Can you guys recognize this adorable creature?

[dom14]

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

Yeah, sometime I find outer shells of spiders that I mistake for dead ones.

[threedogs]

They turn into beetles that I call Xmas beetles

[Clunk]

I think you might be getting mixed up TD

https://youtu.be/0JJz36rSob0

[dom14]

They turn into beetles that I call Xmas beetles

The one you see in the picture is an adult that has emerged from the exo-skeleton already.
I think after mating ritual, the males simply die.
I see xmas beetles here, but I reckon they are different.

[MudRunnerTD]

I think you might be getting mixed up TD

https://youtu.be/0JJz36rSob0

That's awesome!!! I grew up in Croydon in the Outer East of Melbourne (back then! Now a middle suburb) and every year we got the roar of Cicadas in the evenings in the Liquid Ambers in the back yard.

That Yourube vid was great!

[threedogs]

There are plenty along the Murray, great bait too lol

[dom14]

When I grabbed him from the wings('cos I wasn't sure whether it had a pointy beak that could sting), it rattled violently with
that screeching noise, letting me know it doesn't want handled that way.
It did the same thing to startle the cat.
Pretty impressive critter.
I'm most fascinated by the transparent(yet not reflective)wings.(zoom the third photo and have a close up look)
The complex transparent wings are amazing creation of evolutionary process.
Almost like there's some "intelligent designer" behind it.
See the organic material the wing is made of allows to clearly see through like a clear glass with no glassy reflection.
It's an amazing creation of nature with the natural mechanisms already available.
Without the cocoon(the womb basically), it would be hard to create such complex structures.
These are ancient bugs.
These cicadas were the size of an eagle with a wingspan of six feet or so, some 300 million years ago.

If you get a cocoon from the tree burrow and give it 50% oxygen in a glass bubble or something, the resulting
cicada might be quite few times bigger critter than this.
They've done that with cockroaches.

[dom14]

That's awesome!!! I grew up in Croydon in the Outer East of Melbourne (back then! Now a middle suburb) and every year we got the roar of Cicadas in the evenings in the Liquid Ambers in the back yard.

That Yourube vid was great!

I'm a newbee to the east, this is the first time I saw a one even though I hear their loud mating call all the time in spring to summer.
Yeah, apparently they like the sap of that tree.

[dom14]

There are plenty along the Murray, great bait too lol

X'mas beetles? I love them. I have collection of dead ones, colour wings still intact.( I didn't kill them, they were found dead. )

[dom14]

I think you might be getting mixed up TD

https://youtu.be/0JJz36rSob0

Great video. The ones we see in Melbourne East emerge annually I think, 'cos I've been hearing them pretty much
every summer for past few years.