Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/09/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]There was a monstrous brood of them in the US about 5 years ago. Nobody really knows why some have such a long nymph cycle, but it may be to thwart predators (after all, what predator insect is gonna rely on a dinner that's over a decade away?). They call them locusts down here, which is a misnomer. I believe that the ones down here have a long nymph cycle. They all look the same to me, but there are a lot of different species. Very impressive on the end of an insect pin. Almost scary in real life. The only opportunity I had for a photo of a living one was back in 1974, next to our campfire while camping outside of Yuma AZ. My camera was a Mamiya SLR with a 50/2, and it was at night. Looked more like a horsefly on paper. Jeffery On Sep 3, 2009, at 8:06 PM, R. Clayton McKee wrote: > Quoth the Jefffery Smith : > >> By the way, these are the bugs whose nymph stage lasts 17 years. > > Some do. Others don't. There are dozens of varieties of cicadas, > one of which is the 17-year model. Others have much shorter cycles, > as short as a few months to a year. I don't know which one we're > dealing with here; it looked like an annual from the picture. > > -- > R. Clayton McKee http://www.rcmckee.com > Photojournalist rcmckee at rcmckee.com > P O Box 571900 voice/fax 713/783-3502 > Houston, TX 77257-1900 cell number on request > The only guidebooks worth reading begin with the phrase > "When you get to the end of the paved road, continue..." > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information