It's a Ciccada!!!

It didn't take long to find out. Falanya from Anchorage, Alaska wasted no time in identifying the critter. Seems they're rather common, too. Odd that I've never seen one before last year, considering that I've lived all my 46 years (as of next week!) in Connecticut. I've read that some types of ciccadas (or cicadas?) are on a 17 year cycle, others are not. Maybe that's why.

As it turns out, some people think these are amazing insects. Check this out!

Let's All Play...What The HELL Is It?

I first saw one of these BUTT-UGLY bugs last year. I was sitting outside on my balcony when one came ZOOMing by and landed on the railing. I couldn't believe how big and UGLY it was! I ran inside for my camera but by the time I got back the bug was gone.

That was last year. Then, a week or so ago I came home from work at lunchtime and saw this guy on the ground, dead as a doornail! It was during the heatwave we had, so maybe it just succombed to the heat. Whatever did it in, one thing was for sure - this guy wasn't gonna fly away like the last one did! I brought it inside and took these pictures of it.

I can't tell if the eyes are the little redish dots toward the center of the head or the large bulbous things out on the corners.

You can see here it's over 2 inches long! It's back looks like armor plating! Here's a close-up.

One more of it's botom...

Kinda looks like it has a long stinger between it's legs. Please, say it ain't so...

I looked around a bit on the internet for an insect identifier, and I found a couple, but I couldn't itentify this thing.

Yes, it's HOT!

The noon-time temperature on my balcony!

And it's gonna gt hotter before it gets cooler!