The Celestial Bull is a general term for insects of the family Polyphagous, chewing mouthparts, with long antennae, often longer than the length of the body, and there are more than 20,000 species worldwide. There are some species that are pests whose larvae live in wood and can cause harm to trees or buildings.
There are about 2,200 species in China, which are widely distributed and commonly harmful, and almost every tree is affected by different species of celestial cattle. The trees that are more affected are 28 species of mulberry trees, 25 species of willow and poplar trees, 18 species of citrus trees, and 23 species of pine trees. In addition to the star tianniu and the mulberry sky bull, there are also bare-shouldered star tianniu, peach-necked tianniu, white tendon tianniu, red edge tianniu, cloud-spotted white striped tianniu, bamboo edge tiger tianniu, deep mountain tianniu and so on. Typical tianniu species, the body is long and cylindrical, the back is slightly flattened, the antennae are long, especially the more common ones, such as the star sky cow, the mulberry sky cow, the cloud-spotted white striped sky cow, etc., their strong body and prominent two horns make people aware of the impression of the cow. In fact, the size of the celestial calf is also quite variable, some have short antennae, some have oval or other shapes, and some imitate the image of other insects, such as the rose tianniu genus, the subfamily of the celestial cow is very similar to bees. The celestial bull is also known for its beautiful color, but many species are more or less tan, or arranged in spots, and the color of the trunk is oak, and has the effect of invisibility or protective color.
Most of the Celestial Bull is a large or medium-sized species with a body length of between 15 and 50 mm. However, there are also large such as the mountain saw bull, the body length can reach 110mm, and the smaller such as the tiny sky bull, the body length is only 0.5mm. Sometimes there is a large variation in size between individuals of the same species, such as the body length of the Celestial Bull is 19 to 39 mm, and the body width is 6 to 14 mm.
The adult body of the Celestial Bull is oblong-cylindrical with a slightly flattened back; the antennae are born on the protrusions of the forehead (called antennal basal tumors), which have the function of free rotation of the antennae and covering the back of the insect body backwards. The claws are usually single-toothed and a few are attached. In addition to sawing cattle, the mid-thorax dorsal plate often has a pronouncer. The larvae are coarsely fattened, oblong, slightly flattened, and a few are slender. The head is broad or oblong-oval and often retracts deep into the dorsal plate of the forebreast.
Because of its strength as great as an ox, it is good at flying in the sky, so it gets the name of the celestial cow; and because it emits a "click, click" sound, its sound is very similar to the sound of sawing trees, so it is also called "saw tree lang". In addition, some areas in southern China are called "water cattle", "water buffaloes", etc., and some regions in the north are called "spring cattle". This insect due to different species, the size of the body varies greatly, the largest body length up to 11cm, and the small body length is only 0.4 ~ 0.5cm, the most special feature of this insect is its antennae are extremely long, north China has a kind of called longhorn gray bull, its antenna length can reach 4 to 5 times the length of the body, commonly seen tianniu, its tentacles can also reach about 10cm. Another feature is its strong jaw. The body color of the celestial bull is mostly black, the body has a metallic luster, and its adult insects are commonly found in forest areas, orchards, etc., and the elytra wings are open and do not move when flying, and the inner wings are fanned, emitting a "hissing" sound. Most of it occurs in 1 generation per year, and there are also 3 years and 2 generations or 2 generations, which are pests that harm trees such as poplar, willow, mulberry, locust, sycamore, neem and so on.
The Celestial Bull is a well-known class of insects. Many people have captured or observed celestial cows as children and become interested in them. Interestingly, when you grab it, it makes a "creaking" sound in an attempt to break free and escape. If you tie a thin line around its legs and let it fly, you can still hear the sound of "hissing".
The working people of China have long mastered the living habits of Tianniu in production practice, and have created a set of control methods such as searching for insect eggs, hooking and killing larvae, insect hole application, and killing adult insects. The "Sericulture Synopsis" published more than a hundred years ago on the part of the mulberry insect, a very physical instruction, is now copied as follows: "The insect is born in the bark of the mulberry tree, the name of the celestial cow worm. Its lower eggs, after a small fullness, will bite through the bark and hide their eggs in the skin. Its worms also, after the mango seed, are shaped like maggots, sucking resin paste. Approaching the summer solstice, gradually drilling holes, autumn and winter are as big as grubs, long and short, famous cockroaches, eating tree hearts, wearing wood like cones. Transformed into a heavenly buffalo, two horns like figure-eight, black, with white dots on the back, rim wood up and down, mouth with double tongs, its sharp as scissors, new hair strips, mesh folds. The cure: Where yellow water flows from the tree itself and on the branches, the skin of the tree must be broken, and there are eggs like grains of rice, and if they are broken, the insect will be extinct. If the child is an adult worm, it must find the worm hole (there must be moth chips outside the hole), stab the hole with a wire, or use the wire as a small hook to hook the worm out. If the worm has penetrated deeply, beyond the reach of the wire, it is irrigated with a hundred grass juices, and there is no one who is dead. Or use cooked tung oil into the hole, or use firecracker medicine thread to insert the worm hole, burn it with fire, and the worm will die when it smells the oil and gas and medicinal gas of the tung.