storm again-2: storm tracker

한달쯤 뜸~ 하더니, 어제 밤 잠간 집을 비운 사이에 스토-ㄹㅁ 이 또 지나갔나 보다.
정전으로 집으로 돌아오는 길에 신호등, 가로등이 다 꺼져있네...
나무도 곳곳에 뿌러져 있고... 뿌리채 뽑혔고...

깜깜한 집안에서, 할 일이 없으니 답답하기도 하지만,
촛불을 여러개 켜노니, 오랜만에 운치도 있고...
반듸불도 덕분에 더 잘 감상할 수 있는 조은 점도 있군요.
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한달에 한번씩 '무파워'의 날을 정해 잠시 정적을 음미해 보는 것도 조을듯, ^^  한국에서 살던 시절 한달에 한번씩 등화관재 훈련하듯이..

아뭍은 올해는 스톰이 유난히 잦군요.
오늘 아침까지도 파워 복구가 안 되있네.. 냉장고가 좀 걱정 되는군, TT!
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약 24시간만에 전기가 다시 들어왔네여.  이런 오랜 정전도 처음.
불편했지만, 한편 일상에서 벗어나는 신선함도..
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More than 1/2 of the residents experienced power outage after this storm.  The worst ever.

*storm + 48 hours: power was back, but still TV is out of service.
              :(
*storm + 52 hours (그러니까 오늘, Friday, June 24th, 1-2AM): another severe thunderstorm came.  So windy and rain poured. 전기가 서너번 깜빡 깜빡.  Another scary night.
아직도 약 2만명 with no power.. ㄲㄲ

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so beautiful bug-5: ground beetle

There are so many insects outside these days.  They, of course, play very very very very 매우, 아주, 정말 진짜 important roles in the food chain. Without them, many animal groups (including humans) eventually will be extinct.

While I was reading books at Barns & Noble bookstore, I found an insect crawling awkwardly on the floor. Poor guy. It might have been attracted to light.

Who am I?  A buggologist.  ^^!
So I caught it in a plastic cup and brought it home for 증명사진 and examination.

This kind of insect is fairly big (~1 inch long) with metallic green color on the front wing, called elytra.
Ahh, so beautiful~~~. Isn't it?  ~°|°~

In beetles (Order Coleoptera), the front pair of wings are modified into like hard shell to protect the body. So they fly only with hind wings that can be found under the elytra.

Membrane-like hind wings are folded and hidden under the elytra.

According to the bug guide, it is commonly called 'caterpillar hunter', so they are good ones (to us).  They have big mandibles (like teeth) for grabbing and chewing the foods.  Taxonomically they belongs to "Order Coleoptera: Family Carabidae (ground beetles)".

so beautiful bug-4: periodical cicada (주기성 매미)

It is summer, hot and humid, making people so antsy. Then cicada's songs and a little breeze under a tree lightens up our mind.

I had a chance to visit MTSU campus at Murfreesboro, TN, a few days ago, and found very interesting cicadas. 

They have eyes with red brick color and orange-colored wings (veins). They are about 1-inch long and fly short distances.
Since there are so many of them and they are not strong fliers, it was pretty easy to catch and examine them more closely. I took several shots with pleasure and excitement.

Images of adults.  Very pretty. ^^!

(All images: Click to enlarge)

Cicada nymphs (= juveniles or larvae) live underground, and then they crawl out and climb up the trees where adults emerge, leaving empty cuticles behind (see below).

Some poor guys failed to emerge into adult, thus died in the nymphal cuticle.  The one shown below made about half way, then died (kind of birth defects in human terms). 

As adults, they live only for a few days.  After mating and reproduction, their terms on earth are done (mission accomplished!).  Below is a graveyard of the dead cicadas.  You also can see the exit holes (arrows) through which nymphs came out. 

As I suspected, these cicadas turned out to be "periodical cicadas".  

Who are they?

Cicadas belong to 'Order Homoptera', so distantly related to aphids.  They undergo 'incomplete metamorphosis' (meaning there is no pupal stage).

There are two types of cicadas: annual and periodical.  

Annuals are ones that we commonly see during the summer every year.  Since the pace of nymphal development is not synchronized, some nymphs emerge into adults this year, while others do so next year, etc. 

In contrast, nymphs of the periodicals grow synchronously, meaning that they mature into adults at the same time.  Such synchronized nymphal development is of mystery. (Do they communicate each other to determine when to become grown-ups???)

Nymphs live underground for 13 or 17 years depending on species.  This is why we can see a swarm of adult cicadas periodically with an interval of 13 or 17 years.  WOW!! COOUUL!!  This kind of surprise was reflected in their genus name (Magicicada).

I knew the story of the periodical cicadas, but never seen them with my own eyes. I was very lucky to meet with them, and I will have to wait for another 13 or 17 years to see them again.  Oh, boy!!

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