Like Matt Berger, Roy Troutman was able to observe Magicicadas emerge in captivity. Here’s an excellent photo of one of Roy’s cicadas.
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Earlier I wrote about Matt Berger’s experiment to coerce a nymph to emerge as an adult in captivity. The experiment worked.
Here’s the latest pictures. The cicada has assumed its final, black-colored adult form:
Matt Berger was able to coerce a cicada nymph to enter the adult phase (instar) by raising it indoors (where it is warmer). Congratulations to Matt!
I took a Brood XIV nymph i found under a rock about a week ago, put some soil in a pot, poked a cicada sized hole in the soil and let the cicada burrow in. I wanted to see if I could make them emerge early. I put it in my house where it is warm. It worked! I now have a male (im guessing M. cassini) that just emerged from that hole and shed his skin and is now drying. Probably the first Magicicada to emerge all year! Earliest emergence I have ever heard of (even if it was assisted). Thought it might be interesting for Cicadamania.
Here are some pictures!
Here’s the nymph:
Here’s the adult leaving the nymph skin:
Here’s the teneral adult, still white in color (I will turn black soon enough):
Here are some new photos from Roy Troutman that will give you a good idea of what to look for when searching for signs of cicadas in your yard:
This is a pair of Magicicada nymphs, much like you might find when gardening or turning over logs or stones in your yard.
See those beige globs of soil amongst the leaves and debris? Those are called cicada chimneys. They are a sure sign that a cicada nymph is below the soil, and will emerge in a few days or weeks.
Look closely at this picture and you’ll see holes in the ground. Those are holes that cicada nymphs have dug, and they’re another sure sign of where a cicada will emerge.
On May 1st we’ll start making predictions as to when they’ll start to emerge.
Santisuk Vibul sent us new photos of the tymbals of the cicada of Genus Dundubia, from Bangkok, Thailand.
Here’s a sample:
Roy Troutman sent me these photos of temperature loggers that allow cicada experts, like Gene Kritsky, to measure the ground soil temperature, and improve their formulas for predicting Magicicada emergences.
We [Gene Kristsky and Roy Troutman] buried 3 temperature probes & tied one on a tree branch for air readings. The temperature loggers will take a very accurate reading every 10 minutes & after the emergence has started in full swing Gene will dig them up & hook them to a usb cable & download all the data to his laptop for study. He [Gene] is trying to determine the exact temperature that they will emerge so he can fine tune his formula for calculating emergence times.
Last year Gene’s emergence formula calculator (try it!) did a good job of predicting the Brood XIII emergence, and the 2008 temperature study should only improve it.
You might be able to participate in the 2008 cicada temperature study. If you’re interested, contact Gene Kritsky.
We have a new set of galleries of Costa Rican cicadas courtesy of Jose Mora. Jose wrote:
Greetings from COSTA RICA!!!!!
Hello my friend, i really like your website please keep going!!, these fantastic insects have a very unusual and fascinating life.I’m from Costa Rica, the name of the province where I live is HEREDIA and right now we’re in “cicada season” jajajaja .
Maybe you have heard about this already, the popular name for the cicadas here and probably all the rest of hispanoamerica is “CHICHARRA”…. well i would like to share with you some pictures i took around 3 days ago in a little park near my house, hope you’ll like it!!
Here are gallery 1, gallery 2 and gallery 3.
Here’s a sample:
Here’s some new photos from photographer and cicada enthusiast Adam Fleishman. As always, they’re great photos. If you can help ID the first two photos, we’d appreciate it.
Neotibicen dealbatus:
Neotibicen dealbatus:
Neotibicen dorsatus (formerly T.dorsata):
Neotibicen superbus (formerly T. superba)
Visit Adam’s website Cometmoth Sight and Sound
Categories
Late cicada season in the U.S.
Cicada Mania contributor Paul Krombholz heard a cicada just a few days ago.
On Nov. 21st the temperature got up to 80 and I heard a T. figuratus [formerly T. figurata] singing. This is by far the latest cicada song I have heard in the Jackson, MS and surrounding area. We have already had several frosts. Usually I hear the last song the first week of November.
Cicadas in late November in the U.S.A. — that’s remarkable.
Double Drummer (Thopha saccata) photos by Kevin Lee:
This is a double drummer who got stuck whilst emerging so he never got to fly and sing.. but he still saw the light of day and was in the room with the other cicadas and had a bit of company. But if I had left it on the tree he would have been eaten alive by ants.
