The main reason is that it is not easy to crush the head and foot of the mealybugs, so the head should be removed and put into medicine.

Ancient people have said that mealybugs are "poisonous in the eyes and effective in the tail", so it has been passed down through the generations to remove the head and feet. The eyes and head and feet of mealybugs were used for acute toxicity in monkeys and subacute experiments in mice. The results are not seen adverse reactions.

The mealybug is the dried body of Gekko gecko?Linnaeus, a gecko. It is distributed in Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan. It has the effect of tonifying the lungs and kidneys, holding the qi and stabilizing wheezing, and assisting the yang and benefiting the essence. Commonly used in lung and kidney deficiency, asthma, coughing up blood, impotence, spermatorrhea.

Expanded Information:

Source of Mealybugs

Mealybugs, also known as Xiantian (仙蟾), was first appeared in Kaibao Ben Cao. Nowadays, it is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine. Li Shizhen said in "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Mealybugs are famous for their sound, and immortal toads are famous for their shape." That is to say: the male of this animal calls "clam", the female calls "mealybug", so named after the sound and passed down to this day. It is also known as the "immortal toad" because its head resembles a toad and its body and feet are the same as those of the mythical immortal dragon.

The mealybugs are mainly distributed in Southeast Asia, India and Guangxi and Yunnan of China. The mealybugs hatch from eggs and live in mountain rocks and tree holes, and they come out day and night, often in pairs, following each other. The sexual life of mealybugs is extremely frequent, the Qing Dynasty "Materia Medica Seeking Truth" said in describing its habits: "male and female correspond, the love is harmonious intercourse, the two hold each other, falling to the ground, by catching and splitting, to the death of not open."

The faithfulness of the mealybugs makes it convenient for human beings to catch them. When you catch mealybugs in summer and fall, you can find the stone cracks and tree holes where they live, and use bamboo poles to tie up their bristles and put them into the lead, and then the mealybugs will bite the hair and won't let go. At this time, pull out quickly, you can catch the mealybugs in pairs.