Zhōng (螽( zhōng) Si Yu , 揖揖兮. Green-winged insects, flying, good gathering—at least two thousand years ago, Chinese had noticed this kind of summer-infested insect, and in modern folk, their more well-known name is the grasshopper. On July 30, on a nan tree under Mount Qingcheng, a grasshopper quietly climbed down from the treetops, clutched the trunk, and laid eggs seriously. At its side, Zhao Li, director of the Huaxi Insect Museum, was holding his breath and observing carefully. For Zhao Li, this grasshopper, which should be everywhere, has an important peculiarity: its size is extremely large. According to his analysis after reviewing the data, it is very likely that this is the largest grasshopper recorded in Sichuan.
"It is exactly 8 centimeters long, and in general, this kind of individual is 6 centimeters at most." Zhao Li said that this giant ant actually knew of its existence many years ago, but has not been collected specimens, "I have also seen its limbs in Jiulonggou and Xiling Snow Mountain before." All the wings or heads left behind after being eaten by birds have not found a complete body, and the number of this thing seems to be very small. ”
The grasshopper, called the mountain subphylla, belongs to the pseudophyllinae subfamily Insecta and the order Orthoptera Tettigoniidae. At present, 998 species (subspecies) of 260 genera (subgenera) in 19 families are recorded worldwide, mainly in the new, old and new tropical and subtropical regions. A total of 39 species (subspecies) in 16 genera have been described in the Chinese subfamily Phyllonorycter.
Zhao Li once saw a photo of it in an insect book, which was taken by insect lovers in Chongqing, but in this book, he did not write its exact name, only identified as a subphylla ant. In addition, he also saw insects on the Internet that he said he had seen in Tiantong Mountain, Zhejiang. "But it also seems rare, because in the description the discoverer wrote that it bit open the bark with its mouth to lay eggs, when in fact I saw it burrowing directly into the bark with an egg layer." It seems that the discoverer has only seen it once, so he did not have a chance to look closely. Zhao Li said that these leaf ant species that live on trees are often difficult to find, mainly because they usually do not go down to trees, and have a high degree of imitation, "This is only down at night, and it is a rainy night, usually who will go to the mountain in the middle of the night when it rains?" ”
After 9 p.m. on the 30th, Zhao Li and this big grasshopper had a chance to meet. The rain did not prevent the worms from laying eggs seriously. Zhao Li deduced that it usually lived in the canopy of tall nanmu trees, so it could not be seen under the tree at all, and only had the opportunity to meet it at night when it went down to the trunk to lay eggs. So I had only picked up remnants of birds before.
All grasshoppers are called grasshoppers, and the previously found grasshoppers in the Chengdu area are small and medium-sized species, with a body length of between 3 and 6 cm. The largest species of ant in Sichuan before was the big grasshopper, which is what we usually call the textile lady, and the female can reach 6 cm in length. Females of the Great Grasshopper can reach a little more than 6 cm in length, but not over 7. "In terms of volume, this is just over double the former, and you can see from the video that it is not good at jumping, but likes to fly." And the response is relatively sluggish. Zhao Li found it interesting, "If there were other kinds of grasshoppers common in Chengdu, this play would have jumped away long ago, but it reacted slowly and slowly." You can see that their hind legs are well developed and they are good at jumping. And this kind can't jump at all. You see, no matter how I move it on the video, it just crawls around. If only the kinds of life in the grass had jumped up and jumped away. ”
This ant has a conical head, a body length of about 80 mm, a full body of emerald green, and when it stops, it forms a narrow leaf shape from its head to its wings, and its posture is very special, much like a leaf gently scattered on other leaves, so it is difficult to find. The biggest difference between it and the common ant in chengdu is that its hind legs are degenerate and it is unable to jump. In addition, its wings look very wide from the front and back, more like a leaf. While most ants are leaf-mimicking, its ability to imitate is clearly superior. This may be related to its usual inactivity, which requires more subtle imitation. Avoid being spotted by birds. "It's very similar to the leaves of nan wood, plus it lays eggs on the trunk of nan wood, so I deduce that it must live on this kind of tree."
Now, Zhao Li raised this big grasshopper and made the next observation. On August 1, he excitedly told reporters that overnight, the grasshopper had eaten some leaves from the family Shellidae. "Its feeding range is wider than I thought." Now it seems that it is not just eating nan wood leaves. ”
"Ant, yeah. Yi'er's descendants, stinging. In the Book of Poetry, the ant is regarded as a symbol of many children and many grandchildren, prosperity and longevity, and there is a special "dragon gate" in the Forbidden City, which is used to pray for and protect the royal family. This auspicious little insect quietly climbed down the treetops on a rainy night and completed its own task of laying eggs. There is not much left of its life, and at most in November, it will quietly pass away, and new life will slowly grow in the tree and continue to reproduce.
Summer worms can not be spoken of ice, and the inheritance is endless. Cover news reporter Yang Xue