Here’s some photos of Roy’s white eyed 17 year cicadas.

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An adult Magicicada:

A Magicicada suffering from the massospora cicadina fungus:

The fungus is spread during mating.

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Last Saturday I (Dan) drove out to western Ohio with the goal of meeting up with fellow cicada maniac Roy Troutman and his family, and observing the 2008 Brood XIV emergence.

So far in 2008, Roy and I:

1. Observed massive emergences in Loveland, Blue Ash, Mariemont and Indian Hill.
2. Collected nymphs for a scientific experiment (not sure I can divulge the details).
3. Met and had breakfast with cicada expert Gene Kritsky in Mariemont, which was inundated with cicadas.
4. Met Samuel Orr, who is best know for his film Return of the 17-Year Cicadas.
5. Collected adult Magicicada septendecula for a breeding experiment to be conducted by John Cooley…
6. Spent part of the day with John, even stopping by the Circle K for some road food.
7. Met the Indian Hill Ladies Cicada Society.

Roy has collected 2 white eyed cicadas so far, and I’ve handed out a bunch of Cicada Mania buttons. If you see me and ask for one, and I have some with me, it’s yours.

Today I’m leaving Ohio, and headed across Pennsylvania. I plan on stopping around Middletown, Cornwall and Morgantown, where cicadas have been sighted. Then it’s back to homebase in New Jersey were I’ll try to verify the 1906 records of 17 year cicadas in Red Bank, and well as continue to post updates.

Don’t forget:

• T-shirts and other souvenirs
• Report your cicada sightings
• Share your cicada experiences

On Friday Cicada Mania and Roy Troutman met the Indian Hill Ladies Cicada Society. One of the ladies found a white eyed cicada. Roy was collecting white eyed 17 year cicadas for an experiment.

This montage features cicadas missing body parts, laying eggs and mating in Loveland, Blue Ash, Mariemont and Batavia Ohio.

Cicadas in nets! Just as netting can be used to keep cicadas from pruning trees, netting can be used to keep cicadas healthy for study. The video features John Cooley of magicicada.org (a site you must visit if you like cicadas). We captured these cicadas and placed them in the net, where they could stay hydrated and shaded.

Here’s quite a few photos Roy has taken of the emergence. It’s kind of ironic that I’m staying with Roy and his family, and yet it’s taken me this long to post the photos.

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I’m catching up on the photos Roy Troutman has sent me.

Here’s photos from a BBC photoshoot in Mariemont Ohio, taken on May 24th. The photos feature cicada expert Gene Kritsky.

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Where:

Folks wondering where the cicadas are now should take a look at the ‘Where Are They Now’ page on The Mount’s Cicada Web Site or the ‘See a map of 2008 Periodical Cicada sightings’ page on magicicada.org. You can zoom in on the maps and find public spaces (like parks) which you can visit to experience the event. You can report your sightings to these websites as well.

Also, folks are posting locations on our message board — these sightings are less precise, but interesting none the less.

What’s that smell?
The one aspect of these cicadas that most cicada sites don’t discuss is the odor that their rotting corpses produce, to paraphrase John Cooley. Cicadas can get real funky, and by funky I don’t mean Parliament Funkadelic funky, or even Red Hot Chilli Peppers funky — I mean “someone filled running sneakers with cheese and pork fried rice and left it in the trunk of their car in July” funky. Cicadas do stink, especially when their bodies pile up at the base of trees, and get soaked with rain, and then baked in the late-spring heat. They smell like a rotten pork roll, bacon and cheese sandwich to me. They really do. They’re fleshy insects — get a pile of them together, and it’s just like having a rotten pile of meat and fat in your yard.

So what can you do about the funk? Clean up before they get funky. Be proactive. Just get a shovel and dispose of them with your garbage, bury them like a Soprano, or put them in your compost pile (they are very, very mineral rich and will make great fertilizer for trees and shrubs). I don’t recommend burning them, and that might increase the stink, nor do I recommend grabbing handfuls of rotting, wet corpses and throwing them at your friends. Bad idea.

These nymphs were not used as a Snappy Tomato Pizza topping. Honest.

These 17 year cicada nymphs emerged last night in Loveland Ohio.