New shrimp and moth species discovered in Sichuan

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-06-28

The shrimps found in a cave near Longmen Mountain, June 19. (Photo/Xinhua)

The moth, pictured on June 19.
(Photo/Xinhua)

New species of moth and shrimp have been discovered by scientists of the Insect Museum of West China in Chengdu who explored uninhabited caves in the city, reports the state-run China News Service.

According to the museum's curator Zhao Li, a team explored the caves in the Longxi-Hongkou National Nature Reserve and around Longmen Mountain in Pengzhou city. Many greater horseshoe bats live in the caves and the moths and shrimps live on the bats' feces.

The shrimps found in the caves in the mountain are around a centimeter long. Their bodies are almost transparent and they do not have a fan-shape tail or long feelers. They only move horizontally and swarm over bat feces when it drops into the water. The shrimps die after being exposed to the sun for over an hour or if the surrounding temperature fluctuates.

The moths have eyes but are not sensitive to light. They perch on the walls of the caves and can be easily caught with bare hands. Its larva crawl on the ground and seek out the bat feces for food.

The Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences said cave-living moths and shrimps were not discovered until recently in Sichuan but similar species have been seen in caves in neighboring Guizhou.