Every 17 years theses cicada emerge in huge numbers. They litter the ground, cover vegetation and drown out most other noise with their song. They are Brood X. (Springfield, VA)
This is some of the first visible evidence of a cicada emerging. It has built a tunnel to the surface and here it is using mud to construct a wall or chimney to protect the tunnel from water or sand getting in. It comes up from the depths of the tunnel with a load of mud, positions the mud, then goes back down for more. The cicada will use this chimney as a protected look out. Once it feels safe the cicada will leave the tunnel and work its way upward to find a suitable place to molt.
This video is speeded up about 300%.
So this guy climbs to the end of a broken dead branch and assumes the position to commence molting into an adult cicada. As I frame it up and snap a photo I discover the little Rose Aphid photo bomber.
A tight crop on the Rose Aphid.
The adult emerges from the molt.
The adult cicada has molted, the wings have developed. Just waiting for the body to finish hardening.
All that's left of the larvae are their old molts hanging on the fence where the adults came out.
Various stages of adulthood. The two dark ones at the bottom have deformed wings and will die without mating.
Some locations seem to be very popular for molting.
One hangout of many.
This guy never made adulthood. You can see the fungus that nearly covers its body. It has barely started the process of molting and is just barely emerging at the back of the head, but is already dead or near death here.
Adults gather and move in unison up a power pole.
I know, you all thought the cicadas were just pretty to look at, fun to step on and pleasant to listen to. But yeah, they are also delicious and nutritious. And plentiful. Did I mention that, that there are lots of them. Yeah.
A fully developed adult.
A cicada in flight overhead.
I’ve been on the lookout for the blue-eyed variant of brood X. I’ve not found any yet, but I did come across this pair, one with yellow eyes and the other with eyes of aquamarine..
Old molts pile up along with dead, dying and deformed adults under a tree creating a gruesome scene and a disgusting odor.
This is what they've waited 17 years underground for.
A mix of shed larva exoskeletons and cicadas in various stages of emergence pile up under my oak tree.
