Grassland Flowers 5

Family: Liliaceae
Species: Allium tenuissimum Linn.
Place: Datan Grassland

Family: Leguminosae
Species: Trifolium lupinaster Linn.
Place: General Pond

Family: Liliaceae
Species: Hemerocallis citrina Baroni
Place: Yudaokou

Family: Rosaceae
Species: Rosa davurica Pall.
Place: Yudaokou

Family: Linaceae
Species: Linum usitatissimum Linn. (flax)
Place: Datan Grassland

Family: Leguminosae
Species: Vicia unijuga A. Br.
Place: Datan Grassland

Family: Campanulaceae
Species: Campanula puncatata Lam.
Place: Yudaokou

Family: Caryophyllaceae
Species: Dianthus chinensis Linn.
Place: General Pond

Family: Caryophyllaceae
Species: Dianthus superbus Linn.
Place: Jixielinchang 

Family: Onagraceae
Species: Epilobium angustifolium Linn.
Place: Jixielinchang 

Family: Geraniaceae
Species: Geranium pratense Linn.
Place: Jixielinchang 

Reference: http://www.cvh.ac.cn/index.asp

Marvelous Beetles "Really Belong to Me"

I’m dreaming of these marvelous stag beetles, fruit beetles and rhinoceros beetles everyday, but I’ve no chance to own many. Now photoshop gathers a box of beautiful Asia beetles (except the first one from South America) for me. Haha!

Specimen photographs courtesy: http://www.yellowman.cn/

Exaggerated Antenna

Look at this amazing beetle, how big his antennas are! The male beetle’s huge gill-shaped antennas are features of Melolonthidae family, which contains the largest number of species in Scarabaeoidea. This is Polyphylla laticollis Lewis, one of the biggest beetle in Beijing. I got it near the village (here) where one of my friend was working as I’ve memtioned in previous post. We searching bugs together and found it under a light.

Reference: http://www.hudong.com/wiki/大云鳃金龟

Four Butterfly Species

Family: Satyridae
Species: Lasiommata deidamia Eversmann
Place: Datan Grassland (here)

Family: Pieridae
Species: Aporia crataegi Linnaeus
Place: Yudaokou (here)

Family: Pieridae
Species: Coenonympha oedippus Fabricius
Place: Yudaokou (here)

Family: Nymphalidae
Species: Melitaea sp. ( Melitaea diamina? )
Place: Jixielinchang (here)

Juggling Elves

Along the road from Weichang to Chengde (here), there were a lot dragonflies playing handstand in the bush. They were small in size, but charming.

Update：
The First Species：Sympetrum pedemontanum Allioni, 1776
The Second Species：Sympetrum depressiusculum ( Selys,1841 )
Family: Libellulidae (the largest dragonfly family)

Reference：http://www.insect-fans.com/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=30368&extra=page%3D1
http://www.insect-fans.com/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=13509&extra=page%3D1

Mating Damselflies

In the Heleocharis yokoscensis bush grow on the beach of General Pond there were many dragonflies and damselflies. I spent some time on recording their love process. They connected each other tightly to make a heart-shaped circle and fliy together.

Both damselflies and dragonflies live in water when they are young. So they have to lay their eggs on the plants or stones underwater. Maybe the long tail (the abdomen) can help them to lay eggs deeply. The male flies may even push their wifes totally in the water by their long abdomen to reach a deeper place (click here or here to see pictures, unavailable in Firefox) .

Place: General Pond (map)

Grasshoppers in the bush

In the bush alone the road from Duolun to Weichang (view map) there are plenty of singing grasshoppers. Here are some pictures of them.

A female Gampsocleis sedakovii obscura can be easily identified by its swordlike ovipositor

And here is a male one, without a ovipositor.

Male grasshoppers sang in the bush while female ones couldn’t (except this one). Another member of genus Gampsocleis is Gampsocleis gratiosa, which is usually feed by Chinses as pet and being called “Guo-Guo”. They are bigger, sing louder and have shorter wins. I tried to find a “Guo-Guo” but failed.

What’s this? A young female Gampsocleis sedakovii obscura or another different species?

There were also lot of locusts

Another locust species

Grassland Flowers 4: Trollius chinensis

I’ve introduced three widely spread grassland flower species in the previous posts. Which kind do you think is the most famous? It’s today’s Trollius chinensis. Does it look like gold lotus? Yes, its Chinese name is Golden Lotus. It is famous not only for its beauty, but also for that they can make popular health drinks. People put the dry flowers into hot water to drink like tea. Before I left Jixielinchang, I also bought a bag of it to my mother, who is suffering throat cancer. The grasslang deterioration and over-harvesting are threatening these flowers. Fortunately, they are protected in some places.

Family: Ranunculaceae
Genus: Trollius

Place: Moon Lake (map) reference: http://baike.baidu.com/view/36878.htm

Grassland Flowers 3: Papaver nudicaule Linn.

Papaver nudicaule is another species spreading wildly on grassland. They all in bright yellow, catching people’s eyes. Papaver nudicaule’s Chinese name is wild poppy. It is highly similar to the world famous opium poppy, another member of genus Papaver. Of course wild poppy also can be used for making drug or anesthetic medecine, but not productive. So they are cultivated only as ornamental.

Family: Papaveraceae
Genus: Papaver

Place: Datan Grassland (map) Reference: http://www.plantphoto.cn/tu.aspx?id=3334

I’ve Lost my Bike…

Well, it happened last night when I finished my microbiology experiment class.

A lot of people do had warmed me that bikes are very likely to be stolen in campus and wanted me to put it in the bike shed so that someone could look after it. But I didn’t, for the shed is far from my dormitory.

Now it’s time for me to regret, but useless. If only there were Ctrl+Z in my life…

Due to my own fault, I want to punish my self: stopping ridding any bikes for any reason before May!

Thinking of buying a new one? NO WAY until you got a score of more than 600 in CET-6 test and scholarship more than 600RMB! What if I have satisfied these conditions but 600RMB is not enough to buy a bike? Just go on winning more scholarship in the following year to make up for it!

She had been my faithful companion for a year and a half with a total distance of 2500km.

Grassland Flowers 2: Stellera chamaejasma L.

These red and white flowers might be lovely in your eyes, but they are cheating you. In fact, these plants are poisonous and easy to grow in dry and cold environment. When too many livestock eat up all the edible grass, these poisonous flowers survive and flourish everywhere on the grassland. In another word, the flowers are signs of grassland deterioration. So it high time for us to do something to protect our Datan Grassland.

On the other hand, they are useful as medecine, too, even they are poisonous as I’ve said to Joan.

Family: Thymelaeaceae
Genus: Stellera

Place: Datan Grassland (map) Reference: http://baike.baidu.com/view/138023.htm

Grassland Flowers 1: Thalictrum petaloideum L.

These white flowers bloomed everywhere on the grassland. Their "petals" actually are specialized androeciums. The roots can be used in medicine to clear away heat and toxic material. Photos were taken here.

Family: Ranunculaceae Genus: Thalictrum Linn. Species: Thalictrum petaloideum L.

Reference: http://baike.baidu.com/view/54210.htm