Brood XIV Event on Thursday, April 24 in Massachusetts:
School vacation program “Year of the Cicadas,” David Simser, 2 p.m., Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, Route 6A, Brewster, free.
Month: April 2008
Santisuk Vibul sent us new photos of the tymbals of the cicada of Genus Dundubia, from Bangkok, Thailand.
Here’s a sample:
Roy Troutman sent me these photos of temperature loggers that allow cicada experts, like Gene Kritsky, to measure the ground soil temperature, and improve their formulas for predicting Magicicada emergences.
We [Gene Kristsky and Roy Troutman] buried 3 temperature probes & tied one on a tree branch for air readings. The temperature loggers will take a very accurate reading every 10 minutes & after the emergence has started in full swing Gene will dig them up & hook them to a usb cable & download all the data to his laptop for study. He [Gene] is trying to determine the exact temperature that they will emerge so he can fine tune his formula for calculating emergence times.
Last year Gene’s emergence formula calculator (try it!) did a good job of predicting the Brood XIII emergence, and the 2008 temperature study should only improve it.
You might be able to participate in the 2008 cicada temperature study. If you’re interested, contact Gene Kritsky.
Categories
New cicada site
John Cooley, one of the folks behind the Michigan Cicadas cicada site and the Cicada Central site now has a third site, which promises to have the best and most up to date Magicicada information. The new site is magicicada.org.
This site is designed to serve several purposes for 2008:
- It is a place where we are directing people to report cicada emergences, so that the records may be collected and geocoded.
- It’s got the best set of brood maps yet.
- It mirrors the information on Cicada Central.
- It will have better photos (the species photos for M. tredecim are second generation, but I’m working on even better ones).
This is the first of several Brood XIV Magicicada posts to help you enjoy this year’s cicada mania experience:
When will they appear?
Nymphs
In April people will start to find cicada nymphs close to the surface of the ground, under stones, while landscaping, etc. This is what a nymph looks like:
If you find a nymph in the soil, leave it alone so it will have the opportunity to become an adult.
Adults
Adults will emerge once the temperature is right, typically at dusk. The best method we know of is using Gene Kritsky’s emergence formula. This is a tool that will allow you to determine the approximate time when the cicadas will emerge in your area.
Generally speaking, Magiciadas will begin emerging in the last 2 weeks of May, and the last adults should have passed by the first week of July.
Where will they appear?
States:
In 2008 they’re set to appear in eastern Massachusetts, Long Island New York, south-western New Jersey, south-eastern Pennsylvania, south-eastern and north-western West Virgina, southern Ohio, most of Kentucky, eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina, southern Indiana, and bits of Virgina.
Maps:
The great Cicada Central site has a map of Brood XIV emergence locations.
Gene Kritsky’s site has a map as well.
and this is the Cicada Mania map, made by Roy.
Do some research:
Okay! So now you know where the Magicicada might appear, but how will you know if these cicada will appear in your yard, neighborhood or local woods? Time for some investigation:
- Ask people who were around 17 years ago. Old timers, townies, local press — anyone how was around 17 years ago.
- Go to the library and check old news papers.
- Contact local colleges and universities. Try the entomology department or agricultural extensions.
- Encourage the local press to cover the cicadas, and let them do the research. The local press have the most resources to do this research.
Note that old timers call Magicicadas “locusts“; Magicicadas are not true locusts, but the term might help jar people’s memories. Magicicadas can also be called periodical cicadas, as well as 17-year cicadas. Don’t forget to use those terms while asking around
What do they look like?
You already saw what the nymph form looks like, but what does an adult look like? They look like this:
Black heads and and upper bodies, black and orange bellies (belly is not a scientific term), reddish-orange eyes, orange legs and wings. Yes, sometimes the eyes can be brown, yellow, orange and even white or blue!