Betsy the Cicada’s continued eclosion (emergence)! 15-6 minutes in, now you can see her wings are free—both the larger and smaller pair—though they’re still quite rolled/wrinkled/compacted, and she’s gradually extricating her legs. Notice the long black-striped straw-like rostrum, which she will use to drink plant sap, and the single shiny bead in the middle of her forehead: one of the ocelli, her 3 simple eyes.
Also, in the first three pics here (which are catadioptric, by the way), you can really see how much startlingly wider the head of the imago (adult) is, compared to that of the nymph—the eyes are much farther apart (better binocular vision for flying, anyone? 😎). She was really squished in that nymph shell!—but that pressure helps the ecdysis (molting process), of course. At least she doesn’t have to resort to inflating and deflating her head like a balloon (which is much more disturbing to watch), like flies emerging from pupae do.
The last pic here (both the zoomed-in and wider version) shows the moment Betsy’s first adult leg came free! Imagine she’s waving to you—but very very gently, to avoid damaging her teneral (still soft and lightly-colored) exoskeleton.
On a related note, check out this hilarious sketch my very on-point friend sent me after noting the recent cicada fixation (accurate…): Ugly Screaming Butterfly 😂 by the amazing Sommer / Zomey on Tumblr / @sketchy_bugs on Instagram. They are doing prints (check ’em out) and I think I need one :)
TAGS: insects > cicadas > Betsy the Cicada, cicada ecdysis, Neotibicen; ecdysis
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