Cicada Mania: Life Cycle

Cicada Hats, Mugs, Shirts and other Items

June 17, 2013

Jean-Francois Duval’s Cicada Photos from Connecticut

Filed under: Brood II,Magicicada,Periodical,Photos & Illustrations — by Dan Mozgai @ 8:09 pm

Jean-Francois Duval of Victoriaville, Québec wrote me back on April 15th looking for advice for where and when to observe the 2013 Brood II emergence. Where is easier than when. I recommended a park in Connecticut (closest state to Victoriaville, Québec) that is known to have Brood II cicadas. When was more difficult this year because of a cold and rainy spring; cold and rain delay emergences or make them difficult to appreaciate.

I’m happy to say Jean-Francois made it to Connecticut at the right time to see the cicadas. Here is a selection of his photos.

Click each image to see a larger version:

Comments (0)

The Brood II Emergence Has Begun

Filed under: Brood II,Magicicada,Periodical — by Dan Mozgai @ 1:12 am

June 17th Update

After visiting central New Jersey and Staten Island over the weekend it’s clear that the emergence in that area is past peak. There is less singing, plenty of ovipositing and some flagging.

Staten Island: Wolfe’s Pond Park and areas along Amboy Road still has enough cicadas to enjoy them, in Staten Island. Bloomingdale Park and High Rock Park are disappointing.

New York State along the Hudson River valley is the place to go to see them at their best. Places like High Falls & Germany Town, and as far north as Stuyvesant.

Rain spoiled a lot of the emergence (for cicada fans). Here is a funny editorial cartoon about the cicadas and frequent rain.

Enjoy some periodical cicada video I uploaded this weekend.

Some new sounds as well.

Don’t forget to report your sightings to Magicicada.org so they can add them to their live map.

As usual Cicada Mania offers a full line of shirts, glassware, buttons and other souvenirs:

June 9th Update

We’re at the halfway point.

The 2013 Brood II emergence began somewhere between April, 23rd and May, 1st, in North Carolina and Virginia. Nymphs are still emerging along the Hudson River in NY and in Connecticut.

Here’s a nice gallery of images from Dani Siddle taken in the Malden-on-Hudson area.

Areas in southern states are no doubt in the clean up phase. Adults have stopped singing, and corpses litter the ground, while the eggs of the next generation are nestled in branches high up in trees.

This is what to expect here on out:

They stink — literally, not figuratively. Yeah, their rotting corpses stink, so you want to clean them up. A rake and shovel work. Some people use vacuums, which are effective, but your vacuums might inherit the smell of the cicadas.

The hatch — in about 6-8 weeks the eggs laid in tree branches will hatch and the 1st instar nymphs will fall to the ground (see “THE ECOLOGY, BEHAVIOR AND EVOLUTION OF PERIODICAL CICADAS” by Kathy S. Williams and Chris Simon). The fall doesn’t hurt them because they have a low terminal velocity. Wear a hat in August. At this point they quickly dig into the soil, and start feeding on roots — small grass roots at first, and larger roots as they get larger. Chances are you won’t even notice them. Sadly, about 98% of them die in the first two years. Just imagine if they all survived — 5000% more cicadas!

The birds will come back — birds and other critters often leave a neighborhood during a cicada emergence. Either they get their fill of eating the cicadas, they can’t hear each other over the over-powering call of the cicadas, or they find it hard to navigate the sky and trees with all the cicadas around. What ever the case, birds and other animals will return to your neighborhood once the cicadas die off. Do not worry.

(more…)

Comments (84)

June 15, 2013

Oklahoma surprise periodical cicada emergence!

Filed under: Brood II,Magicicada,Periodical — by Dan Mozgai @ 5:13 am

Periodical cicadas (Magicicada) are emerging in and around the Oklahoma City area, unexpectedly!

OK map

June 15th:

The Facebook page for this event posted that there are Oklahoma State University records of going back to 1996, 1979, 1962, and 1928, showing a 17 year pattern. There’s also some confusion between this “micro brood” [a term I'm using because I like beer] and Brood IV, because the Oklahoma M. cassini have orange stripes like an M. septendecula, and you can only tell them apart by their DNA (and their song, of course).

Magicicada.org had a Facebook update as well.

June 13th:

Chris Simon says they “think that this might be an undiscovered brood that just happens to coincide with Brood II.”

Gene Kristsky found a page that mentioned Brood II in OK, and Chris Simon pointed out that the cicadas fill a gap in Brood IV.

Thanks to T. Wilken for posting this image. it is a male M. cassini.

I checked the document Drew, W. A., F. L. Spangler and D. Molnar. 1974. Oklahoma Cicadidae (Homoptera). Proceedings of the Oklahoma Academy of Science. Stillwater. 54: 90-7. No specific mention of Oklahoma county.

Original post:

There is an Oklahoma 17 Year Cicada Early Emergence Facebook page. (They might be 13 year cicadas, BTW).

If you are in Oklahoma please visit Magicicada.org and report your sighting! View the sightings on the map.

Random conjecture:

They could be Brood IV, which are due to emerge in 2015, making this a two year acceleration that brood. This could also be Brood XIX, which last emerged in 2011, making this a two year deceleration.
They could be an undocumented emergence of Brood II.
But the really weird thing is, Oklahoma City is outside of the Brood IV and Brood XIX areas.
Did some windy weather move the cicadas westward?
Did a nursery in the Brood IV or XIX area inadvertently move them to OK City?
Did someone play cicada egg “Johnny Appleseed”?

Comments (6)

June 11, 2013

Cicada Video of the Week

Filed under: Brood II,Magicicada,Periodical — by Dan Mozgai @ 4:18 am

Here’s some cicada video I shot over the weekend. Enjoy:

Magicicada trying to take a drink from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.

This cicada is trying to drink sap from my thumb. My thumb is not a tree branch, so it failed. It didn't hurt, but I felt it. It made no hole.

Singing Magicicada septendecim from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.

Using finger snaps to fool a Magicicada septendecim into singing. They think the finger snaps are a female snapping her wings.

Magicicada septendecim ovipositing from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.

Brood II periodical cicada ovipositing (laying eggs).

Magicicada septendecim ovipositing from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.

A Magicicada septendecim cicada laying eggs in a tree branch.

Close up of a tymbal of a Magicicada septendecim from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.

Close up of the timbal of a Magicicada septendecim . No cicadas were harmed in the filming of this video because it was dead when I found it. The ribbed structure is the timbal which makes the noise.

Comments (5)

June 8, 2013

More crowd sourcing opportunities for cicada citizen scientists

Filed under: Chris Simon,Citizen Science,Magicicada,Periodical — by Dan Mozgai @ 12:33 pm

I created a category for citizen scientist crowd sourcing projects.

Here are more ways you can help cicada researchers study cicadas:

Project 1:

Chris Simon and the Simon Cicada Lab need your help with a couple of projects:

We at the Simon Lab are anxious to get the word out that we are very interested in finding upcoming Brood II locations with lots of flagging (broken branches and wilted stems that should turn brown in late June or July or sooner down south).

When cicadas lay eggs they cause some damage to tree branches called flagging. It is easy to spot the brown patches of leaves. The Simon Lab want your sightings of flagging come the end of June and July.

A form to submit your sightings will be available soon.

flagging

Project 2:

Also we need to continue to crowd source locations of spring stragglers from any brood in any year.

A straggler is a periodical cicada that emerges years in advance of the rest of its brood. Typically they emerge four years in advance. An example of this is the cicadas that emerged in Ohio this year. Please let us know if you see a periodical cicada outside the Brood II area.

You can probably use this form for that.

Next year (2014), folks in western New York state might see some stragglers from Brood VII (due 2018) for example.

This chart will give you an idea of when stragglers can be expected. The best bet is -4 years for 17 year broods, and +4 for 13 year broods.

I’ve added straggler probabilities to this brood chart.

Note to self: read Periodical Cicada (Homoptera: Cicadidae) Life-Cycle Variations, the Historical Emergence Record, and the Geographic Stability of Brood Distributions by David Marshall.

Future projects:

There will be at least one more major crowd sourcing project coming soon. Stay tuned!

Comments (2)

Roy Troutman’s 2013 Brood II cicada photos

Filed under: Brood II,Magicicada,Periodical,Photos & Illustrations,Roy Troutman — by Dan Mozgai @ 11:57 am

When Roy Troutman visited New Jersey last week he took a lot of great cicada photos. Here is a sample of the best.

Click these photos to see larger versions of the photos:

This first photo is particularly interesting, because you can see the Magicicada cassini in flight between their calls:

Magicicada nymph:

Magicicada undergoing ecdysis:

M. septendecim:

Teneral Magicicada:

Mustard-colored eyes:

Magicicada with exuvia:

Magicicada mating:

Magicicada exuvia and corpses:

Magicicada staring at you:

Magicicada mating:

View all of Roy Troutman’s 2013 Brood II photos.

Comments (0)

Five days of Cicada Mania

Filed under: Brood II,Edward Johnson,Elias Bonaros,John Cooley,Magicicada,Periodical,Roy Troutman — by Dan Mozgai @ 10:49 am

Two Wednesdays ago, May 29th, my friends Roy and Michelle Troutman arrived in New Jersey. Roy has been a cicada enthusiast since he was a child growing up in Ohio. Roy has contributed many photos and videos to cicadamania.com over the years. We met in Chicago for Brood XIII in 2007, and I visited his home in Ohio for Brood XIV in 2008. This year it was my turn to return the favor for Brood II, and Roy and Michelle drove out to New Jersey.

Wednesday night we drove up to Metuchen, New Jersey to check out the emergence there. We met up with Elias Bonaros, at my Mother’s home. This location was fantastic for cicadas back in 1996, so it was worth trying again in 2013. My Mother’s yard was loaded with hundreds of cicada nymphs, teneral cicadas and adults.

Thursday, May 30th, was a beach day for Michelle, and a cicada day for Roy and I. Roy and I drove to Middlesex county to meet up with Elias. Roy and I stopped at Roosevelt Park along the way. The groves of trees near the Plays in the Park building were filled with chorusing M. septendecim. The base of one tree was absolutely covered with discarded cicada exuvia (shells).

He headed to the Thomas Edison Monument in Edison NJ. There we met Elias. At the monument, sounds of construction competed with cicada choruses, but it was easy to hear both M. septendecim and M. cassini. The burdock filled field across from the monument, was filled with teneral Magiciada.

We hit Merrill Park in Colonia next. The park had many examples of both M. cassini and M. septendecim. The highlights were the many M. septendecim with caramel colored eyes, a small pine with close to 100 teneral adults clinging to its base, and loud, synchronized M. cassini choruses.

Next we headed to a very loud M. cassini chorusing center on Guernsey Lane in Colonia. There Elias and Roy experimented with making males call and change orientation by snapping their fingers (imitating a females wing snaps). This location is where the how loud (in decibels) do periodical cicadas get video came from.

Elias used his sharp ears to locate some M. septendecula in Iselin at the corner of Wood and Willow.

We stopped by Revere Blvd in Edison, which was a hot spot 17 years ago, not much luck in 2013, but the best find was a pseudo scorpion that has hitched a ride on a cicada.

Friday, May 31st, Roy, Michelle and I drove out to Staten Island, to the Staten Island Museum. Me met Ed Johnson, and enjoyed their fantastic cicada exhibit, including the cicada timeline which features me. The Staten Island Museum has the largest collection of cicada specimens in the U.S.A., including many of the extinct Tibicen bermudiana.

Just one corner of the Staten Island Museum 17 year cicada exhibit.

We took the ferry to Manhattan for a visit to the American Museum of Natural History to see an exhibit that was using some of Roy’s cicada video. Coincidentally we exited the C line Subway that had a mosaic of a cicada.

Elias and Roy examining a periodical cicada display at the AMNH.

Roy and Elias under the subway cicada mosaic.

Then it was back to the Staten Island Museum for an event called The Joy of Six Legged Sex which was about insect mating behavior, specifically cicadas. John Cooley of Magicicada.org and Ed Johnson of the Staten Island Museum spoke. David Rothenberg was also in attendance.

A sign for the event at the Staten Island Museum.

John Cooley (left) and Ed Johnson (right).

Saturday, June 1st, Roy and Michelle left for Ohio. Later that day I met up with John Cooley, Jin Yoshimura, David Rothenberg, the New York Times, and friends. Read about that adventure: David Rothenberg, John Cooley and the New York Times.

Sunday, June 2nd, back to Staten Island to meet Chris Simon and Elias. More about that adventure in these posts:

Comments (0)

Cicada Hunting with Chris Simon

Filed under: Brood II,Chris Simon,Magicicada,Periodical — by Dan Mozgai @ 9:13 am

Last Sunday (June 1st) I met Chris Simon and Elias Bonaros in Staten Island. Chris was in Staten Island, NY to map cicada locations, and collect some specimens. Elias and I helped her find some M. septendecim and M. cassini.

Elias (left), Chris (middle), Dan (right).

Chris Simon leads the Simon Lab at the University of Connecticut. From her biography: “Chris Simon is a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut and Adjunct Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.” “Recent projects in her laboratory focus on the systematics, biogeography, evolution of cicadas worldwide, the application of information on molecular evolutionary processes to the improvement of tree-building, speciation and its relationship to past climates and landforms, evolution of periodical life cycles, the role of song in the evolution of insect species, and molecular evolution of the secondary structure of ribosomal RNA.”

Chris Simon holding a pink eyed Magicicada.