The rare Teinopalpus aureus butterfly, also known as the "queen of butterflies", has been observed by Chinese researchers in the Chebaling National Natural Reserve of Guangdong province.
On September 23, Xiao Ronggao, an engineer from the Guangdong Chebaling National Natural Reserve Administration, discovered the beautiful butterfly as he walked out of the museum gate.
The Teinopalpus aureus butterfly is ranked first among the world's eight most precious butterflies and is the only butterfly species under first-class national protection in China. It is known as China's "national butterfly". Its numbers in the wild are very small, and there are only accurate records of it in a few areas such as Guangdong, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Zhejiang.
This is the fifth time that Chebaling National Natural Reserve has found traces of the Teinopalpus aureus butterfly. The Reserve recorded one Teinopalpus aureus butterfly in 2015 and 2016, respectively. In recent years, the Reserve has continuously carried out butterfly monitoring throughout the territory, and recorded it twice in 2023, which is enough to show that the Reserve has a population of the Teinopalpus aureus butterflies.
As of the end of 2023, Chebaling National Natural Reserve had recorded 2,077 species of wild higher plants and 1,692 species of wild animals. In the past three years, the Reserve has also carried out more than 70 nature education activities, with an audience of about 10,000 people.
At present, Chebaling National Natural Reserve and Guangdong Nanling National Nature Reserve have set up monitoring units with the Teinopalpus aureus butterfly as the main monitoring object. This has become part of the construction of Guangdong Province's endangered wild animal monitoring system.
Author | Monica
Editor | James
Video & photo | Zhang Ling, Shao Yihong
Video editor | Pan Jiajun
