Subject: Unknown insect
Geographic location of the bug: Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah
Date: 08/12/2018
Time: 12:31 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: Found while doing trail work. Seemed to be secreting a substance out of its back while being handled.
How you want your letter signed: Thank-you! Ryan
Dear Ryan,
This is a Cicada nymph and you did not indicate if it was dug up while doing trail work or if it was found on the surface. It appears there is a crack in its exoskeleton, an injury that might have occurred if it was dug up. The substance may have been its vital fluids “bleeding” from the injury. We suspect this is a mortal injury. Cicada nymphs live for several years underground feeding from plant roots, but as they near maturity, they dig to the surface, molt for the last time and emerge as winged adult Cicadas.
