Exoskeleton – Eskildoodle Photos and Feelings

Ghost Story

While pulling some weeds in the yard, I came across this insect “ghost,” or exoskeleton as they are more commonly called, that had been shed from a cicada. When a nymph (the immature form of a cicada, not the mythical creature) reaches full size, it sheds its shell to emerge as an adult and leavesContinue reading “Ghost Story”

Seeing Ghosts

Nope, it isn’t about spectral phenomena, it’s about the outer shell of a cicaida that was shed as the insect grew. It left its ghost shell to “haunt” our shed in the back yard. Rather than “ectoplasm” it consists of a polysaccharide known as chitin, and doesn’t really scare anyone, not even on Halloween. However,Continue reading “Seeing Ghosts”