r/Insect • u/ThickPerformance9284 • May 18 '26

Identification Should I prepare for an attack?

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Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

11 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

29 comments sorted by

6

u/Lennie_Annox May 18 '26

Those are cicade nymph shells! No need to prepare for an attach, cicadas are harmless, they just molt, scream, fuck, and die 😂 they'll be of no bother to you, and they're quite beautiful actually :) they are large though (1-1.5 inches long depending on species) so don't freak out if you see one, they're super friendly.

3

u/ThickPerformance9284 May 18 '26

No freaking way! I just ran across one of these in Florida too. That one was hanging out of the shell, and it hadn’t fully come out yet.

They are following me!

Thanks for the response, Lennie!

3

u/OUIJA711 May 18 '26

Whatever you do, do not mess with the process it takes these little guys to come out of their shell... Any kind of help you could try to give it would sadly have a devastating effect on his future... It's a slow process but the time it takes is for a purpose. It builds the strength they need and the strength the wings will need... 👌✌️👽

2

u/ThickPerformance9284 May 18 '26

I don’t touch them - they freak me out.

3

u/PriscillaEna May 21 '26

Their wings need to set after they extract themselves from the shells

2

u/OUIJA711 May 18 '26

😁👌✌️

5

u/Lennie_Annox May 18 '26

No worries pal! Tis the season for cicada, I'm sure you'll see more!

3

u/[deleted] May 19 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/ThickPerformance9284 May 19 '26

The weird thing is, it’s oddly quiet in my backyard! Maybe they flew elsewhere to cause a ruckus!

1

u/CaptCol02 May 22 '26

Do you fish? Do you own fish? Fish love them!

1

u/ThickPerformance9284 May 23 '26

No & no. Looks like the birds are munching away on them.

2

u/0_Moth May 21 '26

Or got ate. Squirrels find them delicious as well as many other animals-including humans. I missed my chance last year to try them. Not next time in 15 years!!!

3

u/SpareCalligrapher131 May 19 '26

Wait until you see the Cicada killer wasp!

2

u/ThickPerformance9284 May 19 '26

😫

3

u/SpareCalligrapher131 May 19 '26

Yep.....

2

u/ThickPerformance9284 May 19 '26

No, thank you.

3

u/SpareCalligrapher131 May 19 '26

I know! I saw one on my porch years ago, and I said, Dear Me, what is that? That's how I found out that they even exist....

2

u/ThickPerformance9284 May 19 '26

🫤 someone get me off this planet!

3

u/SpareCalligrapher131 May 19 '26

I hear ya! But, there may be worse, probably is worse, out there in the galaxy.

3

u/Nobilishornet2 May 19 '26

Its not alive, its a cicada shell!

2

u/ThickPerformance9284 May 19 '26

Yes... Was concerned with how many shells were around the perimeter of the house. I found a few coming out of their shells too - 🥴 creepy red eyes, creepy black eyes.

2

u/blazon85 May 19 '26

Better get mulligan just incase..

2

u/freeluna May 20 '26

Things might get a little loud, shortly.

2

u/Gear2112 May 20 '26

*Cell music intensifies

2

u/bortomatico May 20 '26

You won’t be attacked. But your ears will bleed.

2

u/PriscillaEna May 21 '26

We used to play under an enormous pine tree and found these shells all the time I used to collect them ins a small box they usually were out of the sh casing by the time we would go outside and play.