St. Patrick's Cemetery At Night

St. Patrick's Cemetery At Night

Since I had such dismal luck this afternoon, I decided to head out to St. Patrick Cemetery at around 11:00 pm this evening. It's a real warm night so I figured I'd try my luck now. Even after not being here since last year, being in a cemetery at night really does give me the creeps. But nevertheless, I carry on.

I try my old favorite spots that I used to go to last year in this cemetery like my favorite Ash trees but I am having no luck on those. I try the spot where I found the male and female specimens yesterday and no luck there either, so I try a totally different part of the cemetery.

Sure enough on a beech tree (at least that is what I think it is) where I found only an exuvium yesterday there was a male Tibicen lyricen just finishing up the molt process. I am assuming that I may not have the same type of luck last year with the trees that I visited regularly but may have to try to find other areas of the cemetery that are producing Cicadas and this tree seems to be a really good start. It is in a whole different section of the cemetery. Where I found this specimen there were no Cicadas emerging last year.

I took this Cicada home with me to get some shots but unfortunately, my camera, which is what I used last year is really starting to bug me. I can't seem to get the shots right. The first two thumbnails above are shots taken using the flash so the images to me look a little washed out. The last image with the black background is with no flash and is more representative of this Cicada's true colors in the teneral stage.

Tomorrow, I will put up pictures of this specimen after it hardens and darkens overnight.

The thumbnail to the left is a ventral view of this specimen shortly after completing the eclose process. I like to document the different stages for the Tibicen lyricen pruinosity to develop. Pruinosity is just a white waxy substance that develops in Tibicen Cicadas over time. Tomorrow I will have an updated ventral view and hopefully you will be able to see the pruinosity starting to develop. My apologies for the dark picture but its a clear shot.