When I find an interesting hole, well I gotta look LOL.
Looking down the dark hole, I saw something move, oh my! There was wet mud around the top of the hole.
Well, there is something down that hole. How can I figure out what is? So I decided to see if the creature from the deep would latch onto the stick like a doodle bug would. First attempt was not successful.
It was hard to make out what it was.
Refocusing I could it was some kind of insect and rather large!
And even better view! A second attempt with the twig was pursued.
Success! It latched onto the twig!
Covered in mud! It was an cicada nymph! This one must be an almost fully developed nymph. TAMU says there are several instars and when fully developed will burrow out of the ground at night. Furthermore, some leave exit holes with a mud cone up to 3 or 4 inches high. Obviously this one’s mud cone was not as tall. In the last stage, they emerge out of brown cast skin. (Source: https://texasinsects.tamu.edu/dog-day-cicada/). I drop this one back in its hole to do its thing!
The hot summer so far has not brought out a lot of the din of the cicadas singing at our house yet. You can be certain however, I will be listening for the cicadas singing louder soon 🙂 Maybe I will recognize this one’s song. LOL. It was an exciting find!
Very interesting. Glad it wasnt a snake or worse😉
Ha ha. I was wondering if it was going to be an alien.
I was thinking maybe a crawdad. I didn’t know cicadas had muddy holes. Cool find!
I never knew either.
Wow!! That’s neat!
I thought drawdad too. That creature, when covered with mud, did look like an alien.
Crawdad not drawdad.
I knew what you meant. 🙂