1. Aliases

Chinese soft shelled turtle, soil element, and Zhe insect.
2. Animal morphology
Chinese soft shelled turtle: hermaphroditic. The female insect is wingless, about 3 centimeters long, with a flattened body and a glossy black color. Small head, curved towards the abdomen. Mouth chewing style, with a hard jaw. Developed compound eyes, renal shaped; Two single eyes. The antennae are filamentous, long and multi jointed. The front chest and back plate are shield shaped, narrow in the front and wide in the back, covering the head. The male insect has a wavy pattern on the chest, with notches, and has two pairs of wings. Hebei soft shelled turtle: The female body is wide and ovoid, wider than the soft shelled turtle. The surface of the insect body is dark black without luster. The front edge of the chest and back plate, as well as the surrounding area of the body, have reddish brown or yellowish brown edges. There are dense small granular protrusions on the back of the body, without wings. The male insect has wings and a grayish black body. Except for a clear pale wide edge at the front edge of the chest and back plate, there are no fine markings on other parts of the body.
3. Origin distribution
Ground turtles live underground or in sandy soil, often found under granaries or in damp areas of oil mills. Distributed in most regions of the country. Jidi turtles often live in kitchens, stove legs, and damp places. Distributed in Hebei, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, and Hunan.
4. Harvesting and processing
Harvest from May to August. After capture, scald to death in boiling water, sun dry or dry.
5. Characteristics of medicinal herbs
Ground turtle: flat oval shaped, 1.3-3 centimeters long and 1.2-2.4 centimeters wide. Narrow front end, wide rear end, purple brown back, glossy, wingless. The front chest and back plate are well-developed, covering the head. The abdominal and dorsal plates have 9 sections arranged in a tile like pattern. The abdomen is reddish brown, with a small head and one pair of filamentous antennae that often fall off; There are three pairs of feet on the chest. There is a transverse segment in the abdomen. It has a fishy smell and a slightly salty taste. Jidi turtle: long oval shaped. The back is black brown with light yellow brown patches and black dots on the edges.
6. Nature, taste, and meridian tropism
Cold in nature, salty in taste, and slightly toxic. Guigan Meridian.
7. Effect and function
Breaking through blood stasis and renewing muscles and bones. It belongs to the subcategory of blood activating and stasis removing drugs, and is a type of blood activating and injury treating medicine.
8. Clinical applications
Commonly used dosage is 3-9 grams, decocted and taken to treat muscle and bone fractures, blood stasis and amenorrhea, and abdominal distension.
9. Pharmacological research
Improving cardiovascular and cerebrovascular function, with significant lipid-lowering and inhibitory effects on leukemia cells. Animal experiments have shown that the water extract of this product has anticoagulant effects. It also has the effects of anti hypoxia, anti mutation, reducing total cholesterol, and increasing high-density lipoprotein/cholesterol ratio.
10. Chemical composition
Contains protein, volatile oil, fatty acids, amino acids, sterols, and various trace elements. It also contains various fatty aldehydes and aromatic aldehydes, as well as other rare components of traditional Chinese medicine such as dichlorobenzene and dimethyl disulfide.
11. Taboos for use
Elderly, weak, and menstruating individuals should take it with caution, and pregnant women should not use it.
12. Compatibility prescription
① To treat bleeding and swelling, there are veins on the abdominal skin: 24g of peach kernel, 1.5g of rhubarb, three turtles and insects, and 1.5g of kansui (for final infusion). Boiled in water. Take turns taking the Dixia Zhuyu Tang. (Yu Xue Tang in "Correcting Mistakes in the Medical Forest")
② Treatment of fracture injury and bone connection: ground beetle is baked and last, 6~9 grams per serving. (Summary of Medical Prescriptions)
③ For the treatment of pediatric umbilical redness or purulent blood with clear water: calcine the dried turtle over fire to ashes, grind the powder, and apply it. (General Principles of Pediatric Health)
④ Treating fistula and swelling: Grind a small amount of dried ground turtle powder and musk each. Mix the two flavors well. Dry mix or paste, treat with dry and wet methods. (Saint Ji Zonglu)