Thursday 20 December 2018

Evening Visitors

Had this Cicada attempt to fly into the house last night (the screen on the back door stopped it). A quick turn off of the lights (ceasing the attraction) and a quick tap on the screen (from my side) and she flew into the stuff on the top of the back steps. A quick check this morning revealed she was still there, but sluggish. Looks to have laid its eggs (lifecycle briefly described here).


end to end its about 5cm long


I understand in this "phase" of their life cycle they don't feed, so they're just in the mate and lay eggs phase of life. Meaning that they're living on stored energy reserves (fats) at this point.


you can see the ovipositor here (at least it looks that way to me, clarifications sought from any better entemologists than I)

I assume that big mouthpiece is actually just for detecting pheromones.

Hope you enjoyed looking as much as I did ... Nature is fantastic stuff isn't it

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