**3. Maintenance and rehabilitation**

If a turret is damaged, the nymph fixes it without delay. It performs an occlusion with a mixture of clay and urine (**Figure 7**) if its turret was severed, before restoring the initial height (see below). Maintaining the sealing of the building appears to be a priority for the nymph; if one experimentally fractures a turret and then re-stack

#### **Figure 4.**

*Manaus and the* Adolfo Ducke Reserve*. Google Maps https://www.google.ch/maps/place/Reserva+Florestal+ Adolpho+Ducke/@-2.8580657,-60.0242213,71,452 m/data =!3 m1!1e3!4 m5!3 m4!1s0x926c1ec4d40d48b7:0x897d 42e519777eb2!8 m2!3d-2.9633439!4d-59.9228331.*

#### **Figure 5.**

*(a) concrete moulding inside an 88 cm deep well, 26 cm of which have been excavated. The curvature (circle), just below the ground level, is clearly visible. The turret is traced (tur). (b) oblique galleries (gal) at the base of the well, oblique as well, up to a curvature at 15 cm from the bottom;* cem*: Cement moulding.*

**93**

**Figure 7.**

**Figure 6.**

clay with its urine.

nymph rebuilds it completely.

*The Nymph Architect of the Cicada* Guyalna chlorogena*: Behaviours and Ecosystem*

pieces over the base, the nymph plugs the interstices (**Figure 8**) by injecting soggy

*Occlusion in progress by the nymph with clay mixed with its urine (mcl) after its turret has been severed.*

*A pile of stems and leaves became an obstacle during the construction of this turret; the nymph avoided it by* 

*raising the turret obliquely, but it reestablished the verticality as soon as the obstacle was passed.*

When a turret has been destroyed, or even when it tips over (**Figure 9**), the

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94106*

*The Nymph Architect of the Cicada* Guyalna chlorogena*: Behaviours and Ecosystem DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94106*

#### **Figure 6.**

*Ecosystem and Biodiversity of Amazonia*

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**Figure 5.**

**Figure 4.**

*42e519777eb2!8 m2!3d-2.9633439!4d-59.9228331.*

*Manaus and the* Adolfo Ducke Reserve*. Google Maps https://www.google.ch/maps/place/Reserva+Florestal+ Adolpho+Ducke/@-2.8580657,-60.0242213,71,452 m/data =!3 m1!1e3!4 m5!3 m4!1s0x926c1ec4d40d48b7:0x897d*

*(a) concrete moulding inside an 88 cm deep well, 26 cm of which have been excavated. The curvature (circle), just below the ground level, is clearly visible. The turret is traced (tur). (b) oblique galleries (gal) at the base of* 

*the well, oblique as well, up to a curvature at 15 cm from the bottom;* cem*: Cement moulding.*

*A pile of stems and leaves became an obstacle during the construction of this turret; the nymph avoided it by raising the turret obliquely, but it reestablished the verticality as soon as the obstacle was passed.*

#### **Figure 7.**

*Occlusion in progress by the nymph with clay mixed with its urine (mcl) after its turret has been severed.*

pieces over the base, the nymph plugs the interstices (**Figure 8**) by injecting soggy clay with its urine.

When a turret has been destroyed, or even when it tips over (**Figure 9**), the nymph rebuilds it completely.

**Figure 8.** *Sealing of interstices by injection of soaked clay (cl).*

**95**

**Figure 10.**

*The Nymph Architect of the Cicada* Guyalna chlorogena*: Behaviours and Ecosystem*

The experiment was carried out [2] to section a turret experimentally and to continuously monitor the repair; the nymph clogs the section and restores the original height within days using the same lengthening technique as when growing, and at the same rate of about 3 cm per night. The result of this experiment gives credence to the idea of the requirement of a minimum height necessary to maintain appropriate parameters (humidity, pressure, and O2 and CO2 levels) for the survival

A spontaneous increase in turret height to a value held constant thereafter has occasionally been observed, reflecting an increase in the minimum required height

A spontaneous decrease in the height of the turret can also be observed, resulting

from building a summit inside the turret, below the existing one, which, probably because it is no longer in contact with the moisture inside the burrow, dries up and crumbles (**Figure 10**), revealing the new top. After a few days, the parts above the new summit have completely disappeared and the result is a turret with

*Spontaneous reduction in the height of the turret by construction of an internal top and drying out of the old* 

*one. The white line represents the old wall of the upper part of the turret.*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94106*

of the nymph in its burrow.

discussed above.

reduced height.

**4. Spontaneous changes in height**

**Figure 9.** *Reconstruction of the turret after failover.*

*The Nymph Architect of the Cicada* Guyalna chlorogena*: Behaviours and Ecosystem DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94106*

The experiment was carried out [2] to section a turret experimentally and to continuously monitor the repair; the nymph clogs the section and restores the original height within days using the same lengthening technique as when growing, and at the same rate of about 3 cm per night. The result of this experiment gives credence to the idea of the requirement of a minimum height necessary to maintain appropriate parameters (humidity, pressure, and O2 and CO2 levels) for the survival of the nymph in its burrow.
