Screening and characterization of lipase producing bacteria isolated from the gut of a lepidopteran larvae, Samia ricini

•Rhodamine B screening identified twenty-eight lipolytic gut bacterial isolates.•Majority of lipolytic bacteria belonged to the genus Bacillus and Pseudomonas.•Isolates ERI011 and ERI080 from the foregut had the highest lipase activity.•S. ricini could be a resource for prospecting lipolytic microbes for use in biotechnology.