On July 30th, we invited Uncle Long of shanshui Nature Conservation Center to give a butterfly lecture. If you listen to it, you will know that nature has many huge pits, and there is always one for you. Butterflies, on the other hand, are one of the most interesting.
From it, some people see light and heaven; some people see chaos; some people see the power that crosses the sea; some people see Xiangfei...
Be strong, even if the fragrant concubine is really not fragrant, at least in our childhood and now, there are still butterflies flying.
This article was published at the Beijing Urban Ecological Monitoring Alliance Forum
Uncle Long narrated
Organize the Edit | Li Hongbin Chen Lao wet
Yesterday we just finished a butterfly observation at the Beijing Botanical Garden, and I was accompanied by a mother with two children, both of whom were elementary school students, and we remembered more than a dozen kinds of butterflies after half a day's observation. At the end of the day, both children were able to introduce the butterflies very well, including their names, habits, and some of their appearance. This makes me very happy, I think it is a very great thing to accumulate so much knowledge in a short period of time, whether it is bird watching or doing plant observation. I believe that all those who come today like nature, butterflies are a very good entrance, a stepping stone to the natural gate. Today, I would like to talk to you about why butterflies are a very good stepping stone for nature.
butterfly? moth? Silly and unclear?
Butterflies and moths it both belong to lepidoptera
Butterflies belong to the suborder Lepidoptera , because the antennae of butterflies are enlarged , like hammers.
Moths are heterocenotes belonging to the order Lepidoptera , but the moth antennae are generally without a swollen end.
Butterflies are generally active during the day, and when they stop, their two wings generally stand up and close.
Moths are generally active at night, and when resting, the moth's wings are generally flattened.
Of course, these characteristics are not absolute, some butterflies also like this dark and humid environment, and some moths will also be active during the day.
What is a butterfly?
Butterfly From a taxonomic point of view, butterflies are probably such a classification, this is a ribbon butterfly I photographed in Beijing. It belongs to the animal kingdom, arthropod phylum, insect steel, lepidoptera, butterfly family, ribbon butterfly genus, ribbon butterfly.
Do you think spiders and centipedes are insects?
Spiders are indeed not insects, spiders are animal kingdoms, arthropod phylum, it and insects belong to arthropod phylum, but insects it belongs to insect steel, spiders belong to spider steel, centipedes are arthropod phylum lip and foot. The biggest feature is that the number of legs is not the same.
The Chinese butterfly family
Butterflies in China are generally divided into four general families, the general family of butterflies, the general family of butterflies, the general family of gray butterflies, and the general family of butterflies.
The general family is divided into butterflies, butterflies, and butterflies. The butterfly family is generally divided into butterfly family, spotted butterfly family, eye butterfly family, ring butterfly family, rare butterfly family and beaked butterfly family. There are two species under the family Pterophoridae, one is the family Pterophoridae and the other is the Butterfly family. There is only one family under the family Rhizidae, namely the Pterophoridae.
The life of a butterfly
Remarks: The photo of pupae was not taken by himself, the source flicker, the author is unknown
The life history of the citrus butterfly goes like this, and on the far left is the egg of the citrus butterfly, a small, spherical egg of an off-white color. The second photo is of the larvae of the citrus butterfly, and the third is of the pupal of the citrus butterfly, which is the pupal of the larvae after several molts before the butterfly. The last one is an adult of a citrus butterfly.
A butterfly is a completely metamorphosed insect that varies greatly from an egg to a larva, to a pupae, to an adult.
Photo source: "Chinese Butterfly Chronicles", edited by Zhou Yao and others
The eggs of different butterflies are not the same, and most of them grow on the butterfly's host plant.
Image source: Documentary "The Faith of God Butterfly"
Butterflies lay their eggs on the host plant. In this way, the eggs hatch the larvae and then eat the eggs first, and then it will keep eating on the host plant. The butterfly larvae are a natural big stomach king, just hatched very small, but grow to the last year, the volume will grow thousands of times, butterfly larvae are born to eat, keep eating.
Most butterfly larvae are not very defensive, so many butterfly larvae rely on mimesis to avoid predators. The larvae of the citrus butterfly are particularly like a bird droppings, why do they grow like this, because the organism does not eat its own dung, so it pretends to be a bird droppings, which can avoid birds from eating it to a certain extent.
The last-aged larvae of the citrus butterfly grow like a snake and also prevent birds from coming to eat it. Many times it is snakes that eat birds, and when a bird sees a snake lying on the side, it will not come to eat.
There is also a butterfly larvae that forms a very good symbiotic relationship with ants, and everyone knows that ants are a very fierce creature, but this one can see that the larvae of the purple-gray butterfly live with ants. The larvae of this gray butterfly can secrete a liquid that ants are very fond of eating. Ants in order to eat this liquid will protect the butterfly's larvae from other organisms. So the ant acts as a guard for the larvae, and the larva is equivalent to the cow of the ant, it provides milk for it, it provides the guard for it.
The larvae generally molt several times, about 4 times, some 5 times, and after molting, they form a butterfly pupal. In general, the pupa of a butterfly attaches to the plant and appears to be stationary on the surface, but in fact it undergoes very drastic changes inside it. Inside the pupal is a process of death and rebirth, before some organs of the larvae disappear in batches, some cells die in batches, and new organs will slowly be generated. Few people can see this pupal process, and the process of butterfly pupae is simulated by scanning electron microscopy, a new technical means.
Image source: Network
This butterfly is a golden-spotted beaked phoenix butterfly, which is generally called China's national butterfly by butterfly lovers, because this butterfly is relatively small in number, it is generally distributed in the alpine regions of the south, and five subspecies have now been found.
After the butterfly pupates for about a week or so it will feather, the butterfly that has just feathered its wings are rolled together, and the butterfly must stand on the host plant and constantly inject its own bodily fluids into the wings, so that the wings are spread, and it can fly.
National Butterflies
Some other countries also have their own national butterflies, such as the Malaysian national butterfly called the red-necked bird wing butterfly, which is also a very famous butterfly, its neck is red, and the wings are very large, like a bird, when some seafaring explorers drove boats to investigate in the Malay Islands, they saw this butterfly, they thought it was a bird. The national butterfly of Bhutan is called the multi-tailed butterfly, which is also distributed in the Himalayas of China, but in very small numbers. Japan's national butterfly is called the Great Purple Butterfly, which is also distributed in China, especially in a small place called Nanzagi in the northeast, where there are a large number of Japanese butterflies.
The national butterfly of the United States is called the monarch butterfly, also known as the black-veined golden butterfly, and it has a very magnificent migration route. The national butterfly of Peru is called the goddess of light, the shining butterfly. The national butterfly of Brazil is called the Sun Glitter Butterfly, the white in the middle of its wings resembles a sun, and the top is like the sunrise of the sun, and its hind wings are the dark night when the sun has not yet come out. Australia's national butterfly, called the Heaven butterfly, is also a very beautiful large butterfly.
What are the common butterflies in Beijing?
Butterflies
According to the survey, there are 5 species of butterflies native to Beijing so far. Ribbon butterfly in Beijing is a more common butterfly, it eats the northern aristolochia, if you see where there is a north aristolochia can pay attention to see if there is a very beautiful white butterfly, it has a long tail, it is likely to be a ribbon butterfly.
Female ribbon butterfly Image source network
The color difference between the female butterflies of the ribbon butterfly is relatively large, but in general, it is the male butterfly that is most easily seen. Citrus butterflies generally eat pepper trees in Beijing, so they are also called pepper butterflies. It will fly faster and be afraid of people.
Green ribbon green phoenix butterfly Specimen photo source "Beijing Butterfly Primary Color Atlas", by Yang Hong, Wang Chunhao, Yu Ping
The green-banded kingfisher butterfly has a black undertone, blue glitter and red spots, and is very beautiful. There are more green-banded butterflies in the mountains on the outskirts of Beijing.
Golden Butterfly
Bi Feng Butterfly, specimen photo source "Beijing Butterfly Primary Color Atlas", by Yang Hong, Wang Chunhao, Yu Ping
The golden butterfly and the blue phoenix butterfly are two relatively uncommon butterflies in Beijing.
Silk butterfly
The silk butterfly is a relatively rare butterfly, generally prefers to live in high-altitude areas, such as the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Hengduan Mountains and some high-latitude, high-altitude mountains in Xinjiang. The butterfly is now more affected by climate change and prefers cool places, but with the global temperature in some areas of warming is very significant, the habitat of the butterfly is shrinking. Beijing also has several kinds of silk butterflies, of course, this information I am selected from the "Beijing Butterfly Primary Color Atlas" book, now a little old, Beijing silk butterflies have some names or a little controversial, I still refer to the name of this book first. There are now four kinds of silk butterflies in Beijing, red bead silk butterfly, yellow hair white silk butterfly, gray hair white silk butterfly, and Brinell silk butterfly. Beijing's silk butterflies are generally distributed in high-altitude areas, such as Dongling Mountain, Haituo Mountain, Huairou's Horn Gully Gate, these areas are relatively many silk butterflies, if you climb to the top of the mountain, the end of June and the beginning of July is the most concentrated occurrence of silk butterflies.
Grey butterfly
Oriental grey butterfly
Grey butterflies are a type of butterfly that many advanced butterfly lovers like. The tail of the Oriental Brilliant Gray Butterfly is more characteristic, with two tail processes, and there is a red spot on it, and the reason why it grows into this is that it hopes to use its tail to simulate its own head - two tails simulate the antennae of its own head, and the red dot simulates its eyes, so that many predators will peck at the back place when they eat it, but in fact its head is in front, so that it can avoid being pecked to death and continue to fly.
Oriental grey butterfly has wings on the front
The reverse side of the gray butterfly is not particularly good-looking, but the front of many gray butterflies is very beautiful. The front of the oriental brilliant gray butterfly resembles a starry sky.
Butterflies
Yellow hook butterfly
In addition to gray butterflies, a common type of butterfly in Beijing is the butterfly, which likes to suck feces, suck corpses, and suck rotten fruits, and the taste is very heavy. It is said that the butterflies around the head xiangfei in "Huan Zhu Ge Ge" seem to be butterflies, so the incense concubine still has to put a question mark on whether the incense is fragrant or not.
Yellow hook butterfly is a relatively common butterfly in Beijing, many yellow hook butterfly will die after winter, but some yellow hook butterfly winter adults will hide in grass or stone cracks to overwinter, and wait until the early spring of the next year If the weather is clear and the temperature is relatively high, it will fly out early. It should be said that the yellow hook butterfly is the earliest batch of butterflies in early spring in Beijing, and the appearance of the yellow hook butterfly means that spring in Beijing is coming soon.
Pink butterfly
Vegetable powder butterfly
There is also a type of butterfly is the pink butterfly, many butterflies have some fluorescent powder on their wings, so it is called Lepidoptera. However, some butterflies do not have fluorescent powder on their wings and are transparent, such as a patch on the wings of the pink swallow butterfly that is transparent. This is the most common thing we see, the most common white butterfly in the park and the community is the vegetable powder butterfly.
Eye butterflies
Butterfly
The butterfly has some eye-like spots on its body. These eyes are used to frighten predators.
Butterflies
Double strap butterfly
Butterfly is a more special butterfly, it is very similar to moths in terms of form and habits, butterflies and moths have a lot of hair, and butterflies like to spread their wings, rather than standing up, so many people think that butterflies are a species in the middle of moth and butterfly evolution.
Spotted butterflies
Black-veined golden-spotted butterfly Image source National Geographic
There are no spotted butterflies in Beijing, which live in the south in China. A very powerful habit of the black-veined golden-spotted butterfly is migration, which flies from the Great Lakes region of North America to the volcanic region of central Mexico every year to overwinter. It is a very long journey, generally spanning thousands of kilometers, across mountains and even the sea to fly to Mexico. And its migration from North America to Central America is often not completed in one generation, but takes several generations to fly to Mexico. And its lifespan is different from generation to generation in migration, and the previous generations of butterflies only need to breed in one place, so its lifespan is relatively short. But the last generation of butterflies, it not only flew to Mexico for wintering, the next year also flew from Mexico back to North America, so the last generation of butterflies its lifespan is relatively long.
Butterflies are a stepping stone to learning about nature
Butterflies are a very interesting creature and a very useful creature. I personally think that butterflies are a very good stepping stone to learning about nature. First of all, butterflies are relatively common creatures, whether it is a community, or a surrounding park, or to the suburban mountain forest, there are butterflies distributed. In addition, butterflies are also relatively easy to get close to. Mammals are also very popular, but mammals are rarely seen in ordinary times, and butterflies can not only be common, but also can be observed and contacted up close. In addition, butterflies are generally closely related to host plants, so while learning butterflies, you can also learn some botanical things. Many nature lovers tell me that they like nature very much, but lack this knowledge and don't know where to start, I often suggest that he can try to start with butterflies, which are a very good key to open the door of nature.
Butterflies are an excellent indicator species for terrestrial ecosystems
Butterflies are also a very good indicator species for assessing the health of terrestrial forest ecosystems and for assessing global climate change. Butterflies are very sensitive to temperature changes, so climate change can be characterized by monitoring the distribution and changes of butterflies.
Butterfly field monitoring program based on public science
Butterfly field monitoring Photo: Xie Zhen
We are doing a butterfly field monitoring program based on public science, and the public collects data in the field after certain training in the form of scientific volunteers to provide data support for scientific research.
Uk Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS) survey sample distribution map
The UK's butterfly monitoring programme has been in place for decades, and now there are tens of thousands of volunteers and hundreds of organisations to support the butterfly monitoring programme, and there are basically butterfly monitoring lines distributed throughout the UK. The butterfly monitoring program is actually a multi-benefiting event, and the public can learn a lot of scientific knowledge and experience the beauty of nature in the process of participating in the project. At the same time, scientists can also use this publicly available data to do some scientific research, and conservation workers can make some protection plans based on this data.
The United States is also doing a black-veined golden-spotted butterfly migration monitoring, not only to monitor its distribution, but also to monitor its honey source plants and host plants. In addition, the Taiwan Butterfly Conservation Society is doing citizen science butterfly monitoring throughout the island of Taiwan. The Ministry of Environmental Protection has been working on a project on China's butterfly monitoring system since last year, mainly for students and teachers in science colleges, and is relatively less open to the public.
The difference between the butterfly monitoring plan of Shanshui and the Ministry of Environmental Protection is mainly openness, we hope that the monitoring is open to the public, and we feel that the public can have the ability to do butterfly field monitoring after certain training. In addition, our openness is also reflected in the openness of the data, and we hope that this monitoring data can be provided to our scientists and our conservation workers free of charge, so that they can really make some contributions to the health of the ecosystem when they do scientific research and conservation plans. Of course, we must also pay attention to science, as well as some educational and public welfare attributes. Of course, our project has just started, and there may be some new attributes in the development process.
The butterfly monitoring project began to be piloted in Beijing, the west of Beijing is mainly the northern section of the Taihang Mountains, the north is the Yanshan Mountains, and the southeast is the plain, so Chinese geographers call the topography of Beijing Beijing Bay. We hope to design some sample lines from the urban area in the southeast, to the Taihang Mountains in the west, and then to the Yanshan Mountains in the north. In the city, we will choose some parks, such as Orsen and the Temple of Heaven; on the outskirts of the city, we will choose areas such as Baiwang Mountain and Cherry Valley. In the suburbs, we designed some sample lines in the Taihang Mountains, such as Baihua Mountain, Dongling Mountain, and Lufeng Mountain. In Yanshan Mountain, we will design some sample lines in Badaling Forest Park and other areas, which is a system that we ultimately want to do.
At present, there are two sample areas, one sample area is in Beijing Botanical Garden, this area is considered the area of Taihang Mountain, and the other sample area is in Badaling, Jundu Mountain, which is the area of Yanshan Mountain Range. We designed three lines in these two sample areas, two lines in Badaling, and one in Beijing Botanical Garden.
Monitoring volunteer group photo
The survey of two sample areas has just been completed. We are currently recruiting a total of 80 volunteers for field research, ranging from children to seniors. In addition to the 80 survey volunteers, we also have 15 field survey leaders, who are also some volunteers, but relatively have field experience or have some knowledge of butterfly classification. We have completed 5 field surveys this year, and at least 5 field surveys have been done on each sample line.
Of course, this is just the beginning, we hope that on the one hand, the ability of volunteers will be further improved, on the other hand, we are also expanding the scope of recruitment, so that more people can participate in this process, we also hope to further expand the number of Beijing sample areas, because we only have two sample areas now, which is not enough to represent the current situation of Butterflies in Beijing. In addition, we have a new attempt to restore the butterfly habitat in the city. Some of our urban green spaces in the management are borrowed from the Western garden management experience, just some single lawns with vegetation, and many butterflies that used to live in the city have disappeared.
We are also considering selecting some parks and communities in the city, hoping to plant some butterfly host plants to see if it is possible to return the butterflies that have disappeared in the city to the city through scientific and ecological management. This is only done in some areas of Beijing, in fact, its significance is limited, and we hope to further expand to South China, West China and East China.
Uncle Dragon Welfare
Finally, with you a product of Amway, which is an APP for species surveys and nature observation records in the wild, we are constantly improving, hoping that it can become a bridge linking the public and scientists, and the valuable data obtained by the public in nature observation can be applied to scientific research and plant ecological protection.
At present, we also have a lot of loopholes, and please put forward more comments and suggestions. Although butterflies are a very small class of organisms that everyone can look at on their hands, whether it is assessing ecosystem health, assessing global climate change, or how interesting the butterfly itself is, it may involve our national and even global ecological security.
Copywriting/Editing by Li Hongbin
Review bruce Lee
Bruce Lee: Speaker of the 18th session of the Beijing Urban Ecological Monitoring Alliance Forum
Hyper-syllabus:
What is this butterfly?
Big cat photo
PS：
Butterflies flap their wings and spring shakes.
Hopefully it will give you hope of being born again.
above.
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