Cicada ManiaIf you use your imagination, you can see the shapes of letters on the wings of some cicadas.
There is an “urban legend” that W means there will be a War, and P means there will be Peace.
Aside from letters, some people say they see a lightning bolt! âš¡ï¸
Why are there so many Magicicada periodical cicadas, and what does it have to do with the survival of their species? One of the answers is: Predator Satiation.
A predator is any animal that would eat a periodical cicada, i.e., birds, raccoons, squirrels, dogs, snakes, etc. Satiation, in the case of cicadas, means to supply predators with enough cicadas to eat until they are wary of eating and thus avoid them completely.
Predator satiation works like this:
1) Periodical cicadas emerge in tremendous numbers.
2) Adult cicadas are often timid, even after having sclerotized.
3) The first cicadas that emerge are eagerly consumed by predators.
4) The predators are so overwhelmed by the bounty of easily eaten cicadas, that they fill themselves to the point of disgust and exhaustion.
5) This gives the remaining cicadas a chance to escape the predators.
The first periodical cicadas are literally “fodder”, in the battle between predators and periodical cicadas, to use a war/video game analogy.
Look at this periodical cicada: it is thinking “hopefully this creature will eat me, so my siblings will live on!”
Magicicada on my finger by Dan from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.
The research paper Emergence of 13-Yr Periodical Cicadas (Cicadidae: Magicicada): Phenology, Mortality, and Predator Satiation by Kathy S. Williams, Kimberly G. Smith, and Frederick M. Stephen (Ecology, Volume 74, Issue 4 (Jun., 1993), 1143-1152) is worth reading if you are interested in this topic. They found that predation of cicadas peaks during the first few days of the emergence, and doesn’t resume in significant numbers until three weeks later (see figure 6, if you read the paper).
Unfortunately, this strategy could be detrimental to periodical cicadas in areas with dwindling populations, where there isn’t enough of them to satiate the predators completely.
This strategy might also be used by other types of periodical cicadas like the Chremistica ribhoi of India, or cicadas that emerge in large numbers like Callogaeana festiva of south-east Asia.
What eats cicadas? A better question is: what doesn’t eat cicadas?
Pretty much every creature with a mouth will eat a cicada, given the chance. Even organisms without mouths like fungi will consume cicadas.
People, pets, rodents, marsupials, reptiles, birds, fish, insects, arachnids — virtually any creature will eat them.
Some insects are known for specifically preying on cicadas, for example, Cicada Killer Wasps are well known for capturing cicadas for their larvae to eat them.
What eats them when they’re underground? When they’re underground they’re often eaten by moles and other furry insectivores, but enough of them escape the moles for the species to survive.
Read are cicadas safe to eat if you’re planning a cicada buffet.
Periodical cicadas often emerge in years before or after they are expected to emerge. When periodical cicadas don’t emerge on schedule we call them stragglers, regardless of whether they show up early or late. Typically cicadas with a 17-year lifecycle will emerge 4 years early, and cicadas with a 13-year cycle will emerge 4 years late.
This image indicates the probability of Magicicada straggler emergences. Courtesy of cicada researcher Chris Simon.
People hear the word straggler and assume it means something that lags behind, but that is a laggard. A straggler can mean something that has deviated from an expected date/time or moved away from others of its kind. That said, periodical cicadas that emerge early can also be called precursors, but in the scientific literature, they are called stragglers.
Visit Brood Chart to see when stragglers will be most likely.
Extremely likely stragglers in the next few years:
2020: Brood XIII 4 years early.
2021: Brood XIV 4 years early.
2025: Brood I 4 years early.
Likely stragglers in the next few years:
2020: Brood X 1 year early.
2021: Brood IX 1 year late.
2022: Brood X 1 year late.
2023: Brood XIII 1 year early.
2024: Brood XIV 1 year early.
An acceleration occurs when periodical cicadas straggle in numbers significant enough to sustain future generations. In other words, a large population of a 17-year brood emerge in just 13 years, they avoid being eaten by predators, they mate and reproduce, and then 17 years later their offspring emerge in large enough numbers to reproduce and sustain their population. This is one reason why two different broods might exist in the same area. 1
It is thought that Brood X was formed when a group of Brood XIV accelerated 4 years (they emerged in 13 years, rather than 17). Then Brood VI came from Brood X, and Brood II came from Brood VI. Brood XIV -> X -> VI -> II is called the “main sequence”1.
Accelerations may have been more prevalent and successful (successful in terms of sustaining future generations) in the past when much of eastern North America was forests, and there was no human intervention or destruction of habitat to interfere.
1 Monte Lloyd & Jo Ann White. Sympatry of Periodical Cicada Broods and the Hypothetical Four-Year Acceleration. Evolution, Vol. 30, No. 4. (Dec., 1976), p. 795.
Here’s a paper that discusses 13-year Magicicada emerging 4 years early: David C. Marshall, Kathy B. R. Hill, and John R. Cooley “Multimodal Life-Cycle Variation in 13- and 17-Year Periodical Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Magicicada),” Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 90(3), 211-226, (1 July 2017). https://doi.org/10.2317/0022-8567-90.3.211
Yes, cicadas can see. People might assume that cicadas cannot see because they are slow to move when approached or are easy to capture.
Cicadas have 5 eyes. Two large compound eyes, which are used to visually perceive the world around them, and three small, jewel-like, simple eyes called ocelli. We believe the ocelli are used to perceive light & darkness. The fact that there are three of them, arranged in a triangle, may help them triangulate the direction of the sun or the movement of a shadow.
The reason they are easy to capture right after they have molted is that their body parts are not hardened and ready to react quickly. The reason they are easy to catch once their bodies are hardened is often that they want to be caught, due to a species survival strategy called predator satiation (more on that in a future article).
No. When many types of cicadas first emerge from their nymphal skin they are white in color. Gradually, their bodies become a darker color. Some take longer than others to change. Some die before the change can occur, and their corpses remain white.
This is a photo of a teneral (soft) Magicicada:
Its skin will eventually turn black and orange.
The are some cicadas, like the Tibicen pruinosus fulvus Beamer, 1924, that retain their lighter, teneral colors, but they are not albinos. Note: fulvus means yellow.
Here is how to tell the difference between a male cicada and a female cicada (for most species):
1) Only males sing. If the cicada is singing, it is a male.
2) Look at their abdomen. If it comes to a point and has an ovipositor, it is a female.
This is an image comparing the abdomens of male and female Magicicada cicadas.
This image compares a male and a female Neotibicen lyricen. Note the difference in the curvature of the 7th sternite, the shape & location of the tymbal covers of the male, and the valvulae & ovipositor of the female.
Male and female Neotibicen:
Also, if the cicada is laying eggs in the branch of a tree, that’s proof that it’s a female. Here is a video of that:
You can say “si-kah-da” or “si-kay-da”. Either pronunciation is correct. The pronunciation changes depending on your regional accent.
Around New York and New Jersey folks pronounce it “si-kah-da”. William T. Davis pronounced it “si-kah-da”. Davis was a naturalist and entomologist located in Staten Island, NY, active in the late 1800′s and early 1900′s. Davis collected the largest collection of cicadas in the United States. The collection is currently housed at the Staten Island Museum. Davis described over 100 cicadas in his career — he should know what he’s saying. 🙂
Another straggler sighting, this time in Cleveland which should make it a Brood V one year straggler:
Lots of 17-year #cicadas in my neighborhood south of #Cleveland. Seems to be a group of stragglers? #OhioBugs pic.twitter.com/IKip1wbNCl
— Ohio Nature Writer (@LakeErieFlyFish) June 11, 2015
A Brood V straggler found by Matt Berger in West Virginia. See more photos of this cicada.
The emergence of Brood XXIII is well underway in the states along the Mississippi, and Brood IV should kick off in the west as soon as it stops raining every day. These aren’t the only Magicicada periodical cicadas emerging in the U.S. this year — some stragglers will emerge as well.
A straggler is a periodical cicada that emerges before or after the rest of its brood. Typically a straggler belonging to a 17 year brood will emerge 4 years early, but they might also emerge a year early, or a year late, or even 4 years late. This probability chart, details the probability of a straggler emergence.
In 2015 you might find the following stragglers:
Tyla MacAllister found a Brood XIX Magicicada straggler (emerged 4 years late) in Alabama!
#Magicicada cassini female.#BroodXIX straggler. #cicadas pic.twitter.com/lUnjqGzJOj
— Tyla MacAllister (@tylamac) May 11, 2015
Brood IV will next emerge in the year 2032.
This page was last updated in 2015.
The most popular question is “how long will the cicadas last“. They’ll last as long as it takes for them to mate and run our of energy. They translates to about 4 weeks of singing. Good weather — dry, calm, and in the 80s — helps them finish their business quicker.
Here is a video that will show you how to identify the various species:
Brood IV, the Kansan brood, will emerge in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa, in the spring of 2015.
The cicada species that will emerge are Magicicada cassinii (Fisher, 1852), Magicicada septendecim (Linnaeus, 1758), and Magicicada septendecula Alexander and Moore, 1962. These periodical cicadas have a 17-year life cycle. The last time they emerged was 1998.
Counties:
Here is a list of the Counties where Brood IV periodical cicadas have appeared in the past. The data comes from the Cicada Central Magicicada Database. The bolded counties are the ones Cicada Central has specimens for, indicating that they’re more of a sure thing.
Iowa: Adair, Adams, Cass, Dallas, Fremont, Johnson, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, and Taylor
Kansas: Allen, Anderson, Atchison, Bourbon, Butler, Chase, Cherokee, Coffey, Crawford, Doniphan, Douglas, Geary, Greenwood, Johnson, Labette, Linn, Lyon, Marion, Montgomery, Neosho, Osage, Pottawatomie, Riley, Saline, Sumner, Wilson, Woodson, and Wyandotte
Missouri: Atchison, Barton, Buchanan, Caldwell, Clay, Clinton, Daviess, Dekalb, Gentry, Grundy, Harrison, Holt, Jackson, Johnson, Lafayette, Livingston, Mercer, Nodaway, Pettis, Ray, Saline, Vern, and Worth
Nebraska: Cass, Douglas, Johnson, Nemaha, and Sarpy
Oklahoma: Bryan, Carter, Choctaw, Comanche, Cotton, Craig, Garvin, Grady, Lawton, Mayes, McCurtain, Muskogee, Noble, Osage, Ottawa, Pawnee, Rogers, Stephens, Tulsa, and Washington
Texas: Cooke, Denton, Fannin, Grayson, Kaufman, Lamar, Montague, Wise
Learn more about Brood IV:
