Butterflies are known as 'flying flowers', and colorful butterflies make our lives richer and more colorful. There are some butterflies with the word "Zhonghua" in their names, and like other animals and plants named after "Zhonghua", most of them are endemic to China or were first found in China. Some of these species are endangered and have a precarious fate that needs to be understood and protected.
1. The endangered Chinese tiger butterfly
National second-level protected animals. Medium in size, the stripes on the wings are black and yellow, resembling tiger skin, hence the name Tiger Butterfly. The Chinese tiger butterfly is a specialty of China, there are 2 subspecies, Huashan subspecies is only distributed in Shaanxi, the number is very small, the degree of endangerment is getting higher and higher, and now it is rare to see in the wild. The main reason for its endangerment is not only ecological destruction, but also the wanton mining of its host plant, the Aristolochiae( aristolochiae).
2. The Chinese eye butterfly that shuttles through the grass
There are about 100 species of butterflies in the world, and there are at least 60 species in China. It is generally a small and medium-sized body, with gray-black wings and more eye spots that are more eye-catching and varying. Adults prefer to weave through the grass, often on the side of the mountain road, and also visit flowers. The Chinese eye butterfly is only a very common member, and has collection records in Jilin, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Zhejiang, Hubei, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guizhou and other places.
3. Like to chase the stinky Chinese butterfly
There is only one species of butterfly, which is endemic to China. Medium-sized butterfly, wings dark brown, markings yellowish brown. It is distributed in Beijing, Hebei, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Guangdong and other places. It is more common in the Qinling Mountains, adult insects appear from June to July, and the larvae are hosted by willow trees, and 1 generation per year. During the adult stage, walking on the forest road of Qinling Mountains, the Chinese yellow fennel butterfly is often seen with other butterfly butterfly butterflies, crawling on the feces and sucking, possibly drawing nutrients such as water or minerals from it.
4. Chinese nettle butterfly on the edge of the plateau
Nettle butterflies are butterflies in which the larvae use nettle as their host plant. Nettle is a famous stinging grass, but for nettle butterflies, it should be a very tempting delicacy. The Chinese nettle butterfly is distributed in northwestern Yunnan, western Sichuan, and southeastern Tibet on the edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Adults are medium in size and fly quickly. The larvae live in groups, black pressed on the host plant, each ugly face, covered with thorns, has a considerable visual impact effect.
5. Chinese cloud gray butterfly that likes to eat meat
Chinese cloud gray butterfly is medium-sized, dark brown on the front of the wing, and there are often 1 to 2 pale markings below the sub-outer margin of the forewing; the reverse of the wing is brown, with bands of dark markings, and the dark spots are inlaid with white lines on both sides; it is distributed in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong and other places, and is found in Myanmar, Thailand, northern India, the Malay Peninsula and other places. Larvae carnivorous, predatory aphids, etc., 1 year old. Adults inhabit natural forests, mostly in aphid colonies, fly slowly, visit flowers and suck aphid secretions.
6. Purple sparkling Chinese flower gray butterfly
The Chinese flower gray butterfly is a large and medium-sized gray butterfly, the male butterfly has purple wings on the front, metallic luster, black edges, rounded wings, and short tail protrusions; there are 1 large and 1 small 2 pale color spots in the interior of the forewings, and a column of irregular white spots arranged in an arc on the sub-outer edge; the reverse side of the hindwing has wavy patterns and a dark base. It is found in the provinces south of the Yangtze River, but also in Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and other places. Adults are more common in May to August.
7. Chinese sawdust butterflies that like to gather in flocks
The male wing of the Chinese saw gray butterfly has a black-brown front, a broad black edge on the forewings, a dark purple for most of the forewings and the front half of the hindwings; a yellowish brown or grayish-brown on the reverse of the wings, with multiple dark spots; in Shaanxi, adults gather in groups next to streams and other wet places. In Qinling, the flocks of small fly-like gray butterflies seen on the Forest Edge Trail every April are basically Chinese sawdust butterflies.
8. Chinese butterfly with strong territorial awareness
The Chinese Butterfly wing is black brown, with several small white spots near the apex of the forewing, and several larger white spots in the middle domain extend to the posterior margin; there is a distinct white banded spot in the middle of the hindwing, and there is a column of small black spots on the outside; the front and back of the wings are the same, but the black spots on the back of the hindwings are more obvious; in Shaanxi, it is found in the low-altitude areas of southern Shaanxi, more than 1 generation, and the first generation of adult insects appears in April, and the number is not much. Adults have a strong sense of territory.
9. Chinese Yi nong butterfly like a black elf
The wings of the Chinese Ilon butterfly are dark brown and have no markings, and the reverse side is scattered with yellow-brown scales. Distributed in Sichuan, Guizhou and other places, in the shaanxi Zhenping, Langao and other counties close to Chongqing, the forest clearing or forest edge has also occasionally been seen, giving people the feeling of suddenly floating in front of the eyes, and soon into the forest and disappearing, as if the black elves come and go without a trace. The Chinese Yi nong butterfly was not known until 1997, which is enough to show that its number is rare, its whereabouts are mysterious, and the current understanding of it is very limited.
10. The china valley butterfly with a bad reputation
As the name suggests, the larvae harm a variety of cereals. The host plants of the butterfly include crops such as rice, sorghum and corn, but there are also wild grass weeds such as miscanthus, wolf's tail, lemongrass, and reed, and there have been no reports of serious damage to crops. The Zhonghua Valley Butterfly is small, with dark brown wings and 8 translucent white spots on the forewings arranged in a semi-ring. 4 to 5 generations a year, shaanxi distribution.