Is watermelon worm (rat woman) a pest or beneficial insect? What kind of food do you eat? Is it poisonous?

Watermelon insects are known as rat women, also known as tide bugs, cluster worms, ground lice women, and so on. They are commonly known as female animals of the family Tetranychidae. There are more than 150 species in the world, so are watermelon insects pests or beneficial insects? What kind of food do you eat? Is it poisonous?

There are many kinds of watermelon insects, most of them are long oval, slightly flat, adult length 9-15mm, surface gray, shiny. The dorsal abdomen is very flat, grayish brown and grayish blue; it curls into a mass when frightened, it is a herbivorous terrestrial group, and the mouthparts are chewable mouthparts, with prominent protuberances in the center of the front edge of the head and its left and right corners. They are the only crustaceans fully adapted to living on land, distributed from the seaside to the highlands about 5000 meters above sea level. Watermelon insects are one of the groups of crustaceans adapted to land life, usually living in wet, humus-rich places, such as under rocks in damp places, under rotten wood, in tree holes, in damp grass and moss, under water tanks in the courtyard, under flowerpots and even in shady and humid places in the room.

Is watermelon insect a pest or a beneficial pest? Is it poisonous?

Watermelon insects are pests to agriculture. Watermelon insects in the field mainly harm melon seedlings and cruciferous vegetables buds, tender roots and strawberries and other berries, like to eat rape, mustard, Chinese cabbage, tomato, cucumber, pumpkin, bottle gourd, soybean, cowpea, amaranth, hollow cabbage, lettuce and other leaves and edible fungi, living in dark and damp corners, especially living under rotten wood, rotten leaves and stones, sometimes in houses and courtyards. Watermelon insects do no direct harm to people, but some people raise them for drugs or experiments.

How to control watermelon insects?

1. Agricultural prevention and control: control irrigation, reduce field humidity, reduce its harm, clean the countryside in time after harvest, deeply plough the soil, and reduce the source of insects.

2. Trapping and control: when the overwintering adults and larvae of watermelon insects begin to move, set up piles of withered leaves and weeds in the evening and kill them in the early morning.

3. Application of poisonous soil: sprinkle the soil on the ground with 2.3% deltamethrin or 20% deltamethrin, 50g / mu, 100g / mu, 10kg / mu and 20kg / mu.

4. Ground spraying: spray with 1000 times of 1000 EC of dichlorvos, 0.45% of malathion, or 3000 times of deltamethrin and 20% cyanoamyl ester.

In fact, watermelon insect is not only an agricultural pest, but also has the value of traditional Chinese medicine.

In terms of traditional Chinese medicine, watermelon insects have medicinal value. As a medicinal material, watermelon insect comes from the dry whole of common roll beetle or tide beetle, which is mainly produced in Jiangsu Province. Domestic literature research shows that the efficacy of the extract of the two is basically the same, so it is feasible to mix the two without distinction in clinic.

According to the Compendium of Materia Medica, watermelons are sour and cool, and have the effects of relieving asthma, diuresis, detoxification, pain relief and sedation. External use has foaming effect, can be used for the treatment of asthma, adverse urination, hemolysis, amenorrhea, wind-induced mouth, sores, long-term malaria, cold and fever and other diseases. In addition, the culture of watermelon insects can be used in livestock and poultry feed.