The legend of gray, the magical gray bug

In Emei Mountain in late summer and early autumn, the weather is always cloudy or sunny. It is located in Sichuan basin, but it is over 3000 meters above sea level. The warm and humid climate provides superior conditions for the survival of life. For thousands of years, more than 6,000 kinds of wild animals and plants have thrived here. In addition to the familiar species, there are many mysteries unknown to outsiders.

On a sunny morning in late September, the white wax worm began to be born for the second time.

Yi Ming's body length is only about 3mm, smaller than that of ants.

The sound under the microscope looks extraordinary. It is golden yellow, with a pair of transparent wings on its back, and its slender six limbs are covered with fluff. (Figure 1)

Yi Ming's only mission in this life is to reproduce. It must find a partner for itself as soon as possible in its short life. In order to complete this task, it can not eat or drink.

However, disaster came at this moment.

The wax farmer who lives nearby came to the mountain early in the morning. They cut off the branches covered with ash with a knife, and then wiped off the gray wax flowers on the branches. (Figure 2)

White wax secreted by white wax insects is a kind of high-quality pure biological white wax, which is non-toxic and harmless to organisms and is the raw material for manufacturing medical supplies and advanced cosmetics.

Yi Ming must leave his delivery room, otherwise, it will not come to a good end.

Finally, Yi Ming left the dangerous ash wax flower.

Next to the wax flower, an unknown bug attracted many people's attention. Insects have a tail as white as wax flowers. They cover their bodies like umbrellas and are difficult to be found by the enemy.

Yi Ming wanted to know about the neighbors, but the white bug ignored him.

White bugs used to rely on the protection of ashes, but now, they must leave at once.

Yi Ming has no time to take care of the safety of the white bug. It has more important things to do-find a partner for itself as soon as possible, because it has less than 10 days.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to find its own goal. It climbed a branch and looked into the distance, and its favorite place was in front!

Some "small shells" entrenched on the branches are actually female insects of the wax insect. They have no insect form at all, and they can't walk or run. They are just fixed in the tree, waiting for the male insects to come and mate. (Figure 3)

The male worm born in this tree is much luckier than Yi Ming.

Yi Ming has wings, but she can't fly. She can only move on six legs. But it didn't lose heart. It climbed further.

Occasionally I see three or two females, but they seem to be stunted. If the female's shell is too hard, Yi Ming can't combine with them. A female can't mate Yi Ming.

When mating, the male of the white wax insect must put his forelimb on a bulge so that the tail thorn can penetrate the hard shell of the female insect.

Here are two that look good. Yi Ming decided to give it a try.

Unexpectedly, the first attempt failed. Never give up.

But just then, a new challenge fell from the sky. Dark clouds in the sky portend a heavy rain.

Can a weak voice escape the catastrophe of this rainstorm?

It rained all morning, until the afternoon, and it gradually cleared up.

The sound of crawling on the ashes is extremely cold. At this moment, it hopes that solar energy will drill out of the clouds earlier.

As the temperature rises, the animals in the forest become active again.

After the wax farmer left, the ashes left on the branches provided food for many insects in the forest. Ash is the favorite food of jumping bees. This delicious meal satisfied him.

When the sun dried the water vapor on Yi Ming's wings, it continued to search. It must find two well-developed females to complete the mission of reproduction.

Three days passed, and despite several attempts, Yi Ming failed.

Five days later, Yi Ming felt a little tired. During these five days, Yi Ming didn't eat any food or water. This is the life of adult male wax worms. Their only purpose in this life is to find the female wax worm, and then mate or die.

Seven days later, did Yi Ming really come to this world for nothing?

On the afternoon of the ninth day, Yi Ming attacked a female insect again, which may be her last chance.

Yi Ming used all his strength, and it succeeded.

After mating, Yi Ming's life gradually came to an end, and he couldn't even stand on a branch.

The fallen leaves under the ash tree paved a warm and soft grave bed for it.

The footsteps of winter soon spread throughout the peaks and valleys of Mount Emei, and the insects in the forest gradually lost their traces in the cold. On the ash tree, we can no longer see the figure that the ash worm is looking for. However, among the pregnant females, tens of millions of offspring have begun to conceive, and the children with Yi Ming's genetic genes will do something vigorous next spring.

In April, when the creatures in the north are still shivering in the cold spring, the spring of Emei Mountain has arrived. Sunlight shines into the forest through the branches and leaves, illuminating the azaleas in full bloom in the forest. Colorful azaleas blossom everywhere in Shan Ye, attracting two sunny hummingbirds who love nectar.

More than half a year has passed, and the female wax worm on the tree has grown up a lot.

The female wax worm has no obvious head and limbs, only a round body. From the outside, they have no characteristics of insects at all, but look like fruits from trees. Although they lost their husband forever on their wedding day, Yi Ming's wife Bai Miao never felt lonely because of her many sisters. Together with her sisters, she quietly waited for the due date. (Figure 4)

Some juice began to flow from Bai Miao and his sisters. The fruit juice smelled of My Sweetie and attracted a squirrel in the forest.

This newly grown squirrel is very curious about the "red fruit" dripping from the branch. It jumped in front of the white seedling and stuck out its tongue to lick it. It seems that it likes that smell very much. (Figure 5)

The arrival of the squirrel made Bai Miao and his sisters nervous. How insignificant they are in front of such noble animals. Squirrels may fall off the branches as long as they wave their claws carelessly; Gently move your teeth, and their bodies will be broken in an instant.

Just then, a scream caught the squirrel's attention. The Chinese Pulsatilla, who had been entrenched here for a long time, felt that his territory had been violated and glared at the squirrel.

The little squirrel felt threatened. But later, it found that Pulsatilla was not a terrible opponent, and it turned its interest to Bai Miao and his sisters. However, squirrels seem to know that this fruit is not edible.

Birds in the forest also like the honey juice secreted by Bai Miao and her sisters.

The night in the Woods is quiet, but there always seems to be some kind of crisis.

Bai Miao was awakened by the vibration of the branches. A pair of large and graceful animals appeared in front of us. Lazy monkey, named after its lazy nature and slow action, is a relatively low-level monkey. Compared with the squirrels and birds seen during the day, it is many times more noble, which makes Bai Miao feel sincere fear. They won't hurt themselves, will they? (Figure 6)