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Text: Bread Clip Knowledge
Edit|Bread Clip Knowledge
«——【Preamble】】 ——»
Friends who lived in the countryside when they were young should be very familiar with all kinds of flowers and plants, and careful friends should find a very strange phenomenon on the plants on the roadside, that is, sometimes there will be white foam on the plants on the roadside.
Whenever we see a white foam, the adults and old people around us will always remind us not to touch this, this white foam is the spit of a poisonous snake.
This sentence makes many people shy away from the white foam on the roadside plants. When I was young, no one really explored what the white foam on this roadside plant was, and many people really thought of this white foam as the spit of poisonous snakes, and this saying has always accompanied many people growing up.
Many people wonder what the white foam on the roadside plants is? Are they really the saliva of poisonous snakes? And what is the effect of their presence on the roadside plants?
«——【Mysterious White Bubble·】——»
In our daily lives, especially on country roads, we sometimes see roadside plants covered with a thin layer of white foam.
This white foam has always hung people's curiosity, and many elders call it the foam of poisonous snakes. So what exactly is this bubble? Actually, this bubble is produced by a creature, but it is not a poisonous snake.
Compared with poisonous snakes, this creature is a small one, very inconspicuous in nature, and it is precisely because of the existence of this small creature that this white foam will appear on the plant, so what is this mysterious creature?
This small creature that can leave white foam on the plant is called the foaming cicada, which is a small insect that has a special name in the countryside, called the foaming worm, which is a widely distributed animal in the world, its species are very rich, large and small contain more than 2,000 species, it mainly lives in tropical and temperate regions.
This animal is usually small in size, they rarely exceed 1.5 cm in length, and it is an insect with unique physical characteristics.
They are usually yellow-brown or green, and look like a small egg from a distance, and they are very bouncing insects, which can crawl and jump from plant to plant, and can be said to come and go freely from plant to plant.
The life cycle of cicadas is also very short, their life cycle consists of three stages, the first stage is the egg, the second stage is called nymph, and the third stage is called adult.
Normally, the adult will lay its eggs on the branches or leaves of the plant, and the hatched nymphs will undergo multiple molts and gradually grow into adults.
The cicada is a small insect that can be found everywhere, it mainly feeds on the branches and leaves of plants, and when they eat, they will use their mouthparts to pierce the young leaves or young skin of plants to absorb the juice in them.
This way of feeding will cause some damage to the plant, although it will not lead to the death of the plant, but it will still cause some damage to the plant.
While feeding, the cicada will excrete a part of the plant juice in the form of honeydew, which will also attract other insects to come to feed, so it can be said that the cicada is a unique small creature in nature.
Although this insect can be found everywhere in rural areas, because of its small size, it is almost unnoticed, so it looks like white foam appears on plants out of thin air.
People are in awe of unknown creatures, so when they encounter white foam, they can only say that it is the saliva of poisonous snakes and keep children away.
Many people wonder how this white foam is produced, and how does this tiny insect silently leave white foam on plants?
«——【The secret of spitting white foam·】——»
The reason why the wood cicada spits out white foam is actually related to its growth and development. The silkworm is divided into three stages.
When the cicada evolves to the nymph stage, the nymphs of the cicada secrete a special foam that they use to protect themselves.
The cicada has a special organ in its abdomen, which is the weapon they use to create white foam, this organ is called the foam gland, and this organ is able to secrete a viscous liquid.
When the cicada mixes this slime with air, it forms a white foam. The reason why the wood cicada spits out white foam is actually a means he used to protect himself in hundreds of millions of years of evolution, and it belongs to a defense mechanism of the wood cicada.
When the cicada is threatened, the cicada secretes this mucus from the foam line and squeezes it through its abdomen to produce the foam, which is very fast, taking only a few seconds.
The composition of this foam is also very simple, its main components are some water and mucus, which also contains some substances that can reduce surface tension.
These foams have good elasticity and stability, and they can adhere to the body of the cicada for a long time.
When the foam adheres to the body of the cicada, it will form a protective layer around the cicada, which can prevent the water around the cicada from evaporating, and can also prevent the cicada from being attacked by heaven and earth.
In addition, the foam of the cicada can also play other roles, such as during the breeding season, the male cicada will spit foam to attract the attention of the female's ink, and the foam is also a unique way for the millers to mark their territory.
At the same time, the cicada will also use foam to hide itself and protect its eggs and nymphs, the process of foaming white foam is a unique biological phenomenon, the formation and effect of this foam is closely related to the physiological structure and living environment of the silkworm.
And because of its unique defense mechanism, the cicada is the king and dominates the natural world. Although the cicada has its own unique way of survival and reproduction, this insect is not a beneficial insect in the eyes of humans, because. The presence of cicadas is harmful to the surrounding plants.
«——【The Harmfulness of the Chopper·】——»
Because cicadas mainly feed on the branches and leaves of plants, they will continue to absorb plant liquids, and this feeding method will cause some damage to the plant itself, although it will not lead to the death of the plant, but it will still affect the survival rate of the plant.
Although cicadas play an important role in ecosystems and are important links in the food chain as plant insects, their feeding on plants stimulates the plants to develop defense mechanisms.
The way cicadas reproduce and feed in large quantities will bring certain harm to crops and forests, and their feeding method of sucking plant sap will directly lead to yellowing, shriveling, and even death of plant leaves. Therefore, in the eyes of people, the cicada is not a beneficial insect.
«——【·Conclusion·】——»
In recent years, efforts have been made to control the number of cicadas. For example, many farmers regularly remove weeds and litter from their fields and orchards, which can greatly reduce the habitat and breeding grounds of cicadas.
Some experienced farmers will use biopesticides or natural enemy insects to control the number of cicadas, and will carry out reasonable tillage and fertilization before planting crops to improve the plant's resistance to pests and diseases.