Here at 5 minutes past eclosion (emergence), Betsy’s new wings are just starting to harden and darken. Her wings themselves, in addition to being constructed in an ingeniously packed and compressed form within the nymph shell, are marvels of biochemistry: they are covered in “a highly ordered pattern of nanopillars” made of hydrocarbons, fatty acids, sterols, alcohols, esters, and more, that makes the wings both water-repellant and anti-microbial! (Source: “Molecular and Topographical Organization: Influence on Cicada Wing Wettability and Bactericidal Properties,” Advanced Materials Interfaces, 4/1/20.)
Also, in this zooming-in stereovideo (3rd here), you can see for the first time all 3 of Betsy’s ocelli, the gold-tinted tiny simple eyes arranged in a triangle, in between her much larger compound eyes. What a marvel!
TAGS: insects > cicadas > Betsy the Cicada, Neotibicen
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