Sightings have been reported in Fredericksburg and Springfield Virginia on our message board (although the reports ended up in the wrong message board).
A sighting from the basement of a Staten Island home was reported on the Entomology-Cicadidae Yahoo Group.
Many people have reported sightings on the magicicada.org site, including locations in Virginia, Maryland and of course North Carolina.
Bonus points if you spot a straggler with the massospora cicadina fungus:
Finding cicadas with this fungus (which is relatively common during normal emergence years) would help disprove theories as to why they’re emerging early.
I saw quite a few with this fungus last year. I just read about it on magicicada.org….
“This infection sterilizes the cicada but does not kill it immediately. These spores spread among the population, infecting other cicadas who will develop a secondary infection and whose abdomens will later break open, releasing sexual resting spores to infect the next generation of cicadas.”
Is there a way to prevent it from spreading? Is this one of the reasons there seemed to be less cicadas this time around?
Comment by Christina — August 24, 2009 @ 1:38 pm
Until cicadas start practicing monogamy… but seriously, I don’t know. Somehow the fungus infects a few of them at first — that’s what would have to be prevented. Not sure how that happens.
Comment by Dan — August 24, 2009 @ 5:47 pm