Cicada, empty shell . . . (Magicicada septendecim)  Native to North America.
Also known as the Seventeen-year Locust. This is an incredibly noisy and strange
creature! (Photograph has been rotated 90 degrees to the left for better viewing.)
The adult cicadas live but a short prairie summer. The larvae, when hatched, enter
the ground and remain there for 17 years feeding on the juices of roots. They then
hatch as a light brown (pictured above) grub, without developed wings of any kind.
They nest then without a cocoon, in their own skin. The skins (again, pictured above)
then split open on the back, and can be found hanging on the sides of trees.

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(Photograph was made Saturday, the 31st of August, 2002)