Dedicated to cicadas, the most amazing insects in the world.
People who have contributed cicada photos, videos or other media and information to cicadamania.com.
Here are more Magicicada photos from Westfield, NJ by Jim Occi.
Click the images for larger versions:
Adult Magicicada:
Ant feeding on Magicicada stuck in exuvia:
Ant feeding on Magicicada stuck in exuvia:
Ant feeding on Magicicada nymph:
Ant feeding on Magicicada nymph:
Close up of a teneral Magicicada:
Magicicada exuvia and corpses:
Magicicada molting:
Magicicada with incomplete ecdysis and tymbal visible:
Teneral Magicicada:
Teneral Magicicada:
Last Thursday Roy Troutman, Elias Bonaros and I traveled around central New Jersey, looking for cicadas. They were not hard to find. Elias found a location in Colonia that had a particularly loud Magicicada cassini chorusing center. Using my camera and Extech 407730 40-to-130-Decibel Digital Sound Level Meter, I recorded the calls of these cicadas and how loud they can get. The quality of the video isn’t the best because it’s a camera, not a video camera, but it is good enough.
Magicicada cassini chorusing center peaking at 85db (on YouTube):
Elias and Roy used finger snaps, mimicking the wing snaps of female cicadas, to trick the males into singing:
Magicicada cassini responding to fingersnaps (on Vimeo):
Magicicada cassini responding to fingersnaps from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.
We placed the M. cassini directly on the microphone and got calls as high as 109 decibels, in this video:
Magicicada cassini calling at 109db in Colonia NJ from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.
There were a few M. septendecim in the area as well. A Magicicada septendecim goes from a Court II to Court III call as soon as it crawls on the decibel meter, in this video.
Magicicada septendecim court 3 from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.
The cicada choruses in Central New Jersey have no doubt gotten louder since last week. Hopefully, on Sunday I’ll get back out to Central Jersey or Staten Island and make some recordings.
Here’s a video of a female Magicicada septendecula found in Woodbridge Township, NJ (near Metro Park).
Here is a still photo:
This is a male Magicicada septendecula:
Roy Troutman, Gene Kritsky and his wife Jess witnessed a Magicicada emergence in Finneytown Ohio tonight. It is believed that this could be an acceleration of a new Brood VI, or an eight year acceleration of Brood X.
From Roy:
We had an unexpected emergence in parts of the Cincinnati area last night & I got some pics with my new Canon t4i. Gene [Kritsky] & his wife Jess came out to witness it as well. I would say hundreds emerged in a very small suburb of Cincinnati called Finneytown. This could be 4 year acceleration of the new brood VI that Gene has been talking about verifying in 2017 or 8 year acceleration of Brood X.
Photos of these cicadas by Roy:
These photos of adult Magicicada cicadas were taken in Westfield, NJ by Jim Occi on May 16th.
This photo is particularly interesting as the cicadas’s wings were damaged during the ecdysis (molting) process and its tymbal (the ribbed structure that makes the cicada’s sound) is clearly exposed:
Here’s something neat. Roy Troutman discovered some Brood XIV Magicicadas emerging 4 years late in Ohio. That’s a “21 year cicada”. 🙂
Here’s the photos:
Gene Kritsky observed a similar unexpected emergence in 1995. See “The Unexpected 1995 Emergence of Periodical Cicadas (Homoptera: Cicadidae: Magicicada spp.) in Ohio”, Gene Kritsky and Sue Simon, Department of Biology, College of Mount St. Joseph, Cincinnati, OH. (OHIO J. SCI. 96 (1): 27-28, 1996). An excerpt from the article:
Roy Troutman sent us these amazing photos of a female Walker’s Cicada aka Megatibicen pronotalis (aka T. walkeri, T. marginalis) taken in Batavia, Ohio. As you can guess by the various akas (also known as), the Megatibicen pronotalis has been known by several species names in the past. Sometimes it takes cicada researchers a while to figure out that two different species are the same species (which is probably the case here). Tibicen pronotalis also sounds exactly like another species of Tibicen: Megatibicen dealbatus. The major difference between the M. pronotalis and the M. dealbatus is the M. dealbatus has more pruinose than the M. pronotalis. Pruinose is the white, chalky substance that appears on the bodies of cicadas.
Walker’s Cicada is found in 18 mid-western and southern states. Read more about this pretty cicada on Bug Guide, and listen to its song on Insect Singers.
Brood XIX 13 year cicadas will be emerging this year in the USA, and folks are already making plans for the emergence.
Lenny Lampel, Natural Resources Coordinator for the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Conservation Science Office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is organizing a “Cicada Watch” / Brood XIX Magicicada Monitoring Project. Read an article about Cicada Watch in the Charlotte Observer: Cicadas return – and you can make it count.
If you live in the Mechlenburg County area, and are interested in participating in Cicada Watch, here is more information:
Cicada Watch
Mecklenburg County Brood XIX Magicicada Monitoring ProjectBrood XIX, a 13-year brood (or year-class) of periodical cicadas, is set to emerge in 2011. Known as the “Great Southern Brood”, this emergence of cicadas is expected to appear in portions of 15 states. In North Carolina, the cicadas should emerge across much of the piedmont region, including the greater Charlotte
area.Periodical cicadas appear to be declining in parts of their range throughout the eastern United States, and some broods are now thought to be extinct. Impacts such as development, habitat changes and climatological factors may be contributing to these declines.
Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation’s Division of Nature Preserves and Natural Resources will be collecting data on the emergence of Brood XIX in Mecklenburg County in the Spring of 2011. The help of volunteers and local residents is needed to obtain baseline data on emergence locations and areas of activity within the county. Some of these areas will be monitored throughout the emergence period and can be re-visited in future emergence years to determine whether or not local populations are stable. Data collected during this Cicada Watch will help us to understand the status and future of Brood XIX in Mecklenburg
County.Volunteers Needed!
Cicada Watch volunteers can assist in any of the following activities:
1. Observe their property and neighborhood for periodical cicada activity and report findings to staff
2. Survey areas of the county where emergences may be expected
3. Collect routine monitoring data from active locations throughout the emergence period
4. Follow up on leads of periodical cicada activity, such as reports of exit holes, emerging nymphs, shed skins, or active adultsFor more information or to sign up as a volunteer, please contact :
Lenny Lampel, Natural Resources Coordinator
Phone #: 704-432-1390 E-mail: lenny.lampel@mecklenburgcountync.gov
I re-scanned some old (10+ years old) photos from Osamu Hikino.
Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata:
Platypleura kaempferi (Fabricius, 1794):
Amazing camouflage!
A male Tanna japonensis:
A male Auritibicen japonicus:
A male Auritibicen japonicus:
G is for Greengrocer. The Greengrocer is the green morph of the Australian cicada Cyclochila australasiae. These cicadas can be found in south-eastern Australia. They have a large pronotal collar, and if you use your imagination, it looks like they’re wearing a tiny Pith helmet above their eyes.
Here’s a close of up of a Greengrocer (from Bron):
Here’s a box of Greengrocers (from Kevin Lee):
