The cicadas are coming, the cicadas are coming!

Instead of moths, cicadas were the stars of the meeting of the Central Park non-maternal Mothers last night 7/30/05]. As the insect-admiring group swept nearby trees with their flashlights, they'd periodically call out "Found one!" Then everyone would gather at the discoverer's tree [often a Beech] and watch a cicada emerge from its nymph case.

There is almost nothing weirder than an emerging cicada. In its various stages of emergence it looks like some sort of alien creature in a science fiction movie. Once the entire adult insect has made it out of its hard exoskeleton and onto the tree trunk, it is transformed into a thing of beauty [and a joy forever too, if you consider the eternal cycle of things]. Here are a couple of pictures I took last night:

Cicada out of its nymph case, with wings not fully opened




Fully emerged, waiting for wings to dry before flying off to fulfill its derstiny: to mate..