Can you guys recognize this adorable creature?

[dom14]

Hey Guys,

This cute looking little big fella/girl flew into my work light at night.
Obviously startled and attracted by the bright light.
Then my neighbours cat jumped on the creature with a hope of getting him/her.
The feisty green monster made a pretty loud screeching sound & managed to startle the cat
for a fraction of a second.
I managed to chase the cat from the little creature and save him/her.

I can tell ya, this little big thing can make a pretty loud screeching sound for it's size.

What is he/she? An oversize cricket? A gigantic grasshopper?

It's about three inches long and have a fat belly, adorable looking cute eyes, some beautifully
coloured "nose", and heaven knows how he/she's making that loud noise, but it has something to
do with the apparatus under the belly.

I'm sure it's their mating season and they're bit feisty & desperate to reproduce.

[Sir Roofy]

Hey Guys,

This cute looking little big fella/girl flew into my work light at night.
Obviously startled and attracted by the bright light.
Then my neighbours cat jumped on the creature with a hope of getting him/her.
The feisty green monster made a pretty loud screeching sound & managed to startle the cat
for a fraction of a second.
I managed to chase the cat from the little creature and save him/her.

I can tell ya, this little big thing can make a pretty loud screeching sound for it's size.

What is he/she? An oversize cricket? A gigantic grasshopper?

It's about three inches long and have a fat belly, adorable looking cute eyes, some beautifully
coloured "nose", and heaven knows how he/she's making that loud noise, but it has something to
do with the apparatus under the belly.

I'm sure it's their mating season and they're bit feisty & desperate to reproduce.

Its a cicada ?

[Kimbo63]

Spot on sir
cicada It is

[Woof]

What Sir Roofy said

[dom14]

Are they common in Melbourne?

Are they natives here or introduced?

Any thoughts, guys?

It has a pretty loud screech. It's been screeching crazy somewhere in the backyard during the day at odd times.
Must be the mating call, but made wanna find my ear plugs.

[Plasnart]

Yep cicada agree. Theyre noisy critters too! Was fortunate enough to see a heap of them "walking out" of their skins on the side of a tree one night a few years ago. Fascinating.

[DX grunt]

When I was a kid, we used to fill up a 750ml EMPTY beer bottle with water and push it into the hole in the ground to flush them out.

Then we'd let them go.

Computers weren't around when I was a kid. lol

[dom14]

Yep cicada agree. Theyre noisy critters too! Was fortunate enough to see a heap of them "walking out" of their skins on the side of a tree one night a few years ago. Fascinating.

I rarely find them in Melbourne East, though I hear them more and more lately, probably due to climate change/warming.
Dragonflies are pretty rare here in Melbourne east as well(I reckon they prefer more green dense, moist areas outside metro).

There're more mozzies, crickets, grasshoppers, etc.
As I'm typing this I can hear the noise of the cicada again. Must be the same critter that bumped into me yesterday.
I've got my headphones on listening to other stuff, but I still can't avoid the nagging screech.

Funny thing is that you can never find these critters during the day by chasing the location of the sound.

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/...icadas/6075298

[dom14]

When I was a kid, we used to fill up a 750ml EMPTY beer bottle with water and push it into the hole in the ground to flush them out.

Then we'd let them go.

Computers weren't around when I was a kid. lol

Good! Now I know how to get the bastard that deprives me of the sleep.

[threedogs]

X 8 it will shed its outer shell/skin soon and leave it
stuck on a tree somewhere