Watched a cicada coming out of it's shell one night.
Cicadas are commonly referred to as locusts which are technically grasshoppers. This common reference began when early North American settlers encountered mass emergences of periodic cicadas. Using the Bible as a guide to plagues of insects, the closest match they found was locusts and so the name stuck..
Unlike crickets and grasshoppers which make sounds by rubbing their wings and legs together, male cicadas produce sound by vibrating special membrane-like structures (tymbals) on their abdomen. The male’s enlarged abdomen is mostly filled with an air sac that functions as a resonance chamber thus greatly amplifying their songs.
There are over 40 species of Cicadas in Texas.
*Yard Art Series: photos from the backyard.
@Focales: My husband was shining a spotlight on it.
@Steven: We see them all the time, but just looked out the other night and saw two on the fence. Mike shined a spotlight while I got some shots. We probably really annoyed it with the light, but it had no choice but to hang there until it's wings dried out. ;-)
@john4jack: Mike was shining our big spotlight on it so I wouldn't have to use flash.
@Elaine Hancock: That's interesting. We have them all the time, and our summer nights are filled with their chorus.