[scaught]

what is it? did the one on the left come out of the husk looking thing on the right? is the one on the left going to do whatever happened to the one on the right? i found it stuck to the side of my garage down close to the grass.


whats going on here?

[Ghoser777]

Looks like a locust.

[dodo_nutter]

ALIENS!!

[dodo_nutter]

Sorry imagination ran away with me there...anyway what size are they?? Not much scale on that pic

[Spliffdaddy]

heh.

yankees.

Anybody south of the Mason-Dixon line knows the answer.

[Logic]

Originally posted by Ghoser777:
Looks like a locust.

Locust?

[Captain Obvious]

How long have you lived in the midwest? Its a cicada

http://web.utk.edu/~extepp/profiles/...elg/cicada.htm

[ASIMO]

Cicada.

[Spliffdaddy]

and, yes, it came out of that shell thingy.

[Ghoser777]

Originally posted by Ghoser777:
Looks like a locust.

Actually, I change my answer. It looks more like a cicada. It has finished "molting" aka shedding its skin.

[Ghoser777]

Originally posted by Logic:
Locust?

It's definitely a cicada, but I use to think they were locusts - I don't know why. Here's an image with the same mistake.



Seems to be a common mistake too:

http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/july/papr/du_cicada.html

[scaught]

Originally posted by Spliffdaddy:
and, yes, it came out of that shell thingy.

so was it a crawly bug and then it molted and got its wings or what?

ive heard of these things, but havent seen one. are they good eatin'?

[Ghoser777]

Originally posted by scaught:
ive heard of these things, but havent seen one. are they good eatin'?

Yes. On Pizza especially.

[Spliffdaddy]

Typically, after 17 years underground....

The developing cicada, called nymphs crawl out of the ground and climb up tree trunks. There, they stop and shed their skin to emerge as winged adults. < (that shell thingy was prolly still attched to a tree when you found it)

Their adult, winged stage is a short one. Adults live about four to six weeks, and their only mission is to mate and lay eggs.

The males produce a loud mating call � which is especially prevalent in the early morning and late evening.

After mating, the female cicada cuts a deep slit in a small twig where she lays her rows of eggs, usually two to four dozen. Six weeks later, the eggs hatch and the larvae drop to the ground where they will burrow underground and feed on tree roots � starting the next 17-year cycle.

Soon after they mate and lay eggs, adult cicadas die.

[awaspaas]

They're what make that unison buzzing sound every evening in the entire midwest.

[Montezuma58]

Originally posted by scaught:
ive heard of these things, but havent seen one. are they good eatin'?

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040519/dcw096_1.html

and

from Fox News
Man Discovers Too Late He's Allergic to Cicadas

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) � A man who cooked and ate nearly 30 cicadas sought medical treatment after suffering a strong allergic reaction to the saut�ed insects.

The man showed up at a Bloomington clinic Thursday covered from head-to-toe in hives, and sheepishly told a doctor he'd caught and eaten the cicadas after saut�ing them in butter with crushed garlic and basil.

"He said they didn't taste too bad, but his wife didn't care for the aroma," said Dr. Al Ripani, the doctor who treated the man at Promptcare East.

The man, who has a history of asthma and shellfish allergies, suffered a "significant allergic reaction," after eating the cicadas, Ripani said.

He said he gave the man antihistamines, steroids and a shot of adrenaline, then observed him for two hours before sending him home.

After living underground for 17 years and feeding on tree roots, the so-called Brood X cicadas (search) are emerging by the billions across the eastern U.S.

Ripani said recent newspaper articles extolling the tastiness of cicada cuisine should have warned people that dining on the bugs can be dangerous for some people.

"Severe food allergies such as this can be fatal," he said. "I feel that needs to be stressed in these articles."

He said the University of Maryland's department of entomology's Cicada-licious cookbook, which includes recipes for Cicada Stir-Fry and Cicada Dumplings, contains a disclaimer urging people to consult a doctor before eating cicadas.

"We ask that you please take special caution if you have other food allergies, such as soy, nuts or shellfish, or if you know of any contact allergies that you may have to other insects," it states.

[Kenneth]

sick!

[madmacgames]

Originally posted by Ghoser777:
It's definitely a cicada, but I use to think they were locusts - I don't know why.

Seems to be a common mistake too

Don't even sweat it. People have been making the mistake since around 1715:

http://inside.msj.edu/academics/faculty/kritskg/cicada/faq.html#locusts
Are cicadas "locusts"?
Periodical cicadas are often incorrectly called locusts. Locusts are grasshoppers, while cicadas are most closely related to aphids. The term "locust" began to be used to describe cicadas around 1715 in the English colonies, when settlers tried to make sense of the cicada emergences by equating them with the biblical plagues. Because the cicadas appeared in great numbers and were eaten by the Native Americans, just as biblical locusts appeared in great numbers and were eaten by John the Baptist, "locust" seemed a logical name for them.

[madmacgames]

Originally posted by scaught:
ive heard of these things, but havent seen one. are they good eatin'?

http://inside.msj.edu/academics/faculty/kritskg/cicada/faq.html#yummy
What do they taste like?
Periodical cicadas are best eaten when they are still white (teneral), and they taste like cold canned asparagus. Like all insects, cicadas have a good balance of vitamins, are low in fat, and the females are especially high in protein. They are also Atkins friendly!

[Eug Wanker]

Originally posted by scaught:
ive heard of these things, but havent seen one. are they good eatin'?

Apparently yes. Picture taken in Beijing street foodfair.



By the way... Locusts on the left, and (young) cicadas on the right.

[wdlove]

I had a bug that looked very similar to that last week. The only problem is that a cicada isn't normally found in New England. They are common in the Ohio Valley and Washington DC area.

[scaught]

Originally posted by Spliffdaddy:
(that shell thingy was prolly still attched to a tree when you found it)

side of the garage thats needs a new coat of paint actually. we got us some urban cicadas up here.

thanks for posting the info.

ive heard of cicadas, just never seen one before. and actually, this solves a long running "mystery" in my life.

about 4 years ago, i was getting ready for work in the morning. ran around the house, put on clothes, shoes, etc. went in the bathroom to check hair and whatnot, and felt this little bump in my shoe sorta over my big toe. thought it was a wrinkle in my sock until it MOVED.

absolutely freaked out, i basically jumped out of my shoe, shook the thing out onto the ground, and it sorta looked like the shell thing in the pic. im guessing now that it was a cicada? dont know where in its life cycle it would decide to hide in my shoe, but it certainly looked like that. a big fat beetle looking thing.

this is the sort of thing that can help you sleep better at night.

[demograph68]

Originally posted by Spliffdaddy:
Soon after they mate and lay eggs, adult cicadas die.

Poor little guys!

[Captain Obvious]

Originally posted by scaught:

about 4 years ago, i was getting ready for work in the morning. ran around the house, put on clothes, shoes, etc. went in the bathroom to check hair and whatnot, and felt this little bump in my shoe sorta over my big toe. thought it was a wrinkle in my sock until it MOVED.

absolutely freaked out, i basically jumped out of my shoe, shook the thing out onto the ground, and it sorta looked like the shell thing in the pic. im guessing now that it was a cicada? dont know where in its life cycle it would decide to hide in my shoe, but it certainly looked like that. a big fat beetle looking thing.

this is the sort of thing that can help you sleep better at night.

Yeah, even the shells stick to things. It was quite common to see little boys collect them and toss them into girl's hair when we were young.