Behold! The vacant skin of a Hieroglyphic Cicada (aka Neocicada hieroglyphica) anchored to the bark of a tree in the heart of the New Jersey Pine Barrens!
Zoom in!!
Can you see the holes that once supported the legs of the cicada? See the thin, white filaments? Those were its breathing tubes. Imagination time! Compare a cicada to a deep sea diver or astronaut. A cicada’s old nymphal skin aka shell, husk or officially an exuvia, supported its body during its long journey through the underground — and then one day, one moment, it left its old skin to face the aboveground world as an adult, winged, brave and daring (this is my blog and I will personify cicadas if I like) cicada.
Science fiction writers and artists could draw inspiration from the cicada’s temporary, underground skin survival suit. Imagine the nymph phase as a miner tunneling through the soils an exotic planet looking for precious jewels — once it finds its treasure, it leaves the tunnels, peels off it’s “dirt suit”, spreads out its wing pack and escapes from the terror of underground mole creatures or sentient fungi. I’ll leave it to you to write your own cicada-inspired adventure.
This post was semi-fictional (some will get that joke).