Hong Niang Zi

Hong Niang Zi is the dried whole body of the cicada-beetle Huechys sanguinea De Geer (Hemiptera: Cicadidae), a brightly coloured Asian cicada widespread in southern China, Indochina, and the Malay archipelago. Adults are 15-25 mm long with shining black wings and a vivid red to orange-red abdomen and thorax. In classical TCM the insect is collected in summer, threaded on bamboo strips, and dried. It is considered acrid, bitter, and toxic, and was used externally to disperse blood stasis, transform masses, and treat indurations, scrofula, and skin conditions; internally it has been used in very small doses as an emmenagogue and to dispel parasites. Because of its toxicity and the availability of safer substitutes, its modern clinical use is rare and tightly restricted in mainland Chinese practice.