“Hey, Dad! There’s a cicada emerging over there.”, Roger said.
Watching the emergence of any critter that goes through a metamorphic stage is always fascinating. While Roger (and I) have raised many butterflies (and Roger has raised quite a number of other critters), we’ve never watched the emergence of one of the annual cicadas common to the Midwest.
When an insect emerges from its metamorphic container — be it a cocoon or, in this case, the harden shell of the larval stage — it is typically quite vulnerable.
If winged, there is a long period of pumping fluids into the wings and then letting them effectively cure in the open air.
It is a particularly vulnerable time exactly because the animal is in between forms and simply can’t move.
So! Photo study time!
Some of the original images at full resolution are really stunning. This is a beautiful creature.
In this first image, the critter has just emerged. The wings are just starting to unfurl.
At this point, the cicada has fully emerged, but the wings are only partially expanded.
I was very surprised at how stunningly neon green the wings are!
This is a closeup (rotated) of the expanding wing. Note that those wings will be largely transparent once they are fully expanded and cured. At this point, though, it almost looks like frost.
This just seemed like an obvious picture to take. 
From this angle you can’t see all the facial hair!
That picture will be at the end.
At this point, the wings are fully expanded, but not yet cured.
The neon is just stunning. Surprisingly so. Gorgeous.
One final shot. The cicada flew away shortly hereafter (or crawled).
I was stunned by the golden highlights on the “shoulder” and the hairs around the eyes!
What a beautiful creature!