Cicada Mania

Dedicated to cicadas, the most amazing insects in the world.

September 8, 2018

Cicada Fun Page

Filed under: Cicada Mania | Memes — Dan @ 12:45 pm

This page collects most of the fun stuff on the site. Everything on the site is fun, but these are fun on purpose.

Arts and Crafts

A PDF of cicada images you can download for coloring (PDF 1MB)

What it looks like:

Coloring Book

Another PDF of cicada images to color, cut out or otherwise repurpose for fun and enjoyment. (PDF file 3.3MB).

What it looks like:

coloring book

Computer Fun

Magicicada cursor Cicada Cursors Magicicada cursor if you like to customize your PC (Windows). Unfortunately, it’s one of those things that only works on Windows.

Technically you can use CSS to make them appear on desktop web pages as well.

Cicada Experiments

Six Cicada Experiments you can perform.

Use the Periodical Cicada Emergence Checklist to track your enjoyment of a periodical cicada emergence.

Memes

2009-2019 meme

I emerged before it was cool!

I only listen to cicadas on vinyl

Keep Calm – They’re Only 17-Year Cicadas Meme.

keep calm

Get the t-shirt and support this website. for Men or Women.

Brood X emerged in 2004, around the same time the iPod silhouette commercials were popular:

Cicada iPod

Cicada iPod

People worry if cicadas are safe to eat, especially for pets.

dogs love cicadas

This is a cartoon of a dog about to eat a cicada

Do you have a cicada sipping on the root of your Xmas tree?

Cicada Christmas

I remember the first time I became aware of Australian cicadas. I made this image. (Cicadas are not marsupials)
Crikey!

People worry if cicadas will spoil their weddings. This is an image of a cicada bride.

Bride

Cicadas on a Plane. There wasn’t much cicada news going on when I made this…

cicadas on a plane

My minions helping to write the blog:

cicadas helping to write the blog

March 7, 2018

Cicada Merch, Gift Ideas

Filed under: Cicada Mania — Dan @ 8:13 pm

T-Shirts & Merch:

A Zazzle store of cicada merch. Mostly 2020/Brood X, but there are some annual bangers as well. Check back for sales.

Cicada T-shirts

“Keep Calm, They’re Only 17-Year Cicadas” Shirts:

for Men or Women.

Cute Cicada Cartoon

Get it on a mug, shirt, or hat.

Cute Cicada

Classic Cicada Mania Logo

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OG Logo

Roy’s Magicicada septendecim

Get the Magicicada septendecim on a mug, shirt, pillow, or hat.

Roys Red Eyes

Classic Magicicada Illustration

Get the Magicicada septendecim on a mug, shirt, or hat.

Classic Illustration

Roy’s Blue Eyed cicada

Get it on a mug, shirt, pillow, or hat.

Roy's Blue Eyes

Australia’s Green Grocer cicada

Get Australia’s Green Grocer cicada on a mug, shirt, or hat.

Green Grocer

Green Grocer Cicada from Australia

Bug of Mystery

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Bug of Mystery

Here are some gift ideas for humans. Skip to a section: T-shirts & mugs, cicada books, periodical cicada books.

Random cicada things

Insect Mesh Cage/Pavillion

When people ask me where should they put live cicadas, I recommend a Butterfly Pavilion. If it works for butterflies, it typically works for cicadas.

Cicada Books

Cicadas Strange and Wonderful by Laurence Pringle illustrated by Meryl Henderson

Cicadas Strange and Wonderful is non-fiction and well-illustrated. It’s meant for kids, but anyone who collects cicada merch should also get it.

Cicadas of North America: The Season of the Cicadas by Les Daniels.

I’ve known Les since the 1990s. In the early days of Cicada Mania, Les contributed many images to the site. The Season of the Cicadas is his book about North American cicadas and features many of his photos.

Cicadas of Australia: A photo guide to common cicadas of the Greater Sydney region by Nathan Emery.

Nathan Emery and his father David Emery, who has contributed many cicada photos to this site, are experts on the subject of the cicadas of Australia. A photo guide to common cicadas of the Greater Sydney region is Nathan’s field guide. It features a wealth of information and beautiful photos.

A photo guide to common cicadas of the Greater Sydney region

Periodical (17 & 13 Year) Cicada Books

A Tale of Two Broods: The 2024 Emergence of Periodical Cicada Broods XIII and XIX by Gene Kritsky

Dr. Gene Kritsky has devoted his life to studying and promoting periodical cicadas. A Tale of Two Broods: The 2024 Emergence of Periodical Cicada Broods XIII and XIX is his book for the two 2024 periodical cicada brood emergences.

Cicada: Exotic Views by Davy Shian.

Cicada: Exotic Views is a perennial classic about periodical cicadas. This book is illustrated with cartoons, like a comic book. It focuses on the diversity of reactions people have to periodical cicadas.

For Kids: Cecily Cicada

Cecily Cicada is an illustrated story about a cicada named Cecily, updated for 2020. Every 17 years the author asks me to promote it on CicadaMania.com. 🙂

December 27, 2017

Looking forward to 2018

Filed under: Cicada Mania — Dan @ 8:08 am

2018

At the start of 2018 Australia has been having an awesome cicada season, which should continue through to March, depending on the species and part of the country.

The best months of the cicada season in New Zealand are December – April.

Throughout the world, annual cicada emergences will follow their usual cycles.

Periodical Cicada Emergences

The World Cup Cicada, Chremistica ribhoi, will return after 4 years in Meghalaya, India.

Magicicada cicadas will return in 2018 in New York State after 17 years. Brood VII aka the Onondaga Brood can be found in the Finger Lakes area of New York.

Magicicada stragglers should also make an appearance in limited numbers.

  • Brood XXII stragglers, emerging 4 years late, in mid-east Louisiana, south-west Mississippi, south-west Ohio and north-central Kentucky.
  • Brood VIII stragglers, emerging 1 year early, in western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and the West Virginia pan handle.

July 13, 2015

What I’m interested in, but don’t know much about

Filed under: Cicada Mania — Dan @ 4:02 pm

20,000 or so years ago the earth was a colder place. Glaciers covered much of North America, including many states that currently are home to Magicicada, and other species of cicadas. There were glaciers in Wisconsin as recently as 9,500 years ago. The area below the glaciers were dominated by taiga, a landscape dominated by sappy evergreens and grasses (mastodon food). Florida was three times the size it was today.

Glaciers
Map from the NOAA.

What I’m curious about is this:

  • Where were the Magicicada 20-10 thousand years ago? Did they exist in a primordial form some place in the primordial woodlands of mega-Florida?
  • How did deciduous trees (oak, maple, ask, etc) spread northward, and how did the Magicicada spread with them?
  • Did the spread of deciduous trees northward into America play a part in the unusual life cycle of Magicicada, including the long lifecycle and 4 year accelerations?
  • Were the Neotibicen and Neocicada also living in mega-Florida or perhaps Mexico, and then spread northward as temperatures rose?
  • Were Okanagana able to exist in the colder, evergreen-dominated taiga of the time of the last glaciers?

For some reason this stuff intrigues me. Thank goodness my local library has a Jstor account.

January 20, 2015

Green Grocer Merch

Filed under: Australia | Cicada Mania | Cyclochila — Dan @ 6:23 am

Green Grocer

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).

June 21, 2014

The Cicada Cursor is back!

Filed under: Cicada Mania — Dan @ 9:13 am

Here’s something for Windows users: cicada cursors.

Giant Cicada Cursor

If you like to customize your PC, you can swap out your cursor with a cursor shaped like a cicada. cicada cursor

Download the cicada cursor it today (download and unzip).

Here’s a tutorial for changing your cursor.

I have no idea if you can change the cursor on a Mac or mobile device.

Update! Try the new Magicicada cursor (.cur file in .zip file)! Magicicada cursor

June 17, 2013

Any German Cicada Fans?

Filed under: Cicada Mania — Dan @ 5:22 am

Any cicada fans who speak German, or are in Germany?

Sonja Beeker of the German radio program Neonlicht interviewed me last week. You can download the mp3 of the video from this page. It was my favorite interview of the season, believe it or not.

Here is a description:

Sie sind so klein. Aber sie machen einen ohrenbetäubenden Lärm. Schon eine einzige Zikade reicht, um einem den Schlaf für die Nacht zu rauben. Was aber, wenn Milliarden von Zikaden nach 17-jähriger Reifezeit schlüpfen und über die USA herfallen? Dann wird’s laut. Ein bisschen eklig. Vielleicht aber auch lecker. Wie man’s nimmt. Unsere Reporterin hat ein paar Ostküstenbewohner besucht, die sich auf die Plage vorbereiten.

April 1, 2013

Cicada Mania is not shutting down

Filed under: Cicada Mania — Dan @ 9:04 pm

I had my April Fool’s Day fun, except Cicada Mania fans are smart folks and figured it out immediately.

Frenzy of lies!

Also, Hipster Cicada made an appearance:

Hipster Cicada

March 28, 2013

The 17-Year Itch

Filed under: Cicada Mania — Dan @ 6:29 pm

I’m in the April edition of Wired magazine. Go to your newsstand and buy a stack.

April Wired.

August 21, 2012

Cicada Mania News

Filed under: Cicada Mania | Pop Culture — Dan @ 7:53 am

Saturday the BBC stopped by Cicada Mania headquarters to interview me for a Periodical Cicada episode of their show Nature’s Weirdest. The episode will also feature Dr. Gene Kristsky, and other cicada experts. The show will air in January, and hopefully end up on NetFlix, BBC America or YouTube sometime after that. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b019f6kv Here’s a photo of the amazing crew that interviewed me:

BBC film crew

Also, my friends David and Claire gave me this very nice cicada whistle from Peru:

Cicada Whistle

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