Subject: What is this thing?
Location: Buffalo MN
July 9, 2017 2:13 pm
I found this under the soil in my shade garden. It has big red orange eyes. It looks like a slug of some sort but has legs that look almost like spider legs. Can I feed it to my son’s pet toad???
Signature: John and Nessa
Dear John and Nessa,
This is a Cicada nymph, and immature Cicadas spend their juvenile lives underground feeding of fluids from plant roots. We believe the red eyes are evidence that this is the nymph of a Periodical Cicada, commonly called a 17 Year Locust in northern states where the nymph survives underground for 17 years, emerging in late spring with 1000s of other Periodical Cicadas. Here is a FlickR image of a Periodical Cicada nymph. This year we documented an unusual Brood X emergence of stragglers. You may enjoy the information on the Minnesota Gardener page.
