Cicada Mania
I felt bad about always using an illustration of North American cicadas, so I made a Green Grocer cicada for Australian fans.
Get this image on a shirt, mug or even a pillow case via CafePress (the mugs are the most affordable).
Walter Abington sent us this series of photographs of a molting Neotibicen cicada. I believe the cicada is a Tibicen pruinosus based on this guide to identifying teneral Neotibicen.
I follow a narrow variety of people on Twitter, focusing on insect experts and enthusiasts, and specifically, many people who focus on cicadas. Too see all the folks I follow, Visit my Twitter account.
Only a percentage of their posts are about cicadas, but they are still the best bets for cicada news on Twitter.
Lindsay Popple runs the amazing Cicadas of Australia website. If you like cicadas in general, and specifically Australian cicadas, follow @_DrPop_.
Nathan Emery, like his father David Emery is an expert on Australian cicadas. Follow him @ecotechnica.
Bill has an amazing knowledge of the annual cicadas of North America, in particular Tibicen. Follow @NCBugs.
Team Cicada is the team behind Cicadas @ UCONN (formerly Magicicada.org). If you’re interested in periodical/Magicicada/17 year cicadas, follow @Magicicada1317.
SAISHO, Yasumasa is the person behind the Cicadae in Japan website. If you’re interested in the cicadas of Japan, follow @Zi_kade.
The New Forest Cicada Project are trying to find the possibly extinct New Forest Cicada in England. Follow @NewForestCicada.
Of course you can follow Cicada Mania as well. 🙂 Tweets by @cicadamania.
This is a selection of links to websites dedicated to the cicadas of Australia.
From Roy Troutman: “I shot a video back in 1991 of a 17 year Magicicada cassini singing right on my hand.”
Cicadas spend most of their lives, as nymphs, underground. The large forelegs of cicada nymphs are adapted to digging through soil.
Image from The Periodical Cicada: An Account of Cicada Septendecim, Its Natural Enemies and the Means of Preventing Its Injury by C.L. Marlatt. 1898.
These videos demonstrate Magicicada nymphs digging through soil.
This magicicada nymph is excavating a make shift tunnel sandwiched between two pieces of plexiglass.:
Magicicada nymph emerging from burrow from Roy Troutman on Vimeo.
Here is a video of a rare white eyed magicicada. This is from a gene mutation that strepps the color from the cicadas eyes & also wings to some extent.
White eyed magicicada from Roy Troutman on Vimeo.
This video by Roy Troutman shows a Tibicen cicada nymph emerge from the ground.
Annual cicada nymph emerging from burrow. from Roy Troutman.
Cicadas breathe through apertures along the side of their body called spiracles. This video of a Tibicen by Roy Troutman shows the opening and closing of a spiracle.
Adult Cicada breathing from Roy Troutman on Vimeo.
The fungus Massospora cicadina preys on Magicicadas cicadas. This is particularly interesting because the fungus is able to prey upon them in spite of their long 17 year life cycle (apparently fungi are not phased by prime numbers).
When the fungus destroys the abdomen of male cicadas, they will behave like female cicadas and flick their wings in response to the songs of male cicadas, and attempt to mate with other males.
A photo by Roy Troutman from Brood XIV (2008):
Two photos by Dan Mozgai from Brood II (2013):
magicicada fungus (massospora cicadina) from Roy Troutman on Vimeo.
New from 2017: the Massospora cicadina viewed under a microscope.
Examining & measuring #Massospora spores for #MSA2017 in GA. Here's M. cicadina resting spores (#BroodVI, 2017). #fungi @MSAFungi @zygolife pic.twitter.com/b78R9VwDgP
— Matt Kasson (@kasson_wvu) July 12, 2017