Cicada Slough (Looks like a hollow cicada, tea-brown, translucent, glossy, wide upper lip with a snout, longitudinal split on the chest and back, cross-shaped split, small wings on the left and right, serrated tips, light body, membranous, fragile)

【Name】

Cicada Slough

 【Source】

Shen Nong’s Classic of Materia Medica, Middle Grade

 【Common Use Level】

C

 【Botanical Source】

The shed shell of the nymph of the black cicada Cryptotympana pustulata Fabricius.

 【Characteristics】

The whole shape is similar to a cicada but hollow, slightly curved. It is about 3~4cm long and 1.5~2cm wide. The surface is tea-brown, translucent, and glossy, covered with dark brown or yellow-brown fine hairs. The head has a pair of filamentous antennae, which are mostly broken off; the compound eyes are protruding and transparent; the forehead is protruding; the upper lip is wide and short, and the lower lip is elongated into a tube shape. The back of the chest is longitudinally split or cross-shaped; there are two pairs of small wings on the left and right, the front pair is longer and the rear pair is shorter; the abdomen has 3 pairs of legs, the femur and tibia of the front leg have serrated tips, and the tip of the elbow joint has 2 small thorns, the teeth and thorns are dark brown; the middle and hind legs are slender. The abdomen is flattened and round; divided into 9 segments, the tail end is triangular and blunt. Light in weight, membranous, hollow, and fragile. It has a weak smell and a bland taste.
The black cicada is slightly larger, the whole body is arched and curved, yellow-brown, the crack on the back is cross-shaped, the abdomen is flattened and round, divided into nine segments, and the tail is triangular and sharp. The gold cicada is smaller, the whole body is golden yellow, the crack on the back is in a straight line, the abdomen is narrow and long, with a total of seven segments, and the tail is sharp and thorn-like. There are only slight differences.

 【Identification】

《Newly Revised Materia Medica》: “The male is considered to be better.” 《Ben Cao Qiu Zhen》: “The black and large ones are good.” 《Good and Bad Identification》: “Those with luster and complete shape are good products.”
Dry, golden yellow in color, and translucent with a reddish glow are considered best.

 【Category】

Invertebrate