain of Drosophila melanogaster (Oregon-K) using a standard rasayana (Ayurvedic herbal formulation for life-extension) suitably adapted for insects. In a first experiment, two groups of 20 unmated D. melanogaster strain Oregon-K kept at 22°C received either rasayana or standard yeast diet; days of death were recorded. Another experiment investigated possible sex differences; equal sized (N = 30) groups of similar males, females, and controls were compared. Life lengths of all controls were in the strain's usual range: in Experiment 1, control life lengths were minimum 40 to maximum 53 days; experimental group figures were 81–91 days; groups were completely separated, experimental group minimum life length being 28 days more than control group maximum life length, i.e., about 2.5 full distribution widths – a sign test for the null hypothesis yields p < 2–20, i.e., 10–6 as maximum p. Experiment 2 found no differences between life lengths of males and females; but the maximum life length of 30 controls (60 days in males and 66 days in females) was once again far shorter than the minimum life length of the 60 in the two experimental groups, strengthening the findings of Experiment 1. Despite group sizes being relatively small, results are conclusive: the rasayanas in question increase D. melanogaster strain Oregon-K life length. The complexity of the formulation suggests that multiple mechanisms are involved – worth further investigation.

The dicroglossid genus Sphaerotheca was erected by Günther in 1859, with its range of distribution in South Asia. Since then, 13 species have been described and 10 species are considered valid. Many of these descriptions were from low to mid-elevation ranges of homestead areas, agroecosystems and degraded landscapes with a few from forested areas. In the present account, a new species of Sphaerotheca, a genetically distinct lineage with a morphological character set distinguishable from its congeners, is described from the surroundings of Bengaluru city, India. Based on evidence for the origin of the original specimen, we also designated a neotype for Rana variegata Gravenhorst, 1829, a junior primary homonym of Rana variegata Linnaeus, 1758, and permanently invalid name, so that it is now a subjective synonym of Rana (Tomopterna) breviceps rolandae Dubois, 1983.

By analyzing the progeny of crosses involving brown eye mutants and the wild types in two members of Drosophila nasuta subgroup namely D. n. nasuta and D. n. albomicans we could show that the mutant gene is recessive, located in the chromosome 2 and the alleles of this gene are present at different loci. A study of fitness in the eye color mutants in comparison with the wild types revealed that D. n. nasuta mutant has higher viability at both 25 ± 1 • C and ambient temperatures; while D. n. albomicans mutant has faster rate of development only at 25 ± 1 • C. Quantitative analysis of eye pigments in the mutants revealed that there is biosynthesis of both pteridines and xanthommatins unlike in bw/bw of D. melanogaster, where only xanthommatins are synthesized. In both the species, the pteridine quantities in mutants are similar; whereas xanthommatin quantity in bw n /bw n is 10 times higher than that of bw a /bw a. Further, the F 1 progeny of intraspecific crosses (wild type X mutant) are found to have high amounts of pteridine, even when compared with parental wild type.

Stress is a state of mental or emotional strain of an individual.  In recent years nutritional antioxidants study have gain more attention in minimizing the stress like oxidative stress. The stress resistant ability in an organism can be increased by the supplementation of herbal resources. However, few plant extracts are known to have stress resistant ability and increases the tolerance capacity. Plants containing high antioxidant and other bioactive compounds promote tolerance capacity. An antioxidant rich plant has been proved to decreases the   lipid peroxidation. Here, we investigated the potential protective effect of ethanolic extract of Withania somnifera (WS), against Paraquat toxicity on stress tolerance capacity using Drosophila melanogaster. Wild-type fruit flies of Oregon-K strain were fed with standard food media with 1mg/ml and 10 mg/ml of WS.  The oxidative stress was induced by exposing the extract supplemented flies to Paraquat (20 mM).  The stress tolerance capacity of flies was measured by subjecting to desiccation and oxidative stresses. Further, locomotor activity, lipid peroxidation were also studied along with the quantification of triglycerides, glycogen in WS fed flies under stress conditions. Our result reveals that PQ induced WS fed flies showed greater survivability, better locomotor ability when compared to PQ induced flies.WS fed flies increases about 73.55% of resistance ability under oxidative conditions and increased by 59.15% under desiccation than PQ induced flies. WS was more effective in protecting against Paraquat toxicity. The flies fed with high dose of WS (10mg/ml) showed greater improvement of the tolerance ability when subjected to desiccation and oxidative stresses. Further, the data on biochemical analysis reveals that lipid peroxidation activities were found to be significantly low and the triglyceride as well as glycogen quantities were found to be significantly high in WS fed flies compare to –ve control under both desiccation and oxidative stress conditions.  Together, these findings suggest that WS promotes stress resistant ability by modulating metabolism and reducing oxidative damage. Keywords: Drosophila melanogaster, Withania somnifera, Oxidative stress assay, Desiccation Assay, Negative Geotaxis,

Shathavarin-IV is a bioactive compound (a steroidal saponin) of Asparagus racemosus. We examined the antioxidant effects of Shathavarin-IV associated with LPO in Drosophila. The antioxidant efficacy of the compound was evaluated through the determination of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) and LPO in the homogenate of the Shathavari-IV supplemented flies of D. melanogaster under stressed and non-stressed conditions. The oxidative stress was induced by paraquat exposure. All the analyses were carried out in males and females at two different concentrations of Shr-IV (1mg/ml and 10mg/ml of diet) fed groups. The induced oxidative stress by paraquat exposure was evidenced by significant declining in the level of SOD, CAT and G6PD with the increase in the level of LPO. In case of dose-I and dose-II pretreated flies, a significant diminishes in the level of LPO with significant increase of antioxidant enzymes were observed. The compound Shr-IV exhibited better level of protective ability in high dose treatment against the stress compared to low dose.

Free radicals and oxidative stress are recognized as important factors in the biology of aging as well as in many age-related diseases. Dietary antioxidant plays a potential role in the reduction of age-related diseases. Many medicinal plants are rich source of antioxidants and promote longevity. Drosophila is a suitable animal model to study ageing and oxidative study. This study evaluated the antioxidant property of Asparagus racemosus on longevity and G6PD activity in Drosophila melanogaster. The analyses were carried out in stress and non stress conditions. Longevity increased almost by 29% at low concentration and 41% at high concentration in extract supplemented flies. G6PD level was significantly increased in extract supplemented larval stages than adults. The antioxidant property of Asparagus racemosus increases the larval G6PD activity thus; it extends the lifespan in adults.Abbreviation A. racemosus Asparagus racemosus, ACR Acrylamide, OS Oxidative stress, G6PD Glucose 6 Phosphate Dehydrogenase.

By analyzing the progeny of crosses involving brown eye mutants and the wild types in two members of Drosophila nasuta subgroup namely D. n. nasuta and D. n. albomicans we could show that the mutant gene is recessive, located in the chromosome 2 and the alleles of this gene are present at different loci. A study of fitness in the eye color mutants in comparison with the wild types revealed that D. n. nasuta mutant has higher viability at both 25 ± 1 • C and ambient temperatures; while D. n. albomicans mutant has faster rate of development only at 25 ± 1 • C. Quantitative analysis of eye pigments in the mutants revealed that there is biosynthesis of both pteridines and xanthommatins unlike in bw/bw of D. melanogaster, where only xanthommatins are synthesized. In both the species, the pteridine quantities in mutants are similar; whereas xanthommatin quantity in bw n /bw n is 10 times higher than that of bw a /bw a . Further, the F 1 progeny of intraspecific crosses (wild type X mutant) are found to have high amounts of pteridine, even when compared with parental wild type.

In a recent study, Hortal et al. (2015) recognized seven shortfalls of knowledge that hamper our understanding of biodiversity. Three of these are of particular importance for drawing conservation strategies for ecological indicator species, among which we can count the amphibians (Simon et al. 2011): the Linnean shortfall describes ‘the knowledge incongruity between the described species and the remaining species yet to be described’ (Brown & Lomolino 1998); the Wallacean shortfall defines ‘paucity of knowledge about the actual distribution range of the species’ (Lomolino 2004); and the Darwinian shortfall refers to ‘lack of knowledge about the tree of life and evolution of lineages, species and traits’ (Diniz-Filho et al. 2013).