Bladder cicada - Alissa Duke

Bladder cicada

Bladder cicada (Cystosoma saundersii )

I found this insect on the lawn . It must have just died as the skin was still soft and green. I drew it that night and by the next morning the colours had faded and the skin was harder.

Bladder cicadas are up to 5cm long, males have a large, hollow abdomen, which acts as an echo chamber for a call that lasts up to half-an-hour. Males of this common cicada species produce a distinctive, deep, frog-like sound from dusk to early evening. This Bladder cicadas are common garden residents in north, central and south-east Queensland - I was visiting Toowoomba in SE Qld for Christmas. We had to close the windows to drown out the noise of the cicadas on a few evenings. a traditional part of my Australian Christmas ! Thank goodness the weather was not really hot (as it usually is at Christmas)