I occasionally get the chance to snag a pic or two, but not a lot of time to write up anything at all about them, so I’ll present a couple of ‘Just because’ posts this week. In this case, it’s a cicada, of an unidentified species, that I found molting into final instar (reproducing adult phase) while attached to the tire of the car that I was working on. Don’t ask me why I was working on the car at night, just accept that I was. By the time I spotted it, it had already emerged fully and was extending its wings, so I didn’t bother with a sequence that I already have in detail anyway. I just went for a rather personal closeup. It does kind of look like it’s playing some game with its own molted exoskeleton. But hey, while we’re here, check out the trio of simple eyes set on its ‘forehead,’ and the minuscule antennae. Also the color of the wings as they develop and dry out, because it’s one of the better palettes among any critter, as far as I’m concerned.
