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Back Yard Cicadas Found!

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Back Yard Cicadas Found!

Tibicen lyricen female teneral

Tibicen female eclosingI can't believe my luck. Usually I have to travel to other places in order to find molting cicadas This night was different however. I decided that I would set up some light traps in my yard just to see what kind of insects I could attract. I have three light traps that use three different light sources, UV Black Light, Halogen and Mercury Vapor.

Tibicen teneralI set my traps up and just decided to wait outside for a bit. I decided that since I found exuvia last year on a pine tree in my yard, I decided to take a walk around my property with a flashlight while waiting for some insects to come to the lights.

Tibicen canicularis femaleBetween a large Maple tree and a very large Pine tree we have a large Licac bush. While shining my flashlight, I discovered two cicadas both female just completing the molting process right on the lilac bush!! This was about 9:30 pm so I estimate that they emerged from the ground some time around 7:30 pm.

They were one of each common Tibicen species we have here. Tibicen canicularis and Tibicen lyricen.

Lots of Reader Mail

It seems that we are at the peak of the cicada season. Many new emails have come in since the previous update. They're coming in from all over New England as well as other parts of the country. So take a look at the Cicada and Cicada Killer Sightings page. Also, keep those cicada and cicada killer reports coming in. They're helping out a lot!!

Date Posted: 2007-07-27 Comments: (2) Show CommentsHide Comments

Comments

Posted By: Brandon | On: 2014-05-27 | Website:

Hello I live in Salem Oregon up in the west hills. A couple of days ago I was sitting on my back patio with my children. As they were playing my son yells to me to come check out this crazy bug on the bush trunk. So curiously I took a look and couldn't believe my eyes never have I ever see such an insect. It looked like an empty shell so me and my children searched high and low looking for this scary looking shedding bug and found two other sheds but no live bug. Stumped we decided to retire in to the house for dinner

later that evening I stepped out for a sit in the sun and looked down to the bush that we had found the adventure of the day and low and behold there it was the insect. But something was pushing out of its back. So I grabbed the kids and we all crouched and watch this strange occurrence. What looked to be a butterfly/moth pushed its way out of its shell. In amazement we decided to pick this thing up and study and of course take pictures. So this brings me to why I'm emailing you. You happened to be the first one with a picture that looks very similar and I wanted to share my story. Here are some pics.

Posted By: Massachusetts Cicadas | On: 2014-06-01 | Website:

Hello Brandon,

Thanks for your message. Yes that sounds like you experienced the eclose process of a cicada. Unfortunately, this comments form does not accept photos. You can submit your photos through the "Report Cicadas and Cicada Killers" form. The link is located on any page of this website in the right-hand column where it says "Submit a report".

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