Journal

A Cicada’s New Skin

on
21 August 2011

The Lornie Trail is a popular jogging track in the weekends. While exploring this trail, we found a little Cicada that was about to molt. We hovered around the area, and true enough, the little one emerged with a new vibrant looking skin!

Cicada (Cicadidae) - DSC_1700#1 Initially, it looked like some odd, dark coloured bug

Cicada (Cicadidae) - DSC_1730#2 On closer look, it looked like a cicada ready to emerge! It was twitching occasionally, and looked like it was going to crack open anytime now

Cicada (Cicadidae) - DSC_1742#3 Clumsy us got too excited and knocked onto the branch… the poor fella dropped to the ground!! Luckily, the molting process continued and we saw it emerging from its shell!

Cicada (Cicadidae) - DSC_1751#4 Giving itself the final push to squeeze out of its molt

Cicada (Cicadidae) - DSC_1752#5 Looks like a fish indeed… hmmm..

Cicada (Cicadidae) - DSC_1755#6 The wings were still shriveled, and we were worried that they could not form completely while on the ground

Cicada (Cicadidae) - DSC_1760#7 We managed to bring it back to a tree trunk to cling on, and watched the wings unravel slowly, a sight to behold!

Cicada (Cicadidae) - DSC_1763#8 Wings almost fully extended

Cicada (Cicadidae) - DSC_1766#9 Wings in full bloom, and it changes colour slowly. I suspect that it would turn green just like the other common cicadas in Singapore

Cicada (Cicadidae) - DSC_1776#10 Last view of the cicada before we said bye bye to it

DSC_1603#11 Found this wasp sleeping on a thin branch

DSC_1611#12 Shot this from a lower angle, so that I could get the sky into the background to produce a smooth blue gradient

DSC_1595#13 It decided to wake up and fly away eventually

Eucharitid Wasp (Eucharitidae) - DSC_1632#14 A tiny Eucharitid wasp, all over the trail

Eucharitid Wasp (Eucharitidae) - DSC_1638#15 Head shot of the cute fella

Water Strider (Gerridae) - DSC_1653#16 Walked by the reservoir and took some shots of the pond skaters

Water Strider (Gerridae) - DSC_1656#17 They look… blue!! Very nice patterns on the body.

Crane Fly (Tipulidae) - DSC_1668#18 An orange coloured cranefly

Four-lined Tree Frog (Polypedates leucomystax) - DSC_1679#19 Beautiful Four-lined tree frog (Polypedates leucomystax).

Four-lined Tree Frog (Polypedates leucomystax) - DSC_1691#20 Quite large, but camouflaged nicely on the brown leaf

Four-lined Tree Frog (Polypedates leucomystax) - DSC_1693#21 Really sleepy frog, didn’t budge when I went closer

Fulgorid Planthopper? (Fulgoridae) - DSC_1788#22 Well camouflaged bug on a tree trunk. Has a duck-bill, possibly a Fulgorid planthopper?

Fulgorid Planthopper? (Fulgoridae) - DSC_1800#23 Side view of the otherwise almost unnoticeable fella

The complete album can be viewed here.

James blogged about this trip here.

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NICKY BAY
Singapore

Hi my name is Nicky Bay. I am a macro photographer, instructor and book author, travelling the world to document the vast micro biodiversity that nature has to offer. Follow my updates and discover with me the incredible beauty and science behind our planet's micro creatures!

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