CLOSED: What is or was this bug?

I found this on a daylily... was wondering if anyone knew what it was.

We used to call them locust when we were little kids. I don't know if that is the real name or if it is a cicada. They shed their skin when they mature. So it is still alive somewhere. LOL
edited to add a link showing what came out of it.
http://www.mensamagazine.gr/Hellas/page1239.html
It is a foreign language so I hope it is G rated. LOL

This message was edited Jul 16, 2006 3:24 PM

donna, you know that loud buzzing you hear in the trees on hot days and nights? that's them.

Hmmmm... do they eat plants? Is it really a locust? I hope not.

Donna

The adults lay eggs in the ground and the larvae eat the roots of young trees. We had the Seven Year Locust a couple of years ago. They were all over the place.

This year I have seen more of these cicada hulls. Up to three on a fencepost. For some reason this is a good year here. pod

Windy,

I am going to have nightmares now... THANKS!!! :)

So, I'm just guessing that yes, it is a locust?

Donna

http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4th/KKhp/1insects/cicada.html

I have found two of these in the last week and never have seen them before. Thanks for the thread. They are amazing to discover and I brought one in to display on the kitchen windowsill because it's beautiful.

shudhave,

You think they are beautiful? You display it in the kitchen window? I guess that proves that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. They kind of freak me out.

Donna

You have seen the skeleton, this is the cicada on the hoof (so to speak). Actually he is on the ruellia

Marianinark,

Now I will certainly have nightmares.... thanks!!!! :)

We get these all the time. If you pick up the shell carefully, you make it 'cling' to your clothes. As kids, we used to have contests to see who could find the most & get the to stick - and, of course, to startle people by leaving one in an unexpected spot. Tried a couple of times to keep a collection, but they are to fragile to last long in a tomboy's room :-)

I wouldn't enjoy it quite so much if it moved on it's own! It's really a work of art -- and since it's well behaved I can enjoy it on display for a while!

Kind of remind me of pork rhines.

If you need more, we have them clinging to every tree, plant and blade
of grass around here.

The dog loves to eat the creme filled ones. LOL!

WUVIE.... UHHHHHHHG! Creme filled ones.... LOL gross!!

These things look like they could really hurt you....

they don't do anything to you and they can't hurt you, other than your ears! they are completely harmless.

trackinsand,

Sure, sure, sure... harmless. But I'll bet they'd snack on my plants!! And in doing so, have me come up on them and scare the be-ge-bers outta me!!!! They look like something from the dark ages. And yes, I know that a lot of bugs close up look like monsters. Like, dust mites... they really look like they'd eat you alive.

Donna

we had zillions of them in the keys and i would find their shells stuck to everything, but i can't say that i ever saw damage from them on any plant. i think they are more tree type eaters, but there again, i never saw any damage. they remind me of big-eyed mice because they will, inadvertantly, fly on to you and stick to you. after you scream and jump around, you realize they aren't doing anything to you! LOL the nightmares continue.................

LOL

It's always scarey when you are outside looking at your plants and one is disturbed and flies out making that loud clicking noise or worse yet lands on you. They do a lot of damage as grubs. We lost a young maple tree sapling to them when they were so plentiful.
I think they also can destroy crops in large numbers. Wasn't there something in the Bible saying that they were sent as a curse to destroy crops? Not sure, but I think I remember reading that somewhere.

windy, i think even in modern times, they still do destroy a lot of crops in third world countries. "a plague of locusts on your house" or something like that.

I watch PBS usually when I watch TV... there was this ad for a program about locusts. This truck driver was driving along... it started pouring rain and these things fell from the sky like birds.

So I ask ... is a cicad the same as a locust? And do these bugs really evolve from grubs (the white wormy things with legs in the soil)? If so... I have moles that I've been at war with because of the lawn. They eat grubs. Perhaps I should allow the moles to stay and eat the grubs, thus less of those bugs.

What do you think?

Cicadas aren't locusts... at least, they're not the same things as all the other stuff people call locusts. In most usage, "locust" is synonymous with "grasshopper". Cicadas aren't remotely related to grasshoppers, except that both are insects. Cicadas are most closely related to treehoppers, and they do indeed spend several to seventeen years underground feeding on tree roots. They don't look at all like the soft-bodied things people usually call "grubs", though, the large ones of which are usually beetle larvae. As adults, some cicadas don't eat at all whereas others eat little. The adults will destroy some twigs when they lay eggs in them, but I don't think either they or the larvae pose any real threat to the trees. I don't have the faintest idea if moles eat them.

Patrick Alexander

I rather like the cicada. I have been lead to believe the grub in our area becomes what we call a June bug that arrives in April and stays.

Aaarggghhhh I knew it, as many as we've seen this year, I just knew they were mating!!!

podster,

HAHAHAHA..... nice pic!!!

Donna

Had to have been just the spot to shed.

Here is a pic of a cicada from earlier this summer that had recently emerged in our backyard. It was still drying and expanding--note the abdomen is not completely distended yet.

They have beautiful wings. Is that what I hear every night here? They're awfully loud, but I rather like the sound. It's comforting, in a way.

I thought I was hearing crickets. Shows you what I know about the outside. I've always been an indoor cat!

Cicada wings ARE pretty. The veins in the wings very clearly show the circulation of the hemolymph and at a good angle in the right light, a sheen of irridescent turquoise can be seen on the wing itself.

I don't know what it is you are hearing there in Colorado, but cicadas in Texas become quiet at night. They only make their noise here during the day. You may well be hearing crickets, or tree frogs or katydids. You could try taking a flashlight out in your yard tonight to see what creatures are singing to you. Just follow the noise and put the spotlight on them!

Yes, in the heat of the day is when these guys are the loudest. I truly have never seen so many shells as there are this year! Quite a few bugs too.

hill - You need to post that photo in the contest, and on bug files. It is great!