Saturday, July 25, 2015

The Hot Bugs ("Cicada Mania")

I had to put "Cicada Mania" in the post title, because, can you believe there

 is actually a website by that name??

There is! 

Very informative, actually. (Click here...)

~

As for "The Hot Bugs" part, that's what my youngest daughter, Katie,

called them when she was little...

Because their droning started when it was, well, HOT...usually mid-July ~

continuing into the dog-days of August ~ until reaching such a fever-pitch

that we wondered how we ever kind of enjoyed it when it first began...

~

This particular Cicada, (Quesada gigas, the second-largest North American species, 

with brown and green "camo" markings) buzzed right into my up-done hair

a couple of nights ago and got TANGLED there... (I know, I know...)

I came inside...finagled him loose, and he took off, buzzing loudly

across the family room...

All three kitties snapped into Predator Mode.

~

Tallulah is faster by far than either of the boys, and she was on him in a flash!

("Like a duck on a junebug"...maybe that should be, " Like a cat on a cicada"!)

I got him away from her...

(She had him in her mouth and was on her way to the second location with him...)

I put him in a (ventilated) box overnight, because the price for being rescued

from a gruesome death meted out by 6 pounds of fluff and teeth and claws ~

 (probably being eaten alive after being played with to near death) ~

...is being the model in a photo-shoot.

So, into the box he went; to cool his jets, literally. ;)

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So, next morning (he was presumably over the shock of Tallulah) ~

...sufficiently cooled by the air conditioning as to let me position

him on a couple of flowers to take pictures; we had our "shoot"...

and I did get a few pictures before he buzzed off loudly into the willows...

~

Isn't he interesting, really??

Look at that face!

The clypeus is that bulbous structure on the cicada's head that looks like it

could be its nose, or the grill of a vintage automobile...

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"The clypeus holds the muscles the cicada uses to pump plant fluids through its needle-like

beak and into its digestive system. Clypeus means "shield" in Latin."

(From the Cicada Mania site.)

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"Alright, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." 

 Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) ~ "Sunset Boulevard", 1950

Or this fellow. 

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This is actually one of the Magicicada species,

in Union County Illinois, back in May.

He's one of the "periodical, or cyclical", Cicadas.

He was a lot smaller...(although they all feel HUGE if in one's hair...)

This one was maybe half the size of my photo-shoot model...

And look at those EYES! (Not enhanced!)


So now you know how I (sometimes) get insect photos!

Visit Cicada Mania, you'll be glad you did!

More soon!

Love,
~
Photobucket

6 comments:

  1. such awesome pictures. love you my friend.

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  2. Love the whole story, start to finish :-D. Nice pictures too!

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  3. You got a lot out of that one bug..Very interesting..Great pictures

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  4. I would have been on the floor without any pictures from me. My cat wasn't much of a fighter, she played then let the mouse go. Cheryl

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  5. Great shots! I always cringe when I hear them in the summer because my first thought is, what are they eating in my garden. Ha!
    I got an interesting photo of a dragonfly this week. It looks like it's body is shiny gold, almost as if it is made of metal. It's very different from other dragonflies that I've snapped photos of.
    Enjoyed this post! '-)

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  6. No, no, no! I would have had an IMMEDIATE heart attack! I don't want them near me, on me and especially do not want them tangled in my HAIR! ! ! EEEEEEEEEEEK! ! ! ! ! ! !

    ReplyDelete

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