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Are you ready for the Cicada?
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Cicada information
"The periodical cicadas (Magicicada species), found in the eastern half of the continent, have the longest known life cycles of any insect. Because of their periodic appearance they are often called locusts, although they are not related to true locusts
Their life cycle takes 17 years in northern species (the so-called 17-year locusts) and 13 years in southern species; the two types overlap in parts of the United States. The female deposits her eggs in slits that she cuts in young twigs. In about six weeks the wingless, scaly larvae, or nymphs, drop from the tree and burrow into the ground, where they remain for 13 or 17 years, feeding on juices sucked from roots"
Read more here: http://education.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry?id=10359
"The periodical cicadas (Magicicada species), found in the eastern half of the continent, have the longest known life cycles of any insect. Because of their periodic appearance they are often called locusts, although they are not related to true locusts
Their life cycle takes 17 years in northern species (the so-called 17-year locusts) and 13 years in southern species; the two types overlap in parts of the United States. The female deposits her eggs in slits that she cuts in young twigs. In about six weeks the wingless, scaly larvae, or nymphs, drop from the tree and burrow into the ground, where they remain for 13 or 17 years, feeding on juices sucked from roots"
Read more here: http://education.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry?id=10359
Last edited by a moderator:
I can hear them churning already... sounds like light rain all around my house, these things are the only downfall to living in the woods
I heard that they can cause digestive problems in pets, bad enough to kill them. There was a vet describing them as the best pet toys ever, because they are slow, big and noisy, but if you pet eats too many they can block up their system so bad that it results in death. I liked the vets description of them "they look like chicken nuggets to your pet, a whole yard full of them"
Glad we dont have them here on the west coast.
Peter
Glad we dont have them here on the west coast.
Peter
how big do these things get, looks like some good fish bait for either bass or trout... ... ...
just remember I am a west coast guy and also
THE FORD GUY Oo. Oo. Oo.
big jake
just remember I am a west coast guy and also
THE FORD GUY Oo. Oo. Oo.
big jake
Freakin BIG! Peterbuilt big! No not really but about athe size of a square 9 volt battery. I cannot stand them. They smash into your windows at dusk going for the light , In my old shop before I put the covers on the flourecent lights one poped a light tube
The new shop WILL be getting the slide over tubes as they are eight footers.
(CBS/AP) Some folks count down the days until they can go home. Others keep an eye on the number of shopping days until Christmas.
Gene Kritsky counts down the years between cicada invasions, and for him, the wait is almost over.
The first cicada invasion in 17 years began Monday, as trillions of red-eyed insects began crawling their way above ground in 14 states and in Washington, D. C.
Kritsky - a professor at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati - has been studying cicadas for decades and in an interview with the web site CicadaMania.org, admits that the arrival of the large, ravenous insects is a bit like a "an old friend coming to visit. "
To most people, especially farmers, it feels a lot more like being surrounded by an old foe.
While only bug experts are likely to share Kritsky's zeal, some in cicada country are trying to make the best of things - with parties, limericks, and jokes.
Loudmouthed and ugly, the cicadas will fly clumsily into pets, bushes and unwitting pedestrians as they engage in a frenetic mating ritual that lasts well into June.
Then they'll disappear for another 17 years.
Keith Clay, a biologist and cicada researcher at Indiana University in Bloomington, said the appearance of cicadas is "an amazing biological phenomenon" that nonetheless produces a "yuck factor" for some people.
"They're not scared but see them as disgusting," he said.
The inch and a half-long black bugs with iridescent wings buzz around, but are basically harmless. They don't bite, and they don't sting. They live above ground as adults for about two and a half weeks to reproduce all they can before dying.
The adult males begin the mating ritual with a long buzzing sound that attracts the females. The chorus from one colony's male insects is so loud that the insects can drown out outdoor wedding events, graduation ceremonies and golf tournaments, researchers say.
Scientists say this year's batch, the largest of the cicada groups that appear at various intervals, offers researchers a rare opportunity to study the insect's impact on the nation's forests. Recent studies indicate cicadas are growing in numbers due in part to deforestation.
Cicadas tend to thrive in sunlit forest edges, which often provide the warmer weather and younger trees most ideal for them to lay their young. That's because younger tree roots can sustain the 17-year feeding cycle of nymphic cicadas until they mature.
There are more than a dozen broods of 17-year cicadas, along with several 13-year varieties. This year's group, Brood X, is the largest and is concentrated in the Midwest and the mid-Atlantic.
Found only in the United States east of the Great Plains, the periodical cicadas burrow into the ground after hatching, some digging as far as 8 feet under. Below the earth, the nymphs slowly suck the sap from tree roots for nourishment.
After 17 years, they emerge and climb trees and shrubs, where they shed their crunchy skins and harden into maturity.
Sheer numbers is what ensures locusts' survival. The insects are a treat for robins and other birds, and even some pets, who are at risk for diarrhea or constipation if they eat too many. But many cicadas escape death because there are simply too many in the swarm for even the hungriest to devour.
"Their numbers simply overwhelm," said John Odland, a geographer at Indiana University.
Once the bugs mate, the females cut slits into tree branches, where they deposit 400 to 600 eggs. The adults quickly die, but the eggs hatch in a few weeks. The young cicadas dig into the ground and won't emerge into 2021.
The states which will see cicadas this summer include: Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D. C.
Gene Kritsky counts down the years between cicada invasions, and for him, the wait is almost over.
The first cicada invasion in 17 years began Monday, as trillions of red-eyed insects began crawling their way above ground in 14 states and in Washington, D. C.
Kritsky - a professor at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati - has been studying cicadas for decades and in an interview with the web site CicadaMania.org, admits that the arrival of the large, ravenous insects is a bit like a "an old friend coming to visit. "
To most people, especially farmers, it feels a lot more like being surrounded by an old foe.
While only bug experts are likely to share Kritsky's zeal, some in cicada country are trying to make the best of things - with parties, limericks, and jokes.
Loudmouthed and ugly, the cicadas will fly clumsily into pets, bushes and unwitting pedestrians as they engage in a frenetic mating ritual that lasts well into June.
Then they'll disappear for another 17 years.
Keith Clay, a biologist and cicada researcher at Indiana University in Bloomington, said the appearance of cicadas is "an amazing biological phenomenon" that nonetheless produces a "yuck factor" for some people.
"They're not scared but see them as disgusting," he said.
The inch and a half-long black bugs with iridescent wings buzz around, but are basically harmless. They don't bite, and they don't sting. They live above ground as adults for about two and a half weeks to reproduce all they can before dying.
The adult males begin the mating ritual with a long buzzing sound that attracts the females. The chorus from one colony's male insects is so loud that the insects can drown out outdoor wedding events, graduation ceremonies and golf tournaments, researchers say.
Scientists say this year's batch, the largest of the cicada groups that appear at various intervals, offers researchers a rare opportunity to study the insect's impact on the nation's forests. Recent studies indicate cicadas are growing in numbers due in part to deforestation.
Cicadas tend to thrive in sunlit forest edges, which often provide the warmer weather and younger trees most ideal for them to lay their young. That's because younger tree roots can sustain the 17-year feeding cycle of nymphic cicadas until they mature.
There are more than a dozen broods of 17-year cicadas, along with several 13-year varieties. This year's group, Brood X, is the largest and is concentrated in the Midwest and the mid-Atlantic.
Found only in the United States east of the Great Plains, the periodical cicadas burrow into the ground after hatching, some digging as far as 8 feet under. Below the earth, the nymphs slowly suck the sap from tree roots for nourishment.
After 17 years, they emerge and climb trees and shrubs, where they shed their crunchy skins and harden into maturity.
Sheer numbers is what ensures locusts' survival. The insects are a treat for robins and other birds, and even some pets, who are at risk for diarrhea or constipation if they eat too many. But many cicadas escape death because there are simply too many in the swarm for even the hungriest to devour.
"Their numbers simply overwhelm," said John Odland, a geographer at Indiana University.
Once the bugs mate, the females cut slits into tree branches, where they deposit 400 to 600 eggs. The adults quickly die, but the eggs hatch in a few weeks. The young cicadas dig into the ground and won't emerge into 2021.
The states which will see cicadas this summer include: Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D. C.
Andy Perreault
TDR MEMBER
It's amazing that they know that 17 years have past since they burrowed underground. Of the millions of them, do any of them lose count of the years and come out at 16 or 18 years?
Is that how the 13-year cicadas came to exist? Did a bunch of them get screwed up and come out 4 years too early, and then say, "Well, what the heck, let's break away from the swarm and form our own 13-year cycle. Why wait 17 years like the rest of them?" 
Andy
The thing I don't understand is we have bugs that look like this every summer. I have always called them a locust. In the dog days of Aug then make this buzzing sound with there wings.
Now every summer at night we have these things I grew up knowing as a Kay-t-did. They make noise at night that sounds just like there name. I love to listen to the Kay-t-dids, nothing like the sound of Mother Nature in the summer.
which Bug is this one? If its due out now, its early for either bug unless it lives for 2 months or so.
I also here it don't eat the leaves of the trees, it just chews a spot on the stem to lay its eggs then dies. They recommend putting netting over smaller trees and keep picking the bugs off if you start to see damage.
Will24, up in elverson if your hearing crunching noise already, it might be the Gypsy moths. We still see the Gypsy moths hit sections of our area every hear. 12 years ago they cleaned every leaf off every tree where I live. Along 80 west of 11/15 they have been pretty bad the last couple years, clearing whole sections of woods along the highway.
I live south west of you on the next Mt range (Compass area).
Now every summer at night we have these things I grew up knowing as a Kay-t-did. They make noise at night that sounds just like there name. I love to listen to the Kay-t-dids, nothing like the sound of Mother Nature in the summer.
which Bug is this one? If its due out now, its early for either bug unless it lives for 2 months or so.
I also here it don't eat the leaves of the trees, it just chews a spot on the stem to lay its eggs then dies. They recommend putting netting over smaller trees and keep picking the bugs off if you start to see damage.
Will24, up in elverson if your hearing crunching noise already, it might be the Gypsy moths. We still see the Gypsy moths hit sections of our area every hear. 12 years ago they cleaned every leaf off every tree where I live. Along 80 west of 11/15 they have been pretty bad the last couple years, clearing whole sections of woods along the highway.
I live south west of you on the next Mt range (Compass area).
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Issue 128 – Digital Version
Digital Magazines
FREE!
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Renew
Subscribe
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Back Issues
Subscription Status
Address Change Form
Buyer's Guides
Ram Diagnostic Trouble Codes
The Perfect Collection
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