Cicada ManiaSome Neocicada hieroglyphica hieroglyphica photos from my cellphone.
All photos captured in Brendan T. Byrne State Park, in New Jersey.
Neocicada hieroglyphica exuvia (skin/shell):
Neocicada hieroglyphica exuvia (skin/shell):
Neocicada hieroglyphica ventral view:
Neocicada hieroglyphica side view:
Neocicada hieroglyphica dorsal view:
The New Jersey Pine Barrens aka Pinelands or simply “Pines” is a large forested area of southern New Jersey known for its pine trees, sandy soils, culture, and history. It is called the Pine Barrens because the soil is not suitable for livestock or farming, except for acid-loving native plants like blueberries and cranberries. It is also home to a variety of carnivorous plants and orchids, rarely found elsewhere in the state. Culturally, it is known for myths like the Jersey Devil, real legends like Dr. James Still and blueberry cultivator Elizabeth Coleman White, residents known as “Pineys”, John McPhee’s book The Pine Barrens, folk music, and some of the best ice cream in New Jersey (White Dotte Dairy Bar, Evergreen Dairy Bar). The Pinelands have been the host of many industries including iron (from bog iron), charcoal, glass, timber, decorative flowers, cranberry and blueberry farming. Ecologically, the Pinelands are an oasis in a state otherwise known for sprawling condominiums, massive warehouses and industrial wastelands. Hopefully the Pinelands remains ecologically pure in the future, as it does today.
Amongst the pine trees and oaks that dominate the area, there are cicadas to match them. The heart of the Pinelands are dominated by — as you might guess — by Pitch Pine trees (Pinus rigida). White Oaks (Quercus alba) are found throughout the region, and notably around its perimeter. You’ll also find juniper trees here and there, especially in Cape May county, and deciduous trees like Maples where people settled the land and on the very edges of the region. I wonder if the screams of cicadas are mistaken for the screams of the Jersey Devil!
Caution: most of the Pinelands is protected. Do not take specimens home. Take photos and videos, but leave the cicadas in the Pinelands.
Stay alert: there are bears, rattlesnakes, deer ticks, mosquitoes and biting flies in the Pine Barrens. The area is also prone to fire, partly because of the sappy pine trees, which rely on the heat of a fire to open their cones.
Annual species:
Where: everywhere there are pine trees, but Brendan T. Byrne, Bass River, Batsto Village, and Wharton State Park for certain. This species of cicadas loves pines.
When: June and July.
What they sound like:
©Insect Singers.
What they look like:
Where: everywhere there are pines. They’re documented in Cape May county, and I’ve personally heard them in Burlington County in the Franklin Parker preserve.
When: July-September.
They sound like a power tool grinding metal:
©Insect Singers.
© Paul Krombholz
Where: everywhere there are pines.
When: July-September.
They also sound like a power tool grinding metal:
©Insect Singers.
N. canicularis varies a lot in terms of appearance, from green, brown & black camouflage patterns, to a mostly-black appearance in the Pines.
Where: everywhere you’ll find tall White Oaks.
When: July-September.
This is the largest cicada in North America. It calls after sunset. It sounds like the Jersey Devil. Exactly.
©Insect Singers.
What they look like:
Where: where you find juniper aka “Cedar” trees. Found along the Jersey Shore around Sea Isle and Cape May peninsula, and also inland in Cape May County in Pineland areas like Belleplain State Forest.
When: August-September.
What they sound like:
©Insect Singers.
What they look like:
These three species are found on the outskirts of pine areas and where people introduced deciduous trees or evergreens like spruces:
Where: this species is very flexible in terms of host trees.
When: July-August.
What they sound like:
What they look like:
Where: On the borders of the Pinelands where you find deciduous trees.
When: July-September.
What they sound like:
©Insect Singers.
What they look like:
© Tom Lehmkuhl
Notes: They’re visually similar to Neotibicen canicularis, but they have a prominent bend in the wing, and they do not have a dark form.
Where: On the borders of the Pinelands where you find deciduous trees.
When: July.
What they sound like:
©Insect Singers.
What they look like:
Notes: The Neotibicen lyricen engelhardti (Davis, 1910) aka Dark Lyric Cicada variety might also be present.
Magicicada broods II,X,XIV are found in the Pines in small numbers. I am uncertain which species, but Magicicada cassini (Fisher, 1852) aka Cassini 17-Year Cicada and Magicicada septendecula Alexander and Moore, 1962 are likely.
Brood II (back in 2030): is found in Belleplain State Forest; in the area north of rt. 40 & east of rt. 54; and in Atlantic County in the Egg Harbor City area. In 1998 they were found in Stafford Forge State Conservation Area, and along rt. 70 near Leisure Village.
Brood X (back in 2038): is found east of rt. 206 south of Chatsworth Road, and Vineland.
Brood XIV (back in 2024): was found in 1988 north of rt. 70 in Manchester, and in Linwood (just outside the Pines).
A map of the Pinelands:
Map is from Wikimedia Commons.
Links:
Books about the Pinelands from my personal collection:
How rare are Magicicadas cicadas with white or blue eyes?
Do we include yellowish-white/cream-colored eyes? Gray eyes?
“One in a million!”
“One in 100,000?”
“One in 1000”?
Let’s look at some data. Since its beginning, as of June 19th, 2024, iNaturalist has had 27,294 Research Grade Magicicada sightings, and 136 Research Grade “Magicicada eye color=blue/white” cicadas. So, in the iNaturalist data set, one in 201 Magicicada have white or blue eyes.
The number of white/blue eyed Magicicada is without a doubt more than one in 201, but not one in a million. Personally, I’ve found at least one cicada with white or blue eyes per emergence. My guess is the number is closer to one in 10,000.
But don’t tell anyone who is excited about a one in a million find. Let them have their fun and happiness. 🙂
More articles about eye color.
It appears that this Cicada Bug Coloring & Activity Book is the second most popular cicada book on Amazon. This took me by surprise. I have not read it, so I cannot vouch for its quality.
Here’s the top 5 that I see:
This is a web version of this old PDF.
There is an “old wives tale” that says that if you see a “W” on a cicada’s wing that there will be war, and if you see a “P” there will be peace. What you see is in the eyes of the “bugholder”, but I’ve personally only seen a “W”, which almost seems logical, because there is always a war going on somewhere.
“Will you miss me when I’m gone?”
As I write this, the Brood XIX emergence is all but over, and Brood XIII has about two weeks left to go.
So what’s next? Well, I’ll tell you.
You can help cicada researchers by uploading your photos to iNaturalist or the Cicada Safari app.
iNaturalist is excellent for all animals — plus plants and fungi — not just cicadas. You will find yourself using it all year long. Cicada Safari is specifically for cicadas.
There are more to cicadas that just Periodical cicadas.
Cicadas exist on every continent except for Antarctica, and in every State in the U.S. except for Hawaii and Alaska!
Learn about the most-common cicadas that live in the same areas as periodical cicadas, and then learn about the variety of cicadas found around the world.
Saving cicada skins (molts/shells) and wings is easy. Just keep them dry.
Preserving Periodical cicadas can be challenging because their eye colors fade and because they’re fatty and smell.
If you want to preserve eye colors, keeping them in alcohol seems to work best.
Some people dip them in acetone to mitigate the smell from decaying fat, but I’ve never tried it.
Otherwise, keep them dry and in a cedar box. I use silica gel packs to keep them dry. Cedar repels small insects that will eat your cicada collection. Moth balls work as well to keep tiny insects away from your collection.
If you want to pin your cicadas, so the wings are spread out, you have to do it while the cicadas are still moist. Plenty of places have supplies, like Carolina Biological Supply. I’ve softened hard cicadas by placing them in Tupperware/Rubbermaid containers with moist paper towels and a moth ball to prevent mold.
Make a scrapbook or photo album of your cicada memories.
This is something I do every year, though I tend to mix it up with non-cicada photos as well.
Periodical cicada Brood XIV (14) will emerge in the spring of 2025 in Georgia, Kentucky, Indiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia. The last time this brood emerged was in 2008. Special note: removing Maryland from the list at the request of the State Entomologist of Maryland. There might be some Brood X stragglers in Maryland.
It looks like the first adult Magicicada was signed in Tennessee. See the report on iNaturalist. This could be a straggler from another brood.
Millions of these Magicicada cicada insects:
Usually beginning in May and ending in late June. These cicadas emerge approximately when the soil 8″ beneath the ground reaches approximately 64 degrees Fahrenheit. Above ground temperatures in the 70’s-80’s help warm the soil to that point. A warm rain will often trigger an emergence.
Other tips: these cicadas will emerge after the trees have grown leaves, and, according to my own observation, around the same time Iris flowers bloom.
Georgia: iNaturalist Live Map. Counties: Fannin, Lumpkin, Rabun, Union.
Indiana: iNaturalist Live Map. We’re talking the southern part of Indiana, by the Ohio River. Counties: Crawford, Harrison, Perry.
Kentucky: iNaturalist Live Map. We’re talking most of Kentucky east of U.S. Route 41, with major hot-spots along the Ohio river. Counties: Anderson, Barren, Bath, Bell, Bourbon, Boyd, Bracken, Campbell, Carter, Clinton, Edmonson, Fayette, Franklin, Floyd, Gallatin, Grant, Hardin, Harrison, Henderson, LaRue, Laurel, Leslie, Logan, Madison, McCreary, Montgomery, Nelson, Nicholas, Pendleton, Pike, Pulaski, Rowan, Scott, Shelby, Whitley. Cities: Adairville, Bowling Green, Corbin, Flemingsburg, Frankfort, Greensburg, Hazard, Jeffersontown (J-Town), Louisville, Radcliff, Richmond, Valley Station.
Massachusetts: iNaturalist Live Map. Counties: Barnstable, Plymouth. Locations: (western half of) Cape Cod.
New Jersey: iNaturalist Live Map. We’re talking southern New Jersey, where the Jersey Devil lives (he might have ate them all up). Counties: Atlantic, Camden, Ocean. Cities: Linwood, Manchester Township, Winslow Township.
New York: iNaturalist Live Map. We’re talking Long Island. Counties: Nassau, Suffolk. New York cities: East Setauket and Dix Hills (thanks Elias Bonaros).
North Carolina: iNaturalist Live Map. We’re talking western North Carolina, particularly areas heavily impacted by Hurricane Helene. It will be interesting to see if the cicadas were impacted as well, as flooding may have washed away their underground tunnels and habitat. Counties: Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Henderson, McDowell, Mitchell, Wilkes. North Carolina cities: Asheville, Moravian Falls, north-west of Nashville, Wilkesboro. The first reported adult cicada was found in Leicester, NC on 4/22.
Ohio: iNaturalist Live Map. We’re talking south-western Ohio, with the hottest spots just east of Cincinnati. This is the homeland of cicada-experts Gene Kritsky and Roy Troutman, and world-famous botanist Matt Berger. Counties: Adams, Brown, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Gallia, Hamilton, Highland, Ross, Warren. Cities: Batavia, Blue Ash, Cincinnati area, Indian Hill, Loveland, Maderia, Mariemont, Milford, Miami Twp.
Pennsylvania: iNaturalist Live Map. We’re talking central Pennsylvania, and random locations toward the east.Adams, Berks, Blair, Cambria, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Cumberland, Huntingdon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming, Mifflin, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder, Union. Pennsylvania cities: Bear Gap, Elverson.
Tennessee: iNaturalist Live Map. We’re talking north of Nashville, north-west of Chattanooga and in random places in the eastern half of the state. Counties: Bledsoe, Blount, Campbell, Carter, Cheatham, Claiborne, Cocke, Coffee, Cumberland, Davidson, Grainger, Grundy, Hancock, Hawkins, Jefferson, Marion, Putnam, Roane, Robertson, Rutherford, Sevier, Sumner, Unicoi, Williamson. Cities: Cades Cove, Goodlettsville, Hampton, Muddy Pond. The first reported adult cicada was found in Nashville on 4/25.
Virginia: iNaturalist Live Map. We’re talking western Virginia, and mostly the part tucked under Kentucky. Counties: Botetourt, Lee, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Wise.
West Virginia: iNaturalist Live Map. We’re talking the area west of Interstate 77 (I-77), bordered by Kentucky and Ohio. Counties: Cabell, Kanawha, Mason, Mingo, Putnam, Wyoming. West Virginia cities: Huntington.
*City data comes from May 2008 and June 2008 blog comments. County locations are historical and may no-longer be accurate.
Experts (Gaye Williams, State Entomologist of Maryland, John Cooley of UCONN) have confirmed that there will be no Brood XIV cicadas for Maryland. That said, there will be some stragglers from Brood X. You can look for reports of stragglers using this iNaturalist map.
* Although county locations may no longer be accurate, I like to keep them on the page in case someone discovers a small, secret or unknown population of these cicadas. People might be disappointed, but we want to know for sure that the cicadas are (or are not) thriving in historical locations. This is the cicada researcher’s dilemma: either focus on the guaranteed/sure shot locations for the general public to enjoy, or include the obscure, relic locations so we do not miss out on rare cicada sightings. Cicadas @ UCONN talks about the relationship between the different broods — Brood XIV and Brood X are closely related geographically and genetically. You might find a Brood X straggler emerging 4 years late, and mistake it for Brood XIV. If a large number (large enough to sustain future emergences) of Brood X makes the 4-year “JUMP” to be in synch with Brood XIV, they technically become Brood XIV (and the reverse is true).
This map comes from the 1907 publication Marlatt, C.L. 1907. The periodical cicada. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology.
This is an interesting story from LinkedIn. The folks at Nel PreTech Corporation created a CT scan of a female Magicicada!
