Author: cicadamania

Categories
Magicicada

Broodmaps with Google Maps

In my spare time (not a lot lately) I’ve been working on Google maps for plotting Magicicada Brood maps. I came up with a brood map for 2004 Brood X, but in it’s current state it’s very processor-intensive because it loads an XML file with about 300 entires, and each entry requires a call to Google. It’s not ready for “prime time” (still alpha, not even beta). I’m going to recode it to work off of longitude and latitude, and that should improve performance.

Hopefully people will mail us their 2007 Brood XIII sightings so I can build a Brood XIII map as well. I might even set up a form that lets people find their location on a map, and then submit it as longitude and latitude rather an actual address (for privacy reasons).

2004 Brood X map.
brood x map

Categories
Brood XIII Pop Culture

Brood XIII t-shirts and other stuff

People have started asking for Brood XIII shirts and other stuff like mugs and pillows, so I made them. The cicadas will be in the ground for about 2 months but the shirts are here. I recommend that you don’t buy one unless you see (and hear) the actual cicadas. Otherwise it’s like wearing a Bahamas t-shirt without ever going there. 🙂

Categories
Audio, Sounds, Songs Magicicada

Magicicada Audio

Here’s an audio clip of Magicicadas:

Categories
Magicicada Periodical

Periodical Cicada Emergence Formula

You could try this with northern Magicicada periodical cicadas, but I would avoid it for southern states like Louisiana (because you’ll get negative numbers, which will be confusing). Also, do not use temperature data from past years, because the weather is wildly variable and you’ll get a useless number.

Gene Kritsky was nice enough to send a paper he wrote with a formula for predicting the emergence date. E = (19.465 – t)/0.5136, where E = emergence start date in May and t = average April temperatures in °Celsius. His formula worked like a charm for predicting the Brood X emergence in Cincinnati. 80% of his sites had begun the emergence on the predicted date of May 14th of that year. Also when the ground temperature reaches a consistent °Celsius that is another good sign the emergence is about to begin.

Try it out:

Average Mean Temperature in Celsius in April: (hint: use a site like Weather Underground to find this info)

The date should be:

Updated: we updated the form to accept 3 numbers past the decimal in case you have super-precise temperature information.

To find the Average Mean Temperature in Celsius on the Weather Underground site:

  1. Go to the site
  2. Enter your zip code in the box labeled “Find the Weather for any City, State or ZIP Code, or Airport Code or Country”
  3. Find the section of the page labeled “History & Almanac”, and click the “April Calendar View” link.
  4. Then scroll to the top of that page and you’ll find the info you need.

Thanks to Roy Troutman and Gene.

Categories
Eating Cicadas

Weird Meat: Cicadas in Jinan

Weird Meat: Cicadas in Jinan. Weird Meat is a blog about non-Western food (no cows and chickens) like cicadas. Check it out.

So minutes later, we had a huge plate of fried bugs. I’d say about a hundred of these little bite-size insects were deep-fried crispy. Everyone liked them. Even my friend Boya from Texas, usually not as adventurous a diner, enjoyed them.

Categories
Brood XIII Magicicada

More Brood XIII News

Cicadas in Illinois, 13 or 17 Year “Locust”? — this page features a brood map of Illinois that shows you the general area where they’ll appear.

Categories
Brood XIII Magicicada

First News Story About Brood XIII Emergence

CicadaMobile hits the road, and article in the Daily Herald by Mike Zawislak. The Lake County Forest Preserve District has hired a cicada expert to travel around, educating people about cicadas. Awesome.

Starting April 16, the forest preserve district’s Cicada Mobile will be motoring to schools, festivals, farmers markets and other community gatherings through July. The program is free.

Thanks to Roy Troutman for passing this along.

Categories
Pop Culture

7th International Film Festival of Insects is organised by OPIE-LR

The 7th International Film Festival of Insects is happening in October:

The Languedoc-Roussillon Department of Insects and their Environment (OPIE-LR), organizers of the International Insect Film Festival invite you to submit your audiovisual projects.

Our aim is to develop scientific mediation, to promote interest in invertebrate life and generally to encourage biodiversity through the medium of film. This is the role to be played by the unique international audiovisual competition, focusing on insects and other continental invertebrates.

FIFI will accept all work (documentaries, fiction, cartoons…) created since 2003.

The deadline for applications is the 30th April 2007. Judging will take place in the National History Museum of Paris on the 16th, 17th and 18th May.

The international jury and the youth jury, along with the public will award 5 trophies and a grand prize of 1,500 euro.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us directly or via our website http://festivalfifi.opielr.org for further information, for rules and regulations or for an application form.

This festival presents the opportunity to mingle with a host of world players in the field of insects, directors, producers, scientists, artists, naturalists and financial players. We would be delighted to welcome you to this forum of meeting and exchange.

7th International Film Festival of Insects is organised by OPIE-LR

Categories
Pop Culture Video

Plenty of cicada video on YouTube

There’s plenty of cicada video on YouTube.

This post is originally from early 2007 when Youtube was young. I’ve updated it with a more recent video:

Categories
Cicada Mania

Cicada And Lantern Fly Display

I just received a Cicada And Lanternfly display from My-Bugs.com and I couldn’t be happier with it. The display is gorgeous: wood frame, glass on front and back, and 10 wonderful cicadas and lantern flies within. Worth twice the price. Looks exactly like this:

Cicadas and Lantern Flies

Lantern Flies are closely related to cicadas, are usually more colorful and are called Lantern Flies because of the lantern-like extension of their head.