Tachycixius pilosus
This cicada may be brown, it is far from being ugly. We thought it to be a Cixius species. There are only 6 of them in our country, so we thought identifying this one would be easy, but it turned out to be very difficult indeed. Then Waldo jumped in and told us this actually is Tachycixius pilosus (formerly known as Cixius pilosus), a very common species. The reason we didn't know this before is that this is a variety. The standard species have milky white wings covered in small brown speckles. Our species however has big brown striped wings. This variety is called Tachycixius pilosus f. albicinctus. There are other varieties as well, such as one having dark wings alltogether. After the catch the animal very quickly died. After its death the second picture from the top was made, showing the underside of the animal. The white near the rear end is made up of wires made out of wax. It is uncertain what the purpose of those actually is. But many believe it is a defense mechanism against certain predators. Could be a logical explanation, as many aphids also use wax to disguise themselves, or, perhaps, make themself inedible. It is known that a lady bird may die because of this substance. Each egg the female Tachycixius pilosus lays is given a few wax threads.
