Nature’s Art: Cicada Exoskeleton Shell: Free Picture

About the Picture

While walking through the parks of Ibaraki, Japan, we just wanted to enjoy the outdoors, some moments in nature. However, I didn’t expect to stumble upon such a beautiful thing, a Cicada shell, also called Cicada Exoskeleton.

At the first sight, I just though it’s a living creature, an insect/bug that’s not that small. But it actually was a shell, perfectly preserved exoskeleton of Cicada. Nature is really amazing!

Cicadas are really interesting creatures, more you read about them, more interesting they start to be. By sharing the image of cicada shell with you, I want to share also some interesting facts about the insect.

Cicadas are represented by over 3,000 species, so you may find them in different forms. They might be small, but certainly are not quiet. They produce sounds, that can spread and especially if you’re in a forest around evening, the songs they sing I find very pleasing. Beautiful melodies.

But before that happen, they spend years underground, in a nymph form, drinking juices from the plants. They can stay underground even for 7 years before emerging (some even up to 17 years?). No wonder that when they do, they want to spread the songs of joy.

Beside sharing the most beautiful soundtrack of summer, cicadas represent resilience, growth and fleeting beauty. They can spend years underground, but short adult lifespan, often just a few weeks, echoes the concept of ‘mono no aware’ — the bittersweet realization of life’s fleeting nature.

The molting process, where they shed their exoskeleton, is a fascinating transformation — an emergence that marks the final step before adulthood. This process leaves behind an intricate shell, which is a testament to their ability to grow, evolve, and adapt.

Fascinating that aside from their cultural symbolism, cicadas are studied for the unique properties of their exoskeletons, some scientists are exploring how cicada wings inspire antibacterial surfaces due to their unique structure. Scientists noticed that cicada wings kill many types of harmful bacteria, and you can read more about that here – how cicada wings kill bacteria.

This photo of a cicada shell is available for free download with attribution, you can use it within your blog posts or when writing an article on entomology, and so on.

Seeing such nature’s beauty, on a simple walk you just plan to take in nature, reminds me how beautiful this world and nature is, and that beautiful life wonders can be met around the corner or be seen on a leaf nearby.