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08/14/2005 04:47:00 PM · #1 |
OK. So I'm about to leave to the store yesterday, when my husband and I see this huge bug attached to our garage. It looked like an enormous house fly. I have since figured out it was a cicada (sick-a-da). But I took one look at this thing and was so creeped out it took all I had not to run the other way, screaming. However, I was also so amazed by it, I grabbed my camera instead. I know technically, these shots aren't that great, but I just have to share the creepiness of these bugs with all of my DPC friends!
  
I found out what kind of bug it was by finding this website. I was glad to know it was pretty much a normal bug, but not anything I had ever seen! Uck! :)
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08/14/2005 04:48:44 PM · #2 |
looks like a super macro of a flea hahaha
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08/14/2005 05:06:15 PM · #3 |
Next time stick your finger right next to its head so we have a sense of scale.
;-) |
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08/14/2005 05:16:50 PM · #4 |
Yeah, I ran into one of those on my last hike. I took this one with my Looooonnnng lens cause there was no way I was getting close to that thing. :-P
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08/14/2005 05:38:27 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by strangeghost:
Next time stick your finger right next to its head so we have a sense of scale.
;-) |
good idea...or your tongue.
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08/14/2005 05:41:17 PM · #6 |
They don't hurt you, bite or sting, and they make a real cool sound if you disturb them or pick them up. Just be ready, cause the sound is loud!
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08/14/2005 05:50:05 PM · #7 |
Cicadas are very normal bugs. Large, and somewhat forebodeing in appearance but they don't bite or carry disease. They can leave stains but are usually only around for a 2-3 week period. Pets can sometimes eat enough of them to make themselves sick, as in vomiting and diarrhea, but they are not poisonous.
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08/14/2005 05:54:46 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by strangeghost:
Next time stick your finger right next to its head so we have a sense of scale.
;-) |
Just looking at the photos gives me the creeps! And you want me to put my finger by it??? EEEEEK! |
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08/14/2005 06:26:28 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by coolhar:
Cicadas are very normal bugs. Large, and somewhat forebodeing in appearance but they don't bite or carry disease. They can leave stains but are usually only around for a 2-3 week period. Pets can sometimes eat enough of them to make themselves sick, as in vomiting and diarrhea, but they are not poisonous.
//images.dpchallenge.com/images_challenge/217/thumb/77511.jpg[/img][/url] |
Yuk :) I hear them all the time here, but wouldn't know one if I saw it - until now. Gee, thanks! LOL
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08/14/2005 06:55:35 PM · #10 |
| We used to love playing with these as kids, they were a prized catch when playing in the backyard. |
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08/14/2005 06:58:47 PM · #11 |
The Yuk and EEEEK reactions are about their only defense mechanism. You could put your finger down next to one of them and they would neither fly away nor move toward you. Really pretty harmless. If they happen to land on your clothing or in your hair it is by accident. They may cling but that's the worst of it. Other than their size (one and a half to two inches) and appearance, they are no more offensive than a butterfly or a ladybug.
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08/14/2005 07:00:45 PM · #12 |
Actually there have been cases reported of cicada-caused injury. I can't remember which news service carried the story, but a youngish (9-10?) child suffered a broken arm... apparently the child was so frightened by a cicada that he ran his bicycle into a tree...
What's bad is that this wasn't the only such injury reported.
:)
Last summer here in the southern US we had a very large eruption of cicadas, much larger than normal. Last year it was the end of the 17 year maturation cycle and all of the hundreds of thousands of cicadas all crawled out from underground at the same time. Extraordinarily LOUD bugs when en masse.
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08/14/2005 07:59:51 PM · #13 |
| Cicadas are the official sound of a hot summers day in most parts in the southern USA ever been driving along and here that buzzzz out in the trees on a rural road... |
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08/14/2005 08:44:57 PM · #14 |
I dragged my husband to an event last night to help me set up and tear down my equipment. During the hour and a half that he had nothing to do, he went back out to the truck and was listening to the radio with the windows open. He nearly dozed off, but jerked awake when a cicada flew in and landed on his arm. How'd you like to wake up to that? ;)
They really are harmless, but they are kind of big bugs (and ugly, as pointed out). However, when they grow out of their skins, they leave a neat little casing behind that you can pick off of the tree or wall and stick to your shirt. When we were little kids, that was quite the thing to do. Big fun :) |
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08/14/2005 09:12:11 PM · #15 |
They are common in the countryside here in Taiwan, but they also occur in large numbers in the city. I have heard that they can spray a little ejaculate at certain times from the trees and nail passersby walking below them, but I've never experienced this.
Because many people here have grown up with the sounds, it is considered a very familiar and comforting sound to many. Because of their occurrence in the evenings, some even find them to be quite a romantic bug. Not to mention the fact that what you hear is them searching for a mate.
It is interesting to watch one making it's sound, they appear to have a sound chamber in their butt rather than the typical vibrating legs against wings as crickets and their ilk. They don't usually sit low enough to view in a tree.
If you do get to catch one, you will find a beautiful irridescent scale on their belly that is small but has rather intense color, usually either green or blue. I am personally fascinated by natural occurrences of metallic colors in nature. |
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08/14/2005 11:57:17 PM · #16 |
They are actually quite easy to work with and don't get too upset when you pick them up. Here is one I took for the macro v challenge.
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08/15/2005 12:38:59 AM · #17 |
hahaha, well I have been collection the empty cicada shells for my wife so she can use them in her art class for her students to study.
a few weeks ago we found one still in its shell getting ready to exit the shell and begin the drying process. so we brought it inside and took a few shots.
here is one of the shots
Cicada hatching
James |
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