Cicada Killer
Location: St. Louis, MO
June 23, 2011 10:52 am
Love the site! Found it several years ago while trying to figure out what ”those crazy centipede millipede silverfish things” were. (House centipedes FTW!) While it hasn’t solved ALL of my irrational fears (crickets!), it has certainly helped.
Anyway, I was going through some old photos and ran across this cicada killer with her dinner. Thought you might enjoy the photo. I found her on the tire of my car in July of 2007 and had never seen one before. I figured out what she was with the help of your site.
Enjoy and thanks for all the hard work on this site!
Signature: Tracie
Cicada Killer preys upon Annual Cicada
Hi Tracie,
Your photo is just a bit early to coincide with the annual appearance of Cicada Killers, but we are very excited that you have sent it to us. Some years we can get as many as three or five identification requests for Cicada Killers in a day, and they generally arrive in our mailbox during July and August. We have just posted our first image of a molting Annual Cicada in the genus Tibicen for the year, and as the food source for the developing Cicada Killer broods are beginning to appear, the predators should soon follow. We are going to feature your posting and we hope that informing our readers about this amazing Sand Wasp will help to curtail their slaughter. Often people are unnerved because thought Cicada Killers are solitary wasps, they tend to form nursery nests in colonies. Male Cicada Killers are perfectly harmless as they cannot sting, are nonetheless quite aggressive about defending territory. Female Cicada Killers are capable of stinging, be we have never in more than 13 years of writing What’s That Bug? been able to document a verified incident of a person being stung by a Cicada Killer. The few claims we have received are better explained by blaming other more aggressive wasps like Paper Wasps.
So glad you could use the photo! I certainly could see how people would be intimidated by such a large wasp. I was just so impressed by her I had to get some photos, but I certainly kept my distance! 
She was actually dragging the cicada up the tire of my car (looks like the photo on the site got rotated) and I ended up walking the couple of blocks home for lunch so I wouldn’t disturb her by driving off.
I do hope this will help people understand and be less afraid of these creatures. Hey, if I can learn why house centipedes shouldn’t be automatically smushed regardless of how alien they look I believe ANYONE can. Shoot, I was actually GLAD to see these guys in my new house. The cave crickets, on the other hand, are not welcome. I’ll send photos of those along if I ever muster up the courage to not immediately run from the basement when I see one.
Cheers!
Hi again Tracie,
Yes the image was rotated to maximize its size on the website. Cicada Killers will climb up trees and walls while dragging a Cicada. They can then glide some distance back to the excavated nest.
2
Cicada emerges
Location: Roanoke Virginia USA
June 23, 2011 8:50 am
I wanted to share this beautiful emergence of a cicada. I caught it right in the middle of molting. Thanks again for the awesome site!!
Signature: neanderpaul
Cicada Molting
Dear neanderpaul,
Thanks so much for submitting this gorgeous photo. Many of our readers write in wanting to identify the shed exoskeletons of Cicadas, and it is nice to have your marvelous documentation of the actual molting process. Your Cicada is one of the Annual Cicadas that appear each year, most likely a member of the genus Tibicen.
Cicada Molting
Daniel,
Thanks so much for responding! It is VERY rewarding to get a complementary response especially when I know how busy you are and how many emails you must get. We do have these every year. The cicada killers make quite a living here! lol! I submitted a pic in ’07 of a wheel bug that still appears on your site. I really hope you post this cicada pic. It is so cool to have a pic featured on such a cool site! Thanks again so much for your site and for responding!
Best wishes,
Paul Mays
aka neanderpaul
Update: August 29, 2011
Daniel,
My Cicada pic made it onto the local CBS news! Thanks for publishing it as that is how the reporter found it!
I now have some pics of a beautiful Garden spider. So huge and intimidating. He has a cicada all wrapped up for later.
And could “crop 1 Garden Spider 011″ be her mate? He was WAY smaller but I know males often are. He was in the same web.
Best wishes!
Paul Mays
aka neanderpaul
Golden Orbweaver eats Cicada
Hi Paul,
Thanks for the update and the great news about your previous photo. We will be creating a new posting for your Golden Orbweaver images.
7
Thanks to John at Alberini’s Restaurant in Niles Ohio, we have decided that The Curious World of Bugs children’s version needs to have full page or even double truck illustrations that may be colored to approximate the coloration and markings of the actual insects in much the same way that Maria Sibylla Merian’s Caterpillar Books were all hand colored. Daniel is pitching the idea to his editor Maria Gagliano at Penguin/Perigee. The coloring book will include 18 pages of identical illustrations of a Cicada with a brief paragraph on each of the 18 Australian Cicadas with names like Yellow Monday, Blue Moon, Green Grocer, Chocolate Soldier and Double Drummer. See pages 22-25 in The Curious World of Bugs. Young readers may with adult supervision if necessary, locate images online of the various Cicadas so they might have an original to replicate, or they may just choose to be more creative with the interpretation of the name. How would you color the Green Grocer Cicada if you had never seen a photograph of one?
Cicada Drawing
We couldn’t resist demonstrating that we are able to color digitally. And now, The Green Grocer.
The Green Grocer, an Australian Cicada
Daniel Marlos writes in The Curious World of Bugs: The Bugman’s Guide to the Mysterious and Remarkable Lives of Things That Crawl: “Green Grocer, Cylochila australasiae: This highly variable cicada has a different common name for each of its color variations, with green being the most common color morph. The Green Grocer is a reference to the vegetable venders of yore and might refer to the bright color of the insect, which is similar to the color of lightly blanched greens (as opposed to when they’re overcooked.“ Here is a photo of a Green Grocer from our archives and our Bug of the Month posting from December 2010.
Green Grocer Cicada from Australia. Photo by LC
3
Mating Cicadas
Location: Cedar Hill Missouri
June 5, 2011 8:35 pm
Hello Bugman,
What kind of cicadas are these, such as year/scientific and common name? I would love to know!
Signature: Thanks!, Nathan Becker
Brood XIX 13 Year Cicadas Mating
Hi Nathan,
We are very thrilled to have received your photo of a mating pair of Brood XIX 13 Year Cicadas, Magicicada tredecassini. Here is the BugGuide information page on this species. This map on BugGuide illustrates the range of the Great Southern Brood of Periodical Cicadas in the genus Magicicada.
Ed. Note: Though Brood XIX seems to be emerging throughout its range, we have not received reports of great numbers of Cicadas. Is habitat destruction combined with Unnecessary Carnage beginning to contribute to a decline in the number of individuals?
¶ Posted 05 June 2011 § ‡ ° Tagged: bug love 13 year locust Location: Southern Illinois June 2, 2011 7:34 pm I just matched my locust picture on your site. I had seen these once before years ago near Boston Harbor. I thought they were the 7 year locust as I had never seen them before. This year while visiting The Garden of the gods State Park in Southern Illinois; we heard a strange noise when we got out of the car. We had been there several times before and never heard this sound in the woods. Then I saw the red eeyed locust and thought ”Ah-Ha!!” I was curious as to what kind it really was so I checked your site to find locusts. Sure enough… some one else further south had seen them too. Thanks for helping me know what kind it is. Signature: Janet Fox
13 Year Cicada
Hi Janet, Thanks so much for sending your excellent photo of a 13 Year Cicada from the Great Southern Brood, AKA Brood XIX. Your letter sounded like you did not see great numbers, which is alarming. Perhaps habitat destruction and human intervention have reduced their numbers. As long as people consider the appearance of the mating swarms of Periodical Cicadas to be a plague, then the demise of the species is imminent. Though they are commonly called “locusts”, the Periodical Cicadas are true Cicadas.
Ed. Note: Though Brood XIX seems to be emerging throughout its range, we have not received reports of great numbers of Cicadas. Is habitat destruction combined with Unnecessary Carnage beginning to contribute to a decline in the number of individuals?
¶ Posted 03 June 2011 § ‡ ° What is this bug
Location: Nashville, TN
May 27, 2011 2:34 pm
It’s black and white, but I have never seen it before. All the research I have done has turned up with nothing… Found around the nashville, TN area a couple days ago (May)
Signature: -Andrew
Giant Leopard Moth (right) and Periodical Cicada
Dear Andrew,
We love your photo documenting a Giant Leopard Moth or Eyed Tiger Moth, Hypercompe scribonia. side by side with a Periodical Cicada, a member of the Brood XIX of the 13 Year Cicada.
Bug
Location: Green Bay, Wisconsin
May 28, 2011 9:40 pm
Hello! I was digging a garden, and about 8 inches underground I found this guy. He is about the size of a nickel (U.S.). I have been searching to try to figure out what he is, but no luck yet!! Thank you!!
Signature: Stacy
Cicada Nymph
Oh yeah, some more info on the bug that I found. He seems to lay on his back a lot. When we took him out, it seemed like he didn’t know how to walk. After about half an hour, he slowly started to walk backwards. He has underdeveloped wings, and his eyes have tiny, tiny black spots in them–like pupils (sometimes I feel like he’s looking at me). Right now he is laying on his back, using his legs to move around the jar. There was no other insects around the spot where I dug him up, or eggs or anything of the sort. He was just there all alone. I hope some of this helps!! Thank you again!!!
Stacy Belanger
Cicada Nymph
Hi Stacy,
This is an immature Cicada. Cicada Nymphs live underground and feed off of fluids in plant roots. They are clumsy above ground. Upon nearing completion of their lengthy underground existence, they burrow to the surface and metamorphose into winged adults. We often get photos of the shed skins or exuvia, but we rarely get photos of living nymphs that have been unearthed.
¶ Posted 29 May 2011 § ‡ ° Is this Locust Pupa
Location: West Central Illinios
May 12, 2011 2:36 pm
I have some leaves composting in my front yard , Flipped the bag and these I think Locust Pupa ?? Not Sure??
Signature: Teresa
Cicada Nymph
Dear Teresa,
Only insects with complete metamorphosis have a pupa, and Cicadas have an incomplete metamorphosis. The life cycle of a Cicada includes a period of time underground as a growing nymph. In the case of the Periodical Cicada, the period of time underground may reach 13 or 17 years, hence the common name 17 Year Locust. This is a Cicada Nymph, and it is likely about to transform into an adult, which is why it is on the surface. We just posted a photo of a Brown Thrasher feeding on a Cicada Nymph, though the angle of the prey in that photo made identification somewhat difficult. Your photo shows the immature Cicada quite nicely. Since your photo has come quite early in the year, and since Brood XIX is about to emerge in Illinois, we suspect this is an immature 13 Year Cicada from Brood XIX. Periodical Cicadas appear earlier in the year than Annual Cicadas which generally emerge in July and August.
¶ Posted 13 May 2011 § ‡ ° 
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