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
I love the marking on the Gampsocleis sedakovii obscura Mingfei. Collecting grasshoppers is new to me, I always thought the Chinese people did that only with crickets? Maybe I just remember it wrong?
ReplyDeleteThis is a lovely variety of grasshoppers. We have many different species here too and you can do a search on my page to see some of those (and locusts) which I have posted.
You are right Joan. Both crickets and Guo-Guo are played. We feed cricket to fight with other's for fun and communication. But we feed Guo-Guo only to get self relaxation by listening to their songs.
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting and new to me Mingfei. I have learnt 2 things from you now. I did not know that they used the crickets for fighting nor did I know that grasshoppers make a sound as oour have a slent voice.
ReplyDeleteThe cricket which they use for fighting, how big are they? Is it one specific species. Do they use the smaller species (1 inch) or larger?
See, I am always full of questions? :)
RE:SAPhotographs (Joan)
ReplyDeleteI'm always glad to answer all your question about my country. Crickets are bellicose insects. Two males of any species would fight for females. Gryllus bimaculatus, which can be found easily in south China (such as my hometown), is about 1 inch. But the typical fighting species is Velarifctorous micado, which is only 0.5 inch. There is a long history that people fight crickets. In ancient China, especially in Song and Tang dynasty, fighting crickets was nationally popular entertainment. Even officials could be promoted if they could pay good crickets as tributes at that time. In addition to Guo-Guo and Qu-Qu(the crickets), insects of genus Oecanthus and Anqaxipha are also pets of Chinese.
This is all very interesting Mingfei. Thanks for taking the time to post the answers for me. The Velarifctorous micado really looks like a fighter with those mandibles.
ReplyDeleteI am always interested in learning new things about different people, cultures and lands. I have never been to China though, but it certainly looks beautiful.
Hi Mingfei, very nice pictures! Please tell me what kind of camera are you using? I have found the SONY model DSC-V1 (in your PICASA gallery)...really just this one? Otherwise, continue in this hobby and enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteRE:Pavel
ReplyDeleteNice to meet you Pavel. Almost all pictures in Easyparadise was created by DSC-V1. Though it has been outdated for many years, it's really a classic model. 5.0 mega pixels is quite enough for web posting and the image quality is satisfactory. It's the only camera I have, so I have to make the most of it before I own a better one.
Thanks for your visiting.