rss
Cicada love
Hi there, I stumbled across your site using StumbleUpon for Firefox, and was hooked. I thought I might contribute something – I found these guys on the sidewalk last summer in Ottawa, Canada. They appear to be enjoying themselves. I assume they’re cicadas, couldn’t speculate on what kind. Hope you enjoy them!
Marcus Watson
Hi Marcus,
jThanks for the wonderful contribution. These Annual Cicadas are sometimes called Dogday Harvestflies.
Bug, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Bugman,
I found this huge green bug in my back yard in Syndey, NSW, Australia . It is about 8cm long and 2cm wide. I would like to know what it is? Thanks for your help.
Kind regards,
Bianca
Hi Bianca,
This is a Cicada, but we don’t know Australian species. Males make loud harsh sounds that sound almost industrial. They create quite a ruckus from trees.
(11/28/2005) Cicada from Australia
Dear What’s That Bug?:
Let me first say that I love your site. I couldn’t possibly say enough good things about it. Keep up the great work. I thought I may be able to provide you with an ID for the Cicada from Australia. I wasn’t sure whether you’d want to post the info or not, but figured you’d be interested nonetheless. I believe the pictured cicada is Cyclochila australasiae (the Green Grocer). I can’t be 100% sure, as the little fella in the picture is on his back, and I am by no means an expert on Australian cicadas. >From what I understand, it is a common Australian species and much louder than the ones we have in the US. I hope the information can be useful to you.
Sincerely,
Chad Lensbower
Chambersburg, PA
Mysterious empty bug??
Hi!
I’m a frequent visitor to your site. I absolutely love it! soo cooool.
I was going through some camping pictures when I found this picture that I took last year. Me and my friends could not tell whether it was alive or not, and were kinda grossed out by it because it was quite large. I thought it was alive because it was still hanging on to the tree. And although the picture I’m attaching shows the bug horizontally, it was vertical. My friend tried testing if it was alive or not by poking it with a stick. what resulted was a "CRUNCH" and the bug seemed to … collapse, as if hollow inside. We speculated that maybe it was a shedding of a bug that was left behind. but I have no idea whether bugs "shed" or not. Maybe the bug died, and all of its insides decomposed?? do you know what bug it is and why it was seemingly empty inside?
Brenda from Ontario.
Hi Brenda,
This is a Cicada Skin. When the immature Cicada, which lives underground, is ready to metamorphose into a winged adult, it digs to the surface, climbs up a tree or other vertical surface, and splits its skin, freeing the winged adult.
Something else…
To add to your mating bugs photos. I took a trip down to the Dayton, Ohio area last summer during the emerging of Brood X Cicadas. They only come out every seventeen years, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to witness it. It was truly an awesome experience.
Elizabeth A. Fisher
Hi Elizabeth,
We are truly honored to post your mating Brood X Cicadas. The one time I saw them was 34 years ago in Ohio and it was spectacular. Thank you again.
Extra Dogday Cicadas This Year?
Hello,
Just stumbled upon your site while trying to find out if this year there is an extra brood of dogday cicadas in the mid-Atlantic, specifically Maryland? I don’t remember in recent years hearing the dogdays so loud and being so numerous. I was able to capture a few pics of one emerging this morning and are attached to this e-mail. These are nice and close. AOL may ZIP them. Let me know if you can’t see them. You may use them as you wish, just maybe drop me a line! I have slightly larger versions as well. Look for my next e-mail with two absolutely FABULOUS shots, if I do say so myself, of the Brood X buggers from last year….
Alex
Hi Alex,
Thanks for the image. We are posting it as well as your Periodical Cicada image.
Brood X Photos
Well, better late than never. Here are web resolution versions of the first Broox X cicada that I saw here in Rockville, Maryland on May 14, 2004. These were taken with a Canon 10D digital SLR. I think these could be published in a magazine, don’t you? I have these two in 6.3 MP versions, or easily 8" x 10" in a magazine or twice that size on a digital printer. Anyway, just wanted to share these and mention that I could crop them to show amazing detail of a mysterious moment in nature. Take care.
Alex Campuzano
Hi Alex,
We love your images and like the two letters together. Your photos are of excellent quality. Good luck with publishing them.
3 pictures for you
Hi:
Found your site while trying to identify a 2 1/2" long Cicada I photographed while trying out a new digital camera. I have heard them in the trees for years but never saw one up close before until this one landed for a few minutes in my driveway. It took off just after the picture was taken and they are really fast. I have attached a couple of other pictures I took, a Skipper Butterfly/Moth and, a Honey Bee and a Bumble Bee sharing the same flowers. You are welcome to use the pictures if you like. Your site is Great! I have spent many hours enjoying it. Keep up the good work.
Charles Sheffield
Grand Rapids, MI
Hi Charles
We have been getting lots of blurry photos of Cicadas, or Dog Day Harvest Flies lately, with accompanying queries. Your very clear photo is a welcome addition to our homepage right now.
What’s this bug?
I found this bug on my bicycle in Queens, NY.
Thank you.
Linda
Hi Linda,
Did this happen over night or have you been neglecting your bike riding? We can only guess your bike was parked near a tree to have a Cicada dig its way out of the dirt, climb your bicycle and split its skin to fly away as a winged adult that is buzzing loudly in the trees.
EXTROVERT
I had sent you this photo on 8-2-2005 and am sending it again now (8-5-2005). Is it not good enough to put on your site? Please reply to Michael Blevins
(08/02/2005) I took this picture early morning June 6,2005 at my home in Sotsylvania county Virginia. The subject was on the front tire of my 1969 Volkswagen "Bug." How strange is that ? I suppose this little guy or girl was drying it’s wings after emerging from it’s shell. I call this photo "Extrovert" as in coming out of your shell. I had seen hundreds of cicadas and shells over the years but had never seen them together. Your site is a gem. I found it as a link from an Earthlink newsletter I get. Keep up the good work !!!
Mike Blevins.
Hi Mike,
The reality of the situation is that we did like your photo and did plan to post it. On a busy day, we might get 100 letters. It takes us about an hour to post four letters. We cannot post nor respond to every letter. We are not getting paid to run this site. It is something we enjoy doing in addition to our fulltime job, home chores, daily routines and various and other sundry pleasures and obligations. Mom is currently on her yearly visit and arrived the day your letter did, which is limiting our online time allotment. In the general scheme of things, waiting four days for a response is not out of the ordinary. In these days of virtual mail, instant gratification has become an expectation instead of a pleasure. We apologize for any inconvenience our tardiness has caused you. We have taken the liberty of removing your image from the frame you provided as it did not agree with our site’s aesthetic. We also changed the orientation of your image to maximize its size. If that is a problem let us know and we will remove the image. Have a nice day.
P.S. Your cicada is an Annual Cicada in the genus Tibicen. The Periodical Cicadas, Magicicada species, must wait 17 years underground for maturity.
Greetings Bugman!
Last summer in may we were blessed with thousands of these creatures! I cannot remember if this is the 17 year cycle cicada, or if it is a different amount of time. being a night creature myself, I decided to watch the emergence of these wonderful bugs from its previous shell. the first two pictures were taken may 15th 2004 – 2:00 a.m., 4:00 am. (not included was the 1:00 pm next day of the completely dry cicada next to its shell.) The third might have been from another night. The 4th picture is just to show the abundance of them in our backyard. (Columbus, Indiana) When they first arrived, we only heard the gentle cooing hum of the females(?) and we all thought there was something wrong with the powerlines! I just thought you might like to add these to your collection!
Lydia C. Burris
Hi Lydia,
Thanks for your awesome images. These are the Periodical Cicadas, sometimes called the 17 Year Locust. There are many different broods, and yours are from Brood X, one of the largest. Every different locale gets these amazing creatures in a different yearly cycle. Having different cycles helps to ensure the perpetuation of the species. There are also 14 Year Periodical Cicadas.
Update from David Gracer (06/12/2006)
www.slshrimp.com
Cicadas both annual and, particularly, periodic have been popular human food for a very long time. Native Americans ate them; they’re popular in Africa, Asia, and Australia. Aristotle, extolling how delicious he found cicadas, preferred them still in the brown shell that the adult form hatches out of. In 2004 I drove to Princeton NJ and harvested several pounds off the trees. I even popped a couple of the newly emerged white ones down the hatch. Very soft, creamy and good, like asparagus (which other tasters have commented upon.) Cooked and crunchy-hard they’re still great; nutty.
Mating Cicadas?
Greetings "bugman" – once again!
I recently sent you a picture of a cidada husk, with a drousy bee near it in the same position, to which you were kind enough to identify the husk for me. In the same spot in my Wheaton, Illinois garden, 20 m. west of Chicago, I was today able to photograph these two insects mating. I assume they are cicadas, though their markings are different to all those on your web site. It may be common to photograph these insects mating, but I was able to take about twenty photographs, from beginning to end of the mating, until the male flew off. It was interesting that in some pictures the male is pinning the female’s wing, so she could not leave, and he was the first to take off! Please let me know if this is a particular species of cicada, and whether typical of this region. Again, you are welcome to post the pictures, if of interest.
Best wishes, John Walford
Hi Again John,
Your mating Cicada photos will be a welcome addition to our new Love Among the Bugs page as well as the Cicada page. Your cicada is one of the Annual Cicadas, also known as the Dogday Harvestfly, Tibicen species.
What kind of bug is this?
We found this bug in our garden. We live in La Habra, CA (Orange County, near LA). It didn’t move much and started making a barely audible, high pitched, sound before it took off. It was about an inch long.
Thanks,
Pete
Hi Pete,
This is a Cicada. Western species are not as large as eastern species and tropical species get very large.
