Dedicated to cicadas, the most amazing insects in the world.
Roger McMullan has a new graphic novel about periodical cicadas called Cicadapocalypse. You can obtain a copy from Roger’s online store.
As I understand it, “the book is intended as an introduction to periodical cicadas for curious kids during a cicada emergence by creating a fictional narrative around the cicadas rather than hitting them over the head with facts”. A cicada emergence through the eyes of some shocked and surprised cartoon squirrels.
It looks fun to me.
This is a gallery of Magicicadas on leaves & trees from West Virginia University’s Core Arboretum from the 2013 Brood V emergence.
Visit Gallery #1 for more photos from Brood V.
Click/tap the image for a larger version:
Magicicada septedecula hiding
Magicicada septendecim on a leaf
Magicicada with mustard eyes
Magicicada with pale eyes
Many Exuvia on Oak Leaves
Red and Orange eyes
Teneral Magicicada on leaf
Three Magicicada
Three Magicicada
Three Magicicada
Under A Leaf
Magicicada on leaves
Visit Gallery #1 for more photos from Brood V.
This is a gallery of Magicicadas taken at West Virginia University’s Core Arboretum from the 2013 Brood V emergence.
Click/tap the images for larger versions.
Visit Gallery #1 from more photos From the Core Arboretum, Morgantown, and Brood V.
Magicicada cassini on tree plague:
Magicicada exit chimney:
Magicicada septendecim abdomen:
Magicicada septendecim:
Magicicada with beige eyes:
Magicicada with damaged wings and beige eyes:
Magicicada with slightly orange markings on abdomen could be ‘decula or cassini:
Magicicada with white eyes:
Magicicada with white eyes:
Male Magicicada septendecim abdomen:
Many Magicicada exuvia and corpses:
Visit Gallery #1 from more photos From the Core Arboretum, Morgantown, and Brood V.
Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania Magicicada Emergence Gallery #2.
These images are from 2016, Brood V.
Click/tap the image for a larger version.
Visit Gallery #1 as well.
Many Magicicada on a tree in the shade:
Ovipositing Magicicada septendecim:
Two Magicicada septendecim:
Zombie Cicada. Not Really, just dead:
Visit Gallery #1 as well.
When Roy Troutman visited New Jersey and New York in 2013 for Brood II he took a lot of great cicada photos.
Here is a sample of the best.
Click the images for a larger version.
Also visit Gallery #1 and Gallery #2.
Magicicada molting by Roy Troutman
Magicicada with exuvia by Roy Troutman
Mustard eyed Magicicada septendecim by Roy Troutman
Roy Troutman and Elias Bonaros at the Periodical Cicada display at the American Museum of Natural History, photo by Michelle Troutman
Roy Troutman, John Cooley, Ed Johnson and Dan Mozgai
Teneral Magicada by Roy Troutman
When Roy Troutman visited New Jersey and New York in 2013 for Brood II he took a lot of great cicada photos.
Here is a sample of the best.
Click the images for a larger version.
Visit Gallery #1 and Gallery #3 as well.
John Cooley and Ed Johnson speaking at the Staten Island Museum Six Legged Sex event by Roy Troutman
Light Up Cicada Sculpture at the Staten Island Museum by Roy Troutman
Magicicada septendecim by Roy Troutman
Magicicada cassini flying inbetween calling in Colonia NJ by Roy Troutman
Magicicada cassini in flight in Colonia NJ by Roy Troutman
Magicicada corpses and exuvia by Roy Troutman
Magicicada mating by Roy Troutman
Magicicada exuvia by Roy Troutman
Magicicada septendecim mating by Roy Troutman
Magicicada staring at you by Roy Troutman
Mary Rotter Fullerton found, or rather heard and recorded, a Brood XIII Magicicada cassini straggler on October 2nd, 2023, in Park Ridge, Illinois! This cicada emerged 7 months early!
Listen to the edited file (volume increased, background noise removed):
There are squirrel sounds in the mix as well.
Mary says:
Very cool, I have never heard one in fall. It was in a 50-year old maple tree that hosted many stragglers (early Brood XIII?) this past spring of 2023. Park Ridge, IL.
Spectrogram:
David Marshall of InsectSingers.com confirmed that this is indeed a Magicicada cassini.
David says:
Yes to me that’s unquestionably a set of cassini calls. There are some literature records of autumn Magicicada, sometimes with speculation that it’s related to sudden late-season warmups.
It looks like there’s been quite a few fall stragglers, according to the Magicicada Straggler project on iNaturalist.
Updated for June 7th!
Here’s a map of 2023 Magicicada straggler sightings from 2023 Magicicada stragglers iNaturalist project and the Cicada Safari app. Dr. Gene Kritsky compiled the map.
It looks like there are plenty of stragglers from these broods:
Learn about Magicicada stragglers.
Here’s the latest map of stragglers from Gene for June 1st:
Gene Kristsky let us know that people are finding Magicada stragglers and reporting them on iNaturalist. It looks like most of the stragglers are in the Brood XIX area currently, but as temperatures warm, we might see others from other Broods.
Be on the lookout in 2022 (or any year)! Any place you see a red dot is a possibility. Even central Massachusettes (former home of Brood XI) and Ontario — maybe so.
Straggler-related facts:
What is a Magicicada:
A Magicicada is a genus of cicada that lives in the United States that typically emerges in 17 or 13-year cycles depending on the species.
They look like this:
What is a Brood:
A Brood is a numbered group of Magicicada cicadas that emerge in a specific series of years.
Example: Brood X (X is the Roman numeral for 10) emerges every 17 years, i.e. 2021, 2038, 2055, etc.
What is a Straggler:
A Straggler is a Magicicada that emerges earlier or later than anticipated.
Example: If a Brood XIX (13-year, next due in 2024) cicada emerges in 2022, we can say it is a straggler that emerged 2 years early.
Stragglers that emerge earlier than expected have also been called “precursors” (Marlatt 1898). I also call them “pioneers”.
Brood X Magicicada photos by Jim Occi taken in Princeton, set 6. 2021.
Teneral Magicicada:
Teneral Magicicada:
Magicicada septendecim that failed to completely exit its exuvia before its body hardened:
Magicicada septendecim that failed to completely exit its exuvia before its body hardened:
A pair of Magicicada septendecim:
More from Jim Occi: