I saw these two insects outside one day last summer and with the upcoming 13-year cicada emergence, it seemed a perfect time to post them. Oddly both bugs are symbols of the afterlife and immortality.
Cicada effigies were carved of jade and included in Chinese burials. They are the loudest insect in the world and I once stumbled a 19th century book in an Alabama library (that had somehow escaped culling) that explained the volume of their buzz by claiming they vibrated the aether.
This cicada had just emerged from it’s skin and was drying it’s wings and shell. This scarab beetle was flying around in the shade of the tree near the ground. These are some details on this particular species of beetle as well as an image of an Egyptian stone effigy here.
The cicada-afterlife symbolism might occur here in the Southeastern United States about 5000 years ago-earlier than the Chinese and earlier than the pyramids. Well that depends on what you consider this to be. (from this page). The top one looks very similar to the Chinese carvings
This is the organ that makes cicadas so damned loud (page 300). It seems like it evolved from the flight system, but maybe not. This is another article explaining some of the symbolism in Southeastern Archaic beads-you’ll need JSTOR access.
