Cicada (shells)

Description:

The empty shells discarded as cicadas emerged from the ground and clambered up trees to split open the backs of their casing and emerge as an adult cicada. These were from the Greengrocer cicada highly visible in the trees above and nearby. Cicadas emerge each summer, many spending years underground in the larval stage and cause the deafening sounds that are common throughout summer. An insect, these 'shells' indicate a large variety of cicada about 4 to 5 centimetres long.

Habitat:

Found throughout Australia, other species overseas, these ones in closed Eucalypt forest with rainforest nearby.