On August 10, 8-year-old Kong Yutong and 5-year-old Kong Letao followed their parents to the ancient town of Jiezi in Chongzhou, where Kong Yutong, who usually likes to study insects, found a golden-green beetle the size of a palm that had just died on the bank of the river. The family got in touch with Zhao Li, director of the Chengdu Huaxi Entomological Museum, and finally confirmed that the beetle was a national second-class protected animal "Yangcai Arm Golden Turtle".
Coincidentally! On August 16, Mr. Zhao, a citizen of Chengdu, also discovered the Yangcai Arm Golden Turtle while playing in Pingle Ancient Town, which was the first time the species had been found in Qionglai City.
As a national second-level protected animal, the Yangcai Arm Golden Turtle has recently been repeatedly discovered by the public, which has aroused heated discussion among netizens and insect lovers. While praising Chengdu's ecological environment and citizens' awareness of environmental protection, there are several common questions:
Circulating on the Internet
"The Yangcai Arm Golden Turtle was declared extinct in 1982"
Is it true?
In recent years, the ecological quality of Chengdu has improved year by year.
What other new species have been discovered?
In response to these questions, the reporter visited and consulted relevant experts in the industry, and answered these questions one by one from a professional point of view.
The "Yangcai Arm Golden Turtle" is relatively rare
There is currently a lack of professional evidence for extinction claims
Zhao Li, director of the Chengdu Huaxi Insect Museum, told reporters that in recent years, Chengdu citizens have frequently picked up the "Yangcai Arm Golden Turtle" and sent it to the museum. The "Yangcai Arm Golden Turtle" has phototropism, so most of it is at night, the Golden Turtle actively close to the human residence was found, because the "Yang cai arm Golden Turtle" was found dead when it was found, so it can be found during the day. At present, the museum has more than a dozen specimens of "Yangcai Arm Golden Turtle", ranging in length from 6cm to 8cm, while the common length in Chengdu is about 6cm, in addition, the museum also puts the scarab with a high survival rate back into the mountain forest as much as possible.
On the question of whether the species is extinct, Director Zhao Li said that extinction usually means that the species has not been found in the wild in the past 50 years. The International Union for Conservation of Nature also has a strict definition of "extinction": it can only be considered extinct when there is no good reason to suspect that the last individual has died.
Chen Huai, deputy director and researcher of the Chengdu Institute of Biology, said that by inquiring about local information in Chengdu and asking experts in relevant domestic industries, the claim that the "Yangcai Arm Golden Turtle" declared extinct in 1982 can only find news reports, and no relevant research literature has been found, and it still needs to be verified step by step. He said: "The distribution range of the Yangcai arm golden turtle is relatively wide, and in recent years, it has been found in many parts of the country, including Sichuan, and recently Chengdu Qionglai has found a new distribution point for the first time, which may be related to the wider scope of the survey, the increase in the intensity of the survey, the improvement of the ecological environment, the increase in public concern about the species, and the improvement of conservation awareness." ”
Chengdu has many "national treasures"
In recent years, new species of flora and fauna have been frequently discovered
Focusing on the new discoveries of major animal and plant species in Chengdu in recent years, Director Zhao provided a set of latest data: Chengdu has 15 species of wild animals under national first-level key protection and 58 species of wild animals under national second-level key protection; 6 species of wild plants under national first-level key protection and 23 species of wild plants under national second-level key protection.
He said that Chengdu has found many iconic species related to the environment in recent years, such as the world's largest aquatic insect "Yuezhong Megalodon" found in the Weijiang River in Houshan, Qingcheng in 2014, with a wingspan of 21.6 centimeters. Its discovery also proves the superiority of Chengdu's water environment.
The specimen "Yuezhong Megalodon" received the guinness world record certificate for the first insect in China
In addition, over the years, the Chengdu Huaxi Entomological Museum has discovered more than 20 new butterfly species in Downtown Chengdu. These include China's largest butterfly species, the "Golden Phoenix Butterfly", which was added to the national second-level protected animal at the beginning of this year.
Chen Huai, deputy director and researcher of the Chengdu Institute of Biology, told reporters that in addition to a large area of plains and hilly terrains in Chengdu, there are many complex mountainous terrains, such as the Longmen Mountains and qionglai mountains, which contain high biodiversity.
In recent years, new species have been found around Chengdu, taking amphibians and reptiles as an example, from 2020 to the present, 3 new species have been found in Chengdu, namely Longmen Mountain Tooth Toad, Chengdu Gecko, and Zhaoqin Turbulence Frog. In addition, the distribution point of the rare species "Transverse Spotted Snake" has been found...
The ecological value of cities is getting higher and higher
Provides living space for more species
Director Zhao said that with the continuous advancement of the construction of the park city, many insects that originally lived in the suburban mountains and forests have also moved into the city to settle down. The frequent appearance of secondary protected insects around the city also shows that Chengdu's urban ecological value is getting higher and higher, and the environment is getting better and better.
According to statistics, Chengdu has completed the greening of Longquan Mountain by 140,000 mu, the restoration of 35,000 mu of giant panda habitat, and the completion of 4,780 kilometers of greenways at all levels, ranking first in the country, and in 2020, the city recorded 4,459 species of higher plants and 700 species of terrestrial wild vertebrates. The ecological background of the park city has been further consolidated, the biodiversity has increased significantly, and the urban ecological environment has continued to develop well.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Gu Wanquan Text Editor: Song Hui Title Image Source: Jinguan News Photo Editor: Xu Jiamin
Source: Author: Jinguan News Client