floridensis
images, perspectives, and other stuff by janson jones
Neotibicen similaris, 17 August 2017
Neotibicen similaris, the Similar dog-day cicada;
Volusia county, Florida (17 August 2017, Nikon D7100).
Lizards and snakes may soak up much of my attention, but I’ve got a deeply unhealthy obsession with cicadas. Seriously, I can’t get enough of these little tanks. Featured here is a Similar dog-day cicada, Neotibicen similaris, an annual species often seen and heard in my neck of the woods (or, rather, in my neighborhood). In the top image, the three “jewels” in the middle are actually ocelli — simple eye structures that read contrast between light and dark. The two big bulbs on each side are compound eyes. Ocelli are quite recurrent in a number of organisms and in a number of forms. In some branches of Insecta, they are dorsal ocelli (like what you see here, often in sets of three). Sea stars, on the other hand, have pigment spot ocelli (more on that later). I adore photographing the dorsal ocelli of cicadas whenever I get the chance. They’ve got mugs like no other.
Learn more about Similar dog-day cicadas!
Welcome to Floridensis, the photographic playground of Janson Jones. A native to Volusia county, Florida, I spend much of my free time (which is never enough) studying and photographing the natural world around me -- especially the tangled biodiversity of peninsular Florida. Floridensis is a photographic celebration of that biodiversity; it's also a means for me to organize and document the contexts surrounding my little wildlife-photographic encounters. You can always contact me directly at jansonjones@icloud.com.
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