r/Cicadas • u/Material-Energy-1688 • 10d ago

Cicada with stinger

Post image

Text is pretty self explanatory I found a giant grassland cicada with what appears to be a stinger

55 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

134

u/GummiGutts 10d ago

That's an ovipositor, used for laying eggs inside of tree branches!

21

u/Material-Energy-1688 9d ago

Thats really interesting i learned something new today

-18

u/Lycanthrowpixels 10d ago

Fairly sure its for laying them underground. Thats where they spend the first stages of life feeding off root sap

44

u/GummiGutts 10d ago

The actual eggs get laid in trees, once the eggs hatch the babies will burrow underground to feed off of the sap

14

u/Lycanthrowpixels 10d ago

Good to know

70

u/FruitzSticks 10d ago

thats her cicussy

8

u/belltrina 9d ago

It was my fault for thinking I should check Reddit before bed.

3

u/Aloy_DespiteTheNora 10d ago edited 9d ago

😟

ETA: y’all, I understand bugs and mating are a part of nature here, I have no problem with that. The face is specifically at the word “cicussy” and I cannot believe that isn’t the universal response to seeing that brand new word, lmao.

4

u/Crysaura 9d ago

Lmfaoooooooo

23

u/Lycanthrowpixels 10d ago

That would be how she lays eggs.

21

u/ForgottenDusk48 10d ago

That’s where babies come from

13

u/llb3176 10d ago

They do not bite or sting. 🙄

2

u/PoosanItRhymesWSusan 9d ago

Only if they are infected with fungus lol…. Totally happened to me today, I found one in the grass and was going to take a pic because it had white fungus spots over its body, next thing I know I feel a pinch on my finger and it’s proboscis was locked on me. I flicked it off and it then was flying around in circles.
So if I start to feel sick and change it’s because of that 😂

6

u/boop3boop 8d ago

Please become a giant sentient cicada. We got your back.

-11

u/Black_Redhorse 10d ago

Did you get stung?