Beijing, May 18 (CNBC) -- According to the Voice of China News Hyperlink of the Central Radio and Television Corporation, May 18 is International Museum Day. At present, the collection of insects in the museum exceeds 1 million pieces, and there are more than 70 kinds of insects with the name of "the world's largest", of which 3 collections have obtained the Guinness World Records certificate.
Afraid that insects are too small for specimens to see clearly?
What are the "big" insects in Chengdu Huaxi Entomological Museum? What details can digital insect specimens help people see?
"Large" insect set
Chengdu Huaxi Entomological Museum has three Guinness World Records certificates in its collection, including the world's longest insect, the Chinese giant bamboo worm; the world's largest aquatic insect, the Yuezhong megalodon; and the world's largest mosquito, the giant mosquito.
Here you can also see the world's largest cicada, the Emperor Cicada, whose wings spread out about 20 centimeters and whose loud call can reach 90 decibels; the world's largest moth with wings, the Snakehead King Moth, with wings of 420 square centimeters.
Exhibition area in Chengdu Huaxi Entomological Museum (Photo provided by the interviewee issued by the Central Broadcasting Network)
And some insect specimens do take some eye effort.
Zhao Li, director of Chengdu Huaxi Insect Museum, introduced that there are interesting insects that are good at camouflage, such as stick insects that simulate branches, dead leaf butterflies that simulate leaves, and orchid praying mantises that simulate orchids.
In addition, among the more than 20,000 specimens on display, there is the only golden-spotted beaked butterfly on the mainland that is listed as a first-class protected butterfly. Zhao Li said: "The number of this butterfly is rare, and the number of giant pandas that appear in the wild each year is even smaller than the number of giant pandas in the wild. ”
Specimen of the golden-spotted beaked butterfly (Photo provided by the interviewee issued by the Central Broadcasting Network)
How big are the bugs? 100G
The Chengdu Huaxi Entomological Museum is working with a research team at Shanghai Jiao Tong University to produce digital insect specimens using a three-dimensional display technique known as time domain technology. This technology scans insect specimens with high precision in different light scenes, enlarging the details of insect specimens, so that viewers can view insects in all directions without dead ends. Zhao Li said that through digital insect specimens, we can even see the scales on the butterfly wings, the fine structure of the scale surface, and the metallic luster of the beetle, which is captured and restored through digital technology.
Yangcai arm golden turtle three-dimensional scanning map local enlargement process (central broadcast network sent by the interviewee photo)
To present such high-precision details is not easy, Zhao Li introduced, scanning a collection takes 20 to 30 hours, the data generated is more than 100G, and after obtaining the data, the data must be reprocessed and created.
Fewer and fewer insects?
Recently, British researchers have found that due to the impact of climate change and intensive agriculture, the number of insects around the world is decreasing, and the number of insects in some areas has even been reduced by half. In this regard, Zhao Li said that the number of insects has actually been fluctuating: "Insects have a strong ability to adapt to the environment, and may multiply in a suitable environment, but if they do not adapt to the environment, insects may also disappear in an area in the short term." ”
In terms of human impact, large-scale cultivation of crops will lead to fewer insects. This is mainly because the singularization of crops or vegetation has led to the singularization of insect species, which is manifested as a single insect species, but the number of individuals has soared. This phenomenon is also known as the "green desert" – some areas may seem green, but the monolithic vegetation has reduced the number of species that feed on plants.
Zhao Li said that human activities do interfere with insects: "What we can do is to try to keep a small world of our own for them, even if it is a small piece of natural forest, a small natural pond, you can let the insects get a better living environment." ”
Zhao Li suggested that humans can not only designate a certain mountain forest in the wild as a protected area, but also designate a wetland or natural forest in the city as a protected area to protect the native insect population.
Producer: Liang Yue
Reporter: Hejia Liu Fei
Editor: Pan Yuwei Peng Yuji