Lately we’ve received quite a few emails asking for audio samples of cicadas and katydids so folks can A) tell them apart, and B) tell what species they are. There’s plenty of sites on the web that feature cicada sounds; look for links tagged AUDIO on my cicada links page. Two particularly good sites for sound files Massachusetts Cicadas and Cicada Central.
In my search for good cicada and katydid sounds, many people recommended the book The Songs of Insects
by Lang Elliott and Wil Hershberger. I ordered it immediately, and it arrived today. I am truly amazed by this book (and audio CD). The book profiles 75 North American singing insects including cicadas, katydids, crickets, and grasshoppers. Each profile features two excellent color photos of each insect, a map of where you can find them, a description, and the audio CD includes the insects song. The book is over 225 pages long, and a high quality paperback. If you or your kids are interested in signing insects, there’s no better book to buy. All my nieces and nephews are getting this book for Christmas.
The authors of the book have a webpage featuring the songs of the insects featured in the book. Note that the book is lacking in species found in the western U.S. — if you live east of the Rockies this book is awesome.
Listing for bugs is a fun thing to due in these hot summer months — buy this book before the summer ends.
5 out of 5 Marvins.
I recently found a book called A monograph of oriental cicadidae in the Internet Archive. The A monograph of oriental cicadidae was authored by William Lucas Distant, and published in 1892 — that’s 116 years ago! The book contains plenty of text and illustrations, some of which I’ll include below:
Angamiana etherea
Cicada taglica
Cosmopsaltria tripurasura
Peciliopsaltria hampsoni
Terpnosia stipata
Tosena depicta
Tosena sibylla
Tosena splendida
Technically cicadas don’t bite or sting; they do however pierce and suck. They might try to pierce and suck you, but don’t worry, they aren’t Vampires nor are they malicious or angry — they’re just ignorant and think you’re a tree. Just remove the cicada from your person, and go about your business.
Cicadas obtain sustenance by drinking tree fluids.
See if you can spot the cicadas’ sucker in this illustration:
Now if squirrels live in your hair, and there’s a tire swing hanging from your arm, you are a tree, and there should be no surprise that a cicada is trying to drink fluids from you.
Roy Troutman’s brother in law Gary spotted this Magicicada with an unusually light pronotum. Normally the pronotum features 2 dark/black patches. In this example they are almost non-existent.
Ever wonder how cicadas make the sound they make? Look no further than this article: What the buzz was all about: superfast song muscles rattle the tymbals of male periodical cicadas. You’ll final many paragraphs of information, but most importantly, macro photos, illustrations and even 3D models of working cicada muscles and membranes.
Thanks to Roy Troutman for this find.
Cicadas, particularly Magicicadas, can become infected with a fungal disease called Massospora cicadina. Believe it or not, it’s an STD.
Here’s a video from ‘91 showing a cicada suffering the affliction taken by Roy Troutman.
I panicked the other day when Richard Fox’s excellent Tibicen anatomy page was down. I’m glad to say that it is back in service and that it is an incredible resource. Check it out if you want to learn more about a cicada’s parts.
Technorati Tags: Tibicen, cicada, cicada anatomy
Here’s two new videos from Roy Troutman:
These videos are up-close/macro videos. They’re awesome.
I came across this article thanks to Google’s news alerts: UC Engineering Researchers Find Mercury In Cicadas. I’ve never eaten a cicada and I don’t plan on doing so in the future, but a lot of “cicada maniacs” do, so here’s your PSA.
Think twice before you eat one of Cincinnati’s Brood-X cicadas. That’s the warning from researchers at the University of Cincinnati College of Engineering, who have found surprising levels of mercury in these insects.
