In Ya'an, Sichuan Province, an insect "living fossil" david amphibian beetle was found

David amphibious armor (courtesy of Gu Haijun)

West China Metropolis News (reporter Xiao Ruden) After 20 years, on the 12th of this month, the insect "living fossil" of the giant panda, the amphibian beetle (amphizoa davidi lucas), was found again in Baoxing County, Ya'an City, Sichuan Province. Previously, David amphibians were discovered by experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Baoxing County in 1995.

According to Gu Haijun, an expert from the Ya'an Forestry Bureau, the "Baoxing County David Amphibian Armor Protection Project" is an important part of the protection of rare and endangered wild animals in the "4.20" Lushan Earthquake Recovery and Reconstruction Ecological Restoration Project, aiming to carry out species surveys, build protection facilities, restore earthquake damage habitats, and comprehensively strengthen the protection of David amphibians. Since the launch of the project in 2014, after more than a year of groping, the investigators have carried out countless surveys in the similar habitat of David's amphibian armor, and checked dozens of streams and ditches large and small, but have been fruitless. It was not until the beginning of May this year that five specimens of David's amphibian armor were finally collected.

Gu Haijun said that David amphibian armor is a national second-class protected animal, a semi-aquatic creature, which is inseparable from water and can only live at the edge of alpine rivers and streams, cold; carnivorous. David amphibian beetle (amphizoidae davidi lucas) was originally collected by Father David who discovered the giant panda in 1870 in Baoxing, Sichuan, by the French scientist Lucas (lucas) named the species David amphibian beetle, taxonomically belongs to the insect class Coleoptera amphibian family, amphibian acetomorphum genus, is a nationally protected beneficial or has important economic and scientific research value ("three have") wild animals, is currently known only in Baoxing County, Ya'an City, the number is very rare. David's amphibians are semi-aquatic creatures that cannot live without water, living only by the cold rivers and streams under the mountains, carnivorous, and feeding on the larvae of other insects in the water.

At first glance, David's amphibian armor resembles cockroaches and water reptiles, "in fact, there are still subtle differences," Gu Haijun said, David amphibian nail tarsal segment 5-5; foot 5 segments, with two claws; abdomen 10 segments, with tail protrusion; and water reptile tarsal segment 2 segments, 3 pairs of feet, short forefoot, middle and hind feet very long.