Yesterday we watched a cicada nymph shed its exoskeleton and emerge into an adult cicada in Naperville, Illinois.
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| 9:59 AM - As my sister was weeding her front landscaping she noticed a weird-looking plant. Looking closer, she realized it was a cicada in the process of molting. The wings looked like crumpled green leaves. Here the cicada is just starting to unfold its legs. |
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| 10:02 AM - Now looking more like a cicada, it has fully emerged from its former exoskeleton, holding on to it tightly with its legs. The wings have started to elongate and stiffen. |
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| 10:10 AM - Wings are stiffening and pulling back. |
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| 10:13 AM - the body is darkening and the wings are changing shape and position. |
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| 10:30 AM - Wings are slowly coming back along its body. |
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| 12:11 PM - The adult has moved away from the nymph exoskeleton and has the shape of an adult. |
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1:05 PM - Not much change.
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At our next check, about 2:00 PM, the cicada was gone.
To me, this cicada best matches online images of the Green-winged Cicada (Diceroprocta vitripennis), but it could also be the Dog-day Cicada (Neotibicen canicularis). I'm not an entomologist!
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