I was wondering how much an adult Magicicada weighs. According to Richard Karban’s paper “Transient habitats limit development time for periodical cicadas,” a female Magicicada septendecim weighs approximately 1.2 grams. (Karban, R. (2014), Transient habitats limit development time for periodical cicadas. Ecology, 95: 3-8. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1518.1)
According to the CDC website, the average adult American human weighs 84051 grams.
That means the average adult weighs as much as 70,043 Magicicada cicadas.
Image unrelated:
One reply on “70,000 Magicicada cicadas = one adult American?”
Ah, it is interesting to see that this site is still updated. I stumbled upon a post from 2005, and surprised to see that there is still a post, from just 6 days ago! Regardless, keep up the good work, and I am excited for the return of Brood XI in 2021!