Figure 1: Wild and artificially cultivated C. cicadae. (A) Wild C. cicadae. The parasitic nymphs of C. cicadae are with pale or pale yellow bodies of about 3 cm long and 1-1.5 cm wide. The head of the nymphs were clavate and roughened, displaying white at the front. The fine mycelia or fruiting body growing within the nymph body are referred to as coremium, presenting oval shape. The stroma will develop on the nymph body and extruded from the soil. The stroma usually has 3-4 branches in antler-like, cylindrical or rod-like shape, which form flower bud-shaped stroma. (B) Solid-state fermentation of C. cicadae. (C) Liquid fermentation of C. cicadae. After several days of inoculation, the color of the fermented fluid was turned purple.