This 17 year Cicada is a week late. This morning I heard on the radio that fishermen are using the Cicadas for bait with great success. The "Magicicada" are the most interesting because of those red eyes, and strong body color.
Adults are soft when they emerge (moult) from their nymph exoskeleton (not chrysalis) and are most edible then, before they harden and get crunchy. Females are fatter and have more protein. How do you tell which is which? Females are the quiet ones, and they lay the eggs on branches, da.
Males are the LOUDEST bugs in the world... 104 dcbls. Their natural predator is the digger wasp; luckily, their 17yr life cycle brings them out every once and a while at different years than the wasps. They make a different sound when they are being eaten by wasps... I guess they would!
The eggs hatch out on the branches, the nymphs then drop down onto the ground and dig down from 1' to as much as 8 1/2 feet and spend most of their 17 years underground sucking roots.
In the final nymphal instar (instar is stage of metamorphosis between moults) they construct an exit tunnel to the surface.
Oh what a way to go - 17 years as a chrysalis and some fisherman sticks you on the end of a hook!!! Great shot and it is great to see what I have heard in so many films! Viv
Terrific shot..well done.'There is no point pressing the shutter unless you are making some caustic comment on the incongruities of life. That is what photography is all about. It is the only reason for doing it.'......Philip Jones Griffiths
Can you believe people actually eat these things too....good shot, nice and crisp. Maggi
~In His Love~ Maggi D For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16
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