In my life, I have only been afraid of two kinds of bugs, one is legless, and the other has a lot of legs.
In the changeable weather, not only people are extremely hot, but even other small animals are unbearable, and they often behave abnormally.
A few days ago, a large number of bamboo insects appeared in Wanyuan, Sichuan, densely packed together. Everywhere I went, the scene was very "spectacular" and made people's scalps tingle.
The number of bamboo worms this time has reached the point of becoming a disaster. Many have invaded uninhabited farmhouses, even to the point of mobilizing helicopters to spray sanitize.
You know, the stick insects are rarely lived in groups, and this large number of appearances makes people feel very strange.
Many netizens also talked about this matter: "What happened this year, how the bugs are out of activity, brushed up to several, is there any change in the earth, animals are more sensitive than people."
Some people also joked: "Why do bamboo stick insects gather in a pile, it should be that bamboo is less clustered into bamboo." Of course, this can only be seen as a joke.
So, how much do you know about this stick worm with many legs? Is there any indication of its appearance?
stick insect
Stick insects, also known as the grub, are the longest species of insects in existence. The general body length is 3-30 cm, and the longest can reach 64 cm.
Its body extends longitudinally in the shape of a rod or a leafy extension laterally, and looks very much like a bamboo knot (such as a bamboo stick worm) or broadleaf, and looks very much like a bamboo leaf (leaf repair). The body color is mostly green or brown and looks like bamboo leaves. Stick insects, which are mostly green or brown in color, also have wings.
At this stage, there are more than 3,000 species in the world, while there are more than 380 species on the mainland. Stick insects are often considered pests, mainly due to their predatory characteristics.
Stick insects mainly use leaves, young shoots, and petioles, and when severe, they can eat the whole leaf, eventually causing the large trees to wither and even die.
Stick insects are solitary insects, and it is difficult to see them living in groups.
The number of things will be reversed, and the larger the number, it will become a disaster. On the mainland, many forestry forests have been damaged due to stick insect activity.
On the mainland, the earliest records of bamboo stick insects harming forest trees can be traced back to 1985, for example, in 1989, when about 3,000 hectares of forest trees in Jiangxi were threatened. Since then, the activity of stick insects has become more and more frequent, and in just two years from 2009 to 2011, about 30,000 hectares of trees in Guizhou have been destroyed by stick insects.
With the increase in the scope and extent of the harm of stick insects year by year, some stick insects have been identified as one of the forestry pests and included in relevant professional textbooks as leaf-eating pests.
The reproductive mode of the stick insect is also very special, when the chromosome of the stick insect is changed, it is found that the meiosis is stopped in the middle stage, and then the egg is formed, and then the time is ripe to let oxygen enter the egg cells from the micropores of the egg to stimulate it, and then develop into a new individual.
So why did meiosis stop in the medium term?
The scientists' explanation for this is that because the centrosome is provided by male sperm, there is no significant difference in the ecological niches needed for parthenogenesis and sexual reproduction, but there are differences in the management of transposing factors, even if parthenogenesis is favorable in the short term. The female's sexual characteristics have not disappeared, but still maintain the mating behavior and release chemical signals containing mating information.
This mode of reproduction may be detrimental to the evolution of the species, and even change the evolutionary direction of the species.
Although it sounds like stick insects reproduce in a very unique way, they have existed on Earth for about 299 million years, and it has evolved for a long time to adapt to the ever-changing environment.
So the question is, are stick worms harmful to the human body?
It is well known that the stick insect is a pest because it is a growing food insect that can cause harm to plants.
Although most of the stick insects are harmless to humans, they will secrete a substance that is irritating to carnivores, and if they are attacked or feel dangerous, they need to be disinfected after being bitten, and if they feel uncomfortable, they need to be recommended to go to a regular hospital for treatment.
55 cm, the largest insect found by humans at present
In 2008, the Natural History Museum in London, England, exhibited a giant specimen of the stick insect, which is 55 cm long), which is the "largest insect on earth" that has been discovered.
According to reports, this bamboo worm was collected from the tropical jungle of Borneo, Indonesia, and was found in October 1998, a full 10 years after the 2008 exhibition.
Since the London exhibition in 2008, a small "stick insect fever" has emerged around the world, especially in Indonesia, the Philippines and other places, where insect lovers flock to the jungle in the hope of catching a glimpse of this giant stick insect.
The solitary reproduction of the stick insect has created the "daughter country"
Some species of stick insects have magical "parthenogenesis" properties.
The so-called parthenogenesis means that female stick insects can give birth to fatherless offspring without mating with males during the reproductive process. In July 2011, scientists discovered a "Dimema stick caryosome" on the west coast of the United States — they have been parthenogenetic for 1 million years, and their group is a literal "daughter country".
Stick worm six-legged robot
Inspired by the physical characteristics of the stick insect, Germany developed the stick insect six-legged robot, also known as the autonomous cognitive six-legged control robot. This stick worm researcher designed it by studying the movement of the legs of the stick worm.
The robot's exoskeleton is made of carbon fiber and plastic, weighs 12kg, and can carry about 30kg of objects. Its movement is controlled by a "biologically inspired algorithm".
The stick insect robot could help develop new types of automated search and rescue vehicles that could command robots to carry cargo on complex terrain or help space scientists explore other planets.
The survival of the fittest is eliminated, and the stick insects also have natural enemies
Natural predators of stick insects are: ants, praying mantises, spiders, mites, viruses, fungi, color-changing tree lizards and birds. Among the many birds that prey on nymphs and adults, the first remaining birds are black capuchins.
Black curly tail, also known as an arrow, black li chicken, black dragon's eye swallow, eat a cup of tea. The bird is pure black all over, with a metallic blue-purple luster on the back and breast, and metallic blue-green wings and tails. The tail is long and forked, very similar to the posterior part of an arrow, and the apex of the outer tail feather is slightly curved upwards. The iris is black brown, and the mouth, feet, and toes are all black. It is 270 meters long and weighs about 48 grams.
Every year from June to July is the breeding season of black capuchin, which is also the busiest season for hunting and feeding chicks.
In mid-July 1996, the vertebral forest of Jiangliu Forest Farm in Bobai County was seriously endangered by stick insects, and hundreds of black capuchins were active in the branches of the vertebrae at this time, catching adult stick insects. When dissecting the black capuchin, the scientific and technological personnel found that its stomach was full of stick insects. When the bird catches the stick insect, it can swallow on the branches, or it can peck the prey into the mouth during a fast flight and fly away. Usually, the bird is seen alone and foraging.
Of course, the symbiosis between species should be maintained within a certain range, and if a species' natural enemies exist in large numbers, it will definitely seriously affect the biological chain.
Many people see so many stick insects, they may casually come to "boil oil". But are stick worms really eaten?
In fact, stick insects are strictly inedible because they contain parasites in their bodies, and clematis is one of them.
Stick worm itself is not a problem, but it contains a parasite, when the cow accidentally eats the stick worm will be infected by the clematis, resulting in the phenomenon of crazy drinking water, and finally the cow will die due to bloating and ventilation.
Cattle will die of flatulence about two or three hours after eating the stick insect by mistake, and the mortality rate is almost 100%.
Although the chances of livestock accidentally eating bamboo stick insects are small, it is also necessary to be vigilant and do not try them, whether it is a person or an animal.
#Stick insect##Sichuan Wanyuan bamboo leaf insect infestation##Sichuan Wanyuan#