There is a species of moth that is so powerful that it can harm more than 80 species of plants and has caused more than $10 billion in damage worldwide.
There is a kind of moth, they are good at flying clouds and driving fog (with the help of air currents), traveling hundreds of miles at night.
There is a kind of moth, they are particularly capable of giving birth to babies, each time can lay 100-200 eggs, a lifetime can lay 900-1000 eggs.
Image courtesy of Feathered Creatures
In August 2018, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations issued a global warning, and on January 18, 2019, China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs disclosed that the moth had invaded China from Myanmar. It comes to China as an alien species, and if it breeds to a certain number and cannot be controlled, it will become an invincible destruction king - an invasive alien species that will cause huge and irreparable harm to the local biosecurity.
The Kunming Zoological Museum of the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has obtained the eggs and larvae of this invincible destruction king, and now let's take a look at this invincible destruction king.
The Chinese name of this invincible destruction king is called the Grass Night Moth, also known as the Autumn Armyworm. The meadow moth and the autumn armyworm are the Chinese or common names Chinese of the moths, and they are names that only people who know Chinese will know. Its internationally common name is its Latin scientific name "Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith)" (the first word Spodoptera, with the initial capitalization, is its genus name; the second word, frigiperda, is its species name; the word Smith in parentheses is the namer, representing that the person who gave it this Latin scientific name is Smith).
The meadow moth is an insect belonging to the family Noctuidae noctiacea in the family Noctuidae, lepidoptera.
The invincible destruction king of the grass moth is not only a huge harm, they are also very "perverted", but the "perversion" referred to here is not the same as everyone thinks, "metamorphosis" is a term in entomology. The meadow moth is a fully metamorphosed insect whose growth process consists of four insect states (egg, larvae, pupae, and adult), a cycle called a generation.
The image comes from the Internet
What is more "perverted" is that the grassland nightcrawler larvae usually go through 6 ages, that is, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th, yes, from 1 to 6, of which the last larvae are also called terminal larvae. How is this age calculated? The age period can be different from the age we usually understand, the larvae grow one year for each skin molt, and so on, each age growth takes only a few days.
Image from the web
The suitable development temperature of the grassland moth is 11-30 degrees Celsius, which can complete a generation in about 30 days at 28 degrees Celsius, and 60-90 days at low temperatures.
Barabala little magic fairy, change ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Important identifying characteristics of grassland nocturnal moth larvae (image from the internet)
Let's see what kind of destructive power the grass moth will cause if it invades!
The happy home of the grassland moth is in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, widely distributed on the American continent, and in September 2017 the International Center for Agriculture and Biological Sciences reported that in 12 maize-growing countries in Africa alone that have been invaded, the grassland moth has reduced maize yields by 8.3 million to 20.6 million tons. In recent years, it has caused serious damage in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
Life history and hazards of the meadow moth in Indiana, USA (Image from the Internet)
China is one of the most biodiverse areas in the world, and China grows a large area of corn, rice, tobacco and other favorite foods of the grassland moth, with the "Belt and Road" to bring convenience at the same time, but also to the grassland moth to provide opportunities, so we understand the invincible destruction of the king at the same time to be more vigilant against its invasion.
Source: Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Author: Li Weiwei, Li Kaiqin, Liu Shuo, Liu Luming, He Guiwu
Thank you to the Kunming Zoological Museum team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
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