By the look of him, this could be the original mud bug. It seems reasonable to assume that a layer of drying mud could cause mobility problems for your typical insect and this guy is certainly well coated. He seems to be doing fairly well considering this is his first time above ground since hatching.
This is an Annual Cicada nymph and I found him stumbling across the trail yesterday evening. He’s been below ground for the last several years living on sap from tree roots. He won’t be wearing this mud coat for very long. By morning, he’ll have shed his exoskeleton and joined the ranks of adult cicadas buzzily calling from the treetops. The muddy skin will be left drying on a tree trunk.
That long tube is the tool with which the cicada nymph extracts sap from the roots. It may take three or more years before the nymph has reached the stage where it will leave the ground and transform into an adult.
Annual cicadas emerge from the gound over a period of several weeks during the early summer. They are never very abundant and it’s unusual to find an emerging nymph.
The nymphs are not highly mobile below ground. In order to move, they must tunnel. Those strong front legs are the burrowing mechanism. Different stages of the nymphs life find it at different depths in the soil, but it always stays near its food source. I’ve occassionally unearthed nymphs and have never found signs of any type of tunnel system. It’s as though the nymph closes the tunnel behind itself as it moves on and only maintains a small chamber in which to exist. When I was young, I always associated the finding of a cicada nymph with good luck. At least at the moment I found the nymph, I seemed to be pretty lucky.
By the look of him, this could be the original mud bug. It seems reasonable to assume that a layer of drying mud could cause mobility problems for your typical insect and this guy is certainly well coated. He seems to be doing fairly well considering this is his first time above ground since hatching.
This is an Annual Cicada nymph and I found him stumbling across the trail yesterday evening. He’s been below ground for the last several years living on sap from tree roots. He won’t be wearing this mud coat for very long. By morning, he’ll have shed his exoskeleton and joined the ranks of adult cicadas buzzily calling from the treetops. The muddy skin will be left drying on a tree trunk.
That long tube is the tool with which the cicada nymph extracts sap from the roots. It may take three or more years before the nymph has reached the stage where it will leave the ground and transform into an adult.
Annual cicadas emerge from the gound over a period of several weeks during the early summer. They are never very abundant and it’s unusual to find an emerging nymph.
The nymphs are not highly mobile below ground. In order to move, they must tunnel. Those strong front legs are the burrowing mechanism. Different stages of the nymphs life find it at different depths in the soil, but it always stays near its food source. I’ve occassionally unearthed nymphs and have never found signs of any type of tunnel system. It’s as though the nymph closes the tunnel behind itself as it moves on and only maintains a small chamber in which to exist. When I was young, I always associated the finding of a cicada nymph with good luck. At least at the moment I found the nymph, I seemed to be pretty lucky. 
Very interesting once again. We certainly heard plenty of them just a few years ago. Our dogs chase them, then happily eat them. Yum. :\
ReplyDeleteI've never seen a live nymph that I can recall, but when I was a kid I would collect a jar full of their shed exoskeletons every summer. I loved finding them on tree trunks.
ReplyDeleteWow...thats a strange looking creature.....the same guy who makes that buzzing noise I like to hear on hot summer days?? He sure has an interesting beginning!!
ReplyDeleteSeeing that makes me realize where people come up with the ceatures they do to make horror movies with giant bugs that take over the city!! : }
Thanks for sharing the info and pictures!!
Hope you have a great weekend!!!
Lois – Cicadas are very nutritious for dinner or snacks. It also saves on dog food.
ReplyDeleteRebecca – I also saved a lot of exoskeletons, but it was mainly so I could hang them on the backs of unsuspecting people. Great entertainment when someone finally noticed.
grammie g – If you catch one of those buzzing guys, you’ll notice the body looks very similar to the nymph. Weekend’s going fine so far. There have been 2 thunderstorms with hail and 2 electrical outages so far today and there are sounds of thunder coming in from the west. Looks like we may be in for another round.
Thanks for sharing the photos. I thought cicada nymphs look different. How big is it?
ReplyDeleteHi, Alexandra. The one shown here is about an inch long. We have another species that is smaller and has red eyes.
ReplyDeletejust saw one of these in a whole in the ground with piles of muddy dirt in a circle around it. did not know what it was. had to google images of cicada. cause my grandaughter mentioned it might be that. thank you for this info.
ReplyDeleteGlad this post could help.
ReplyDeleteMe and my son just found 2 of them alive still in there shell cant wait to see them in the morning...i had to google and look at pics to know what they were...
ReplyDeleteMy son and I just found two of these cicada a live still in their shell cant wait till morning
ReplyDeleteHi Steve. It's really interesting to watch them emerge as adults.
ReplyDeleteThanks for telling me Wat this beast of a bug was. My dog keeps finding them. Are da harmful to him
ReplyDeleteAre they harmful to my dog
ReplyDeleteCicadas won't harm your dog. They are actually a nutritious snack.
ReplyDelete