The Chinese rice locust of tianmu mountain research examination results

The Tianmu Mountain Research Examination was successfully concluded, and the 4 groups of students observed and collected more than 70 species of insects, and sorted out and made more than 150 insect specimens, which can be described as a full harvest. After sorting, classification and identification, a total of 10 individuals of mountain rice locust were collected.

The Chinese rice locust belongs to the orthoptera locust family, a cone-headed locust insect, widely distributed, from Heilongjiang in the north to Guangdong in the south, especially in the south. It inhabits the stems and leaves of various plants, and mainly eats grass plants, harming rice, corn, sorghum, millet, sugarcane, russet white and so on. Adult females are 36 mm to 44 mm long. Males are 30 mm–33 mm; green or yellow-green throughout the body, with dark brown longitudinal stripes on the left and right sides, from the compound eye backwards to the posterior margin of the dorsal plate of the anterior thorax. The body is divided into three parts: head, chest and abdomen.

head

The head is small, the face is obviously tilted backwards and downwards, while the top of the head protrudes forward, and the two form an acute angle. The antennae are a pair, filamentous, shorter than the body and longer than the forefoot leg segments, composed of more than 20 segments. Most of the upperparts are sniffing and touching. A pair of large jaws are located on the left and right sides of the mouth, slightly triangular, undisciplined, completely chitinous, very hard. Its inner edge is the chewing edge with halogen, the upper part is called the molar tooth process, there is a millstone-like marking, its teeth are wide and flat, suitable for grinding; the lower part is called the incisor process, which is chiseled, and its tooth tip is long and suitable for tearing. The left and right jaws are asymmetrical , and the left and right tooth processes are interlaced and chimeric when closed. The outer edge of the large jaw has 2 joints with small convexities, which are connected to the skull. Due to the traction of the muscles, the jaw can swing from side to side. A pair of small jaws are also located on the left and right of the mouth, but after the large jaw, it is used to assist the large jaw in chewing food, as well as to detect the cutting ability of food. Each small jaw base part is 2 segments, namely axial nodes (cardo) and stem nodes (stipes). The axial segments are connected to the skull behind the large jaw, and there are two inner lobes on the inner anterior side of the stem node, namely the outer jaw leaf (galea) and the inner jaw (lacinia). The former is slightly curved and spoon-shaped, allowing you to hold the food to avoid spillage. The inner edge of the latter has fine teeth and bristles that can be used to crush food with the large jaw. The small jaws emitted from the outside of the stem nodes are divided into 5 segments, which are tactile and taste-inducing. When the rice locusts feed, the small jaw whiskers are constantly probing for the obtained objects. The lower lip, which heals from the left and right of the sixth pair of appendages of the original head, is covered on the ventral surface of the mouth, and has the function of holding food and clamping food in coordination with the upper lip, and is also used to detect food. The base of the lower lip, called the postmentum, heals almost completely and the skull is inactive. The posterior chin is equivalent to the healing left and right axial segments and is divided into inconspicuous submentum and chin(mentum). The chin connects the freely moving praementumP ; the anterior chin corresponds to an incompletely healed left and right stem node, with a ligula at the front and a pair of lower lip whiskers divided into 3 segments on the outside. In addition to the above three kinds of mouth appendages, there is also an upper lip and a tongue (hypopharynx), which together make up the mouth parts of the rice locust. Both parts are non-appendage evolution, the upper lip is an extension of the skull, corresponding to the lower lip, forming the anterior wall of the mouth, in a semicircle, with a missing in the center of the curved lower edge, the upper edge is straight, connected to the head, and can be moved. The tongue is a membranous bag-shaped protrusion of the bottom wall of the anterior cavity of the mouth, with bristles and fine spines on the surface, and the salivary glands are opened below its base, which has the function of stirring food and taste.

chest

The thorax is formed by the healing of 3 somatic segments, and although there are still boundaries between the nodes, the segments can no longer move freely. These three thoracic segments are called anterior thorax, middle chest and posterior thorax from front to back. The dorsal plate of the anterior thorax is well developed and saddled, extending backwards to cover the mid-thorax. The midrange of the dorsal plate of the rice locust is lower, while the chondracris and Locsta are higher. There is a horizontal slit on each side of the middle chest and the posterior chest to divide the middle and posterior chest into two parts, respectively. The thorax is the movement center of the Chinese rice locust, with 3 pairs of feet and 2 pairs of upturned. Each of the three thoracic segments has a pair of feet, called the forefoot, middlefoot, and hindfoot. The structure of each foot is basically the same, consisting of 6 limb segments, namely the basal segment (coxa), the trochanter (trochanter), the leg segment (femur), the tibia segment (tibia), the appendage (tarsus) and the anterior appendage (praetarsus). Both the basal and metastatic segments are short, especially the basal segments that are connected to the body are particularly inconspicuous. The leg segments are very developed. The nodules are slender like rods and prickly. The tarsal section is divided into 3 subsections. The anterior tarsal segment evolves into a pair of melons with a flat suction cup-like midpart (arolium) between the paws. Both the forefoot and the middle foot are walking feet, while the hind feet are jumping feet, which are particularly strong, with parallel pinnate bumps between the upper and lower ridges outside the thick leg joints. The inner margin of the upper side of the femoral node has 9-11 spines, and the distance between the spines is equal to each other. The two pairs of wings are born on the middle and hindhoraxes respectively, and are called forewings and hindwings in turn. The forewings are narrower than the hindwings, and the leathery texture is relatively hard, which is used to protect the hindwings and called the cover wings. The hindwings are wide, soft and membranous, play a major role when flying, and fold under the forewings like folding fans when resting.

abdomen

The abdomen consists of 11 solitary segments, and its appendages are almost all degenerated. The first ventral segment is smaller, with a eardrum auditor on each right side of the left and right. The second to eighth abdominal segments are well developed. The last 3 abdominal segments are degenerated. Its morphology varies by sex. The ninth and tenth abdominal segments of the female locust are small and heal each other. The eleventh abdominal segment is also degenerate, and its dorsal plate is located above the anus, called the superanal plate (superanal=plate=epiproct), and the web plate is divided into two left and right plates, called the side plate (secondary plate) (podical plates = paraproct). A pair of vestigial appendages of this ventral segment evolve into short tail whiskers (cercus). There is also an ovipositor at the end of the abdomen. The ovipositors are flapped in the shape of 2 pairs in total, and the pair on the dorsal side is called dorsal identification, which evolves from a pair of appendages of the ninth abdominal segment, and the pair on the ventral side is called the ventral valve, which is transformed from a pair of appendages of the eighth abdomen. When laying eggs, the female locusts bend their abdomen, drill into the soil with their hard ovipositors, and lay eggs in it, and the ninth and tenth abdominal segments of the male locust also degenerate and heal, but the web of the ninth abdominal segment is quite developed, extending to the end of the body, and it looks as if it is split into two pieces, called the Subgenital plate. The web of the tenth abdominal segment has completely disappeared. As for the eleventh abdominal segment and its remaining appendages, they are similar to those of female locusts.