I have so many more questions, but pull myself away once again. Do you see them? Are there others that I missed? There are other lessons, such as this–like dragonflies, some nymphs transform atop the discarded exuviae of their relatives.Īnd while I expect that they only climb a few feet off the ground to morph, I’m proven wrong when I have to use my warbler neck to spy at least two on branches high above. The reality may be different.Ī few headstones away, another for the red variety. That, of course, is my human interpretation of what I was observing. Then there was another question–if they were so close to each other in emergence, would they get along? I watched these two for a long time, and though they got quite close occasionally, they seemed rather territorial, using. In fact, some even morphed upon the same family plot corner stone, this being the Evans family in Center Lovell, and their transformation occurred within minutes of each other. And it can’t be location, for they were all in the same locale. My question is this: what determines color? It can’t be temperature as from the many I saw today and few yesterday, all emerged at about the same time. Variation apparently is normal among cicadas, which provide me a wonder-filled lesson. Today, I visited yesterday’s cemetery and found not much action, but a few miles north it seemed the summer chorus was preparing to take in new members.įirst, however, they had to finish donning their choir robes.Īnd as I’d noticed for the first time yesterday, not all robes are the same color. In time, the wings will fold over the cicada’s back, but until that happens, the rose-version offers a lesson that not all Dog-Day Cicadas look like camouflaged leaves among which they sing–the tree-top males producing the droning whirr of a song we all associate with summer by using their tymbals or paired membranous structururs in their abdomens that vibrate through muscular action–it’s this song that attracts females. Teneral to start, a breeze creates an angelic quality befitting the setting. After the cuticle hardens for a while and muscles grow stronger, the cicada pulls itself out of its former self.īefore it can fly, those wings need to dry, some resembling a rainbow. Next, it pumps insect blood into its body and wings, which takes even longer, as in hours. In continued slow motion, they begin to unfurl. Do you see the proboscis, that elongated sucking mouthpart or stylet that is tubular and flexible, extending from its nose?Īs the abdomen extends, four wings take shape. They begin the process by arching and expanding the thorax until the larval cuticle fractures and the adult’s thorax appears, soon, or sorta soon, followed by its head.īoth red and green complete this process simultaneously as I squat and watch.Įventually, legs and wings are visible. I could say that within minutes I noticed more of the body bulging, giving the nymph a hunchback look, but this is a transformation that takes time. And do you see where the second cicada had that hint of green, this one is more rosy red in color. Winged cicadas emerge from a slit along the back of the nymph’s exoskeleton.īack to the first, you’ll notice the same is true. And really, its head was already emerging, for if you look closely, you’ll note a small set of brown eyes closer to its claws and the new eyes much larger and darker in color protruding. Tickled to see two who looked like they were about to burst into new life, I watched with intensity, noticing that this, the second one, had green wings forming. In July, the nymphs tunnel up through the ground and crawl onto tree trunks or other surfaces like gravestones, which they latch onto with those over-sized claws. As nymphs or larvae, they remain underground feeding on plant juices from tree roots. They complete their life cycle in 1 – 3 years. Who are these land lobsters, for such do their claws remind me.
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