Subject: Cicada ?
Geographic location of the bug: North west Tn. Just North of Jackson Tn
Date: 08/19/2019
Time: 11:57 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: Found this in my dogs mouth last night, August 18th 2019. Is it a freshly hatched cicada? They are singing and flying all over but have never seen one at this stage before. Magnificent color and size. Then again it could be an alien species for all I know.
How you want your letter signed: Thanks, Frankie Brown
Dear Frankie,
You are correct. This is a newly emerged Cicada. Did its wings ever expand, allowing it to fly away? Insects are most vulnerable during and immediately after metamorphosis as their exoskeleton has not yet hardened. We are going to tag this posting with the Bug Humanitarian Award, though we have mixed feelings about the rescue. If your dog injured the Cicada, it might not have been able to fly once its exoskeleton hardened, and since Cicadas are quite nutritious, you did deprive your dog of a healthy treat. Living in Southern California now, our editorial staff misses the sound of Cicadas during the dog days of summer.
The cicada was not hurt by my dog. She was right beside me and I noticed she picked something up out of the grass. I gently pried her mouth open because she was quite proud of what she had found. Took it in the house to show my wife, made a few pictures for my gardening group, knew they would be interested. I am a Master Gardener here in Jackson. We are about bugs, bees, plants, anything in your yard that you can enjoy. I also have a leafcutter bee tube on my fence. I have 5 full reeds of cocoons and hope to winter them over for the next season. They have done a great job pollinating my garden, strawberries, grapes, and blueberries not to mention various flowers. Their specialty is garden veggies so I am told by the folks at Crown Bees. Yes, after a few photos I walked to the fence and dropped it over where it would be safe and told it to fly, be free until we meet again. I promise it was not hurt. You can tell by the photo that it had no wings. You can see jutting out from it’s sides where they will develop. This thing was fresh! Wasn’t sure it was not some alien creature but with all the cicada out here I would have bet the farm. Had never seen one at that stage and my master gardener website is blowing up about it. People are as excited as I was, and had never seen one either. They enjoy my posts about the things I do and find in my back yard. Thanks for the reassurance and I promise he was not hurt. She picked it up gingerly and luckily I was watching in fascination as well. Girl, what kind of green monster have you found?
Thanks again,
Frankie Brown