Subject: What is this bug???
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
July 21, 2016 11:12 am
I’ve been seeing this shell/skin of a big sll over the exterior of my house walls. Uncertain what it is.
Signature: Thanks so much! – AD
Dear AD,
These are the exuviae or shed exoskeletons of Cicadas. The Cicada nymphs live underground for several years (up to 17 for the 17 Year Locust or Periodical Cicada) and then as they mature, they dig to the surface, molt for the last time, and fly off as adult Cicadas. Cicadas are among the best known “music makers” of the insect world, and according to the BBC Earth, they may be the loudest insects on the planet. Cicada Mania mentions other loud Cicadas. Natalie, our coworker, just returned from Las Vegas and she was quite surprised to have heard Cicadas. Perhaps you are having a significant population explosion of Cicadas this year. According to Hub Pages in a 2012 posting and Las Vegas Sun in a 2014 posting, they are Apache Cicadas, a name we proposed as a common name for Diceroprocta apache back in 2010.