Hey Folks!
If you are easily frightened by prehistoric looking insects, turn back! That’s your fair warning.
If you’re fascinated by entomology like I am, then you too will be curious about the molting that Oklahoma Cicadas undertake. Franz Kafka was seriously onto something…
The life cycle of the cicada (or locust) is quite interesting. The females cut slits into the bark of trees where they deposit their eggs. When they hatch, nymphs drop to the ground where they burrow. Can you believe these insects go through a life cycle that’s 2-5 years? Some North American Cicadas can have a life cycle of up to 17 years! These guys live underground for most of their lives at depths of 1-8 feet. They eventually emerge and molt into adulthood. This is the stage we see here.
Truly fascinating how adulthood manifests in different species. They emerge in the summer to sing their beautiful songs and carry on their life cycle. Shouldn’t we as well?
And in case you were wondering what psuedo-plant these guys molted on, it was this deflated gnome-away-from-home. He had three separate cicadas molt on him this year!
I hope each and every one of us is developing into strong, cacophonous adults. Just like the cicadas.
If you’re interested in more, check out this NPR story!
Yea Yea Pueblo 
I promise that the next post will be less creepy crawly, and more pretty committee!
interesting, for sure.
they are SO crazy. wow. thanks for the insight/link to the article!! i'll have to read that later 🙂
I'm a nerd for this kind of stuff too! I've been collecting there shells around our woods this month. Thanks for sharing the article, so interesting.
who knew gnomes were so popular with cicadas
my dog always gets excited when she sees the little molted shells- she thinks it's a bug to eat…but she quickly learns the truth!
You guys are so funny; gnomes are surprisingly popular with insects, we all seem to have an inner scientist-nerd-type, and our dogs seem to get into everything. Love it!!