Cicada Mania

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

Genera of cicadas.

August 23, 2018

Cordyceps infected Citrus Cicadas

Filed under: Cordyceps | Diceroprocta — Tags: — Dan @ 9:44 am

Here’s another fungi story coming from the WVU Kasson Lab: Cordyceps infected Citrus Cicadas (Diceroprocta apache).

The story goes like this: because of Ed Yong’s article about the Massospora fungus that infects cicadas, someone sent the Kasson Lab photos, and then samples, of Diceroprocta apache (Citrus Cicadas) infected with a different type of fungus: Cordyceps. Looks like the lab is going to study this fungus, and I’m sure they’ll produce a paper.

August 6, 2018

Megatibicen resh aka the Resh Cicada

Filed under: Cryptotympanini | Megatibicen | United States — Tags: — Dan @ 6:51 am

Megatibicen resh (formerly Neotibicen resh and Tibicen resh) is commonly known as the Resh Cicada because the markings on its back resemble the Hebrew symbol Resh “ר”. The Resh Cicada has been documented to be found in Arkansas, Kansas, Lousiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennesee, and Texas.

Most people will discover them by finding their exuvia (shed skins, “shells”) on trees, or by their striking calls at sunset. I first encountered this cicada in Dallas, Texas near Pioneer Plaza (cattle sculptures). First I found the exuvia on oak trees (I needed a 3′ stick added to my 8′ reach to knock them down), and then at sunset I heard their call (which I mistook for M. auletes (which is not in Texas)). Listen to their song.

It is one of the smaller Megatibicen — maybe only M. dealbatus is smaller. Compare sizes using this image by Kathy Hill. Its compound eyes are gray-beige, with a black “mask” between the eyes, and its simple eyes are pink. Its ventral side is white and caramel colored. Its dorsal side is dominated by a light green color, with black, brown and white — forming a symmetrical camouflage pattern — which helps to hide the cicada in its arboreal habitat. Recently molted, golden pruinose shimmers on its head, pronotum, mesonotum, and abdomen.

Megatibicen resh molting adult

During the molting process, up until the cicada’s body sclerotizes (hardens), the cicada’s body is leaf-green (camouflaged like a hanging leaf).

Megatibicen resh spreading wings 2

The exuvia of the Resh cicada is large and easy to spot, even high up in trees. Even though molted adults are closer in size to N. tibicen than M. auletes, the exuvia of M. resh is comparable to M. auletes, which is the largest cicada in North America.

Resh Auletes and Tibicen

More photos from this series: Megatibicen resh gallery.

July 31, 2018

New paper: The periodical cicada four-year acceleration hypothesis revisited and the polyphyletic nature of Brood V

A new paper about periodical cicadas! View it: https://peerj.com/articles/5282/

“The periodical cicada four-year acceleration hypothesis revisited and the polyphyletic nature of Brood V, including an updated crowd-source enhanced map (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Magicicada)”

Authors: John R. Cooley​, Nidia Arguedas, Elias Bonaros, Gerry Bunker, Stephen M. Chiswell, Annette DeGiovine, Marten Edwards, Diane Hassanieh, Diler Haji, John Knox, Gene Kritsky, Carolyn Mills, Dan Mozgai, Roy Troutman, John Zyla, Hiroki Hasegawa, Teiji Sota, Jin Yoshimura, and Chris Simon.

Abstract:

The periodical cicadas of North America (Magicicada spp.) are well-known for their long life cycles of 13 and 17 years and their mass synchronized emergences. Although periodical cicada life cycles are relatively strict, the biogeographic patterns of periodical cicada broods, or year-classes, indicate that they must undergo some degree of life cycle switching. We present a new map of periodical cicada Brood V, which emerged in 2016, and demonstrate that it consists of at least four distinct parts that span an area in the United States stretching from Ohio to Long Island. We discuss mtDNA haplotype variation in this brood in relation to other periodical cicada broods, noting that different parts of this brood appear to have different origins. We use this information to refine a hypothesis for the formation of periodical cicada broods by 1- and 4-year life cycle jumps.

July 25, 2018

Collared cicadas of Mexico, Central & South America

Most of the information on this website is focused on cicadas of the U.S.A. and Canada. There are plenty of cicadas south of the U.S., of course. Recently we started getting identification (ID) requests for cicadas of Mexico, and with the help of experts (Geert Goemans and Allen Sanborn) and a paper from the early 20th century, I was able to ID them all.

A large number of the IDs were for cicadas with pronounced pronotal collars. Many of these look like the same species, but they’re not. Many of these species are found from Mexico, throughout Central America down to South America.

On this page are six collared cicadas that exist in Mexico, Central America and South America. Illustrations come from Insecta. Rhynchota. Hemiptera-Homoptera. Vol. I by W. L. Distant and The Rev Canon W. W. Fowler, F.L.S. I updated the names to their current names (the source is about 100 years behind the times, expectedly so). Note that the illustrations from this document are of dead specimens, so the colors were faded at the time they were illustrated.

Daza montezuma (Walker, 1850)

Formerly Odopoea montezuma. This cicada is actually tourquois to pale blue when alive. Red eyes. No infuscation (coloration) in the wings. Link to original illustration..

Daza montezuma

Zammara smaragdina Walker, 1850

Green with black infuscation in the wings.

Zammara smaragdina Walker, 1850

Here is a photo by Andreas Key (taken in Ecuador):

Emerald Cicada, Zammara smaragdina

Zammara calochroma Walker, 1858

Green with remarkable black infuscation in the wings.

Zammara calochroma Walker, 1858

Miranha imbellis (Walker, 1858)

formerly Odopoea imbellis

Miranha imbellis (Walker, 1858)

Procollina medea (Stål, 1864)

formerly Odopoea medea

Procollina medea (Stål, 1864)

Odopoea azteca Distant, 1881

Odopoea azteca Distant, 1881

References:

  • Allen F. Sanborn. Catalogue of the Cicadoidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha). Academic Press. 2014. 10.1016/B978-0-12-416647-9.00001-2
  • Goemans, Geert. (2010). A historical overview of the classification of the Neotropical tribe Zammarini (Hemiptera, Cicadidae) with a key to genera. ZooKeys. 43. 10.3897/zookeys.43.386.
  • This flicker gallery of cicadas with collars. I think Geert curates this.
  • W. L. Distant et al. Insecta. Rhynchota. Hemiptera-Homoptera. Vol. I (1881-1905)
  • A recent, related article by Allen: Allen F. Sanborn. 2018. The cicada genus Procollina Metcalf, 1952 (Hemiptera: Cicadidae): Redescription including fourteen new species, with a key to the species of the subtribe Dazina Kato, 1932 rev. stat., the description of the Aragualnini n. tribe, and one new combination. Zootaxa 4389(1):1. 10.11646/zootaxa.4389.1.1.

July 4, 2018

Are cicadas safe to eat?

Filed under: Eating Cicadas | Magicicada | Periodical — Dan @ 1:01 am

Update (July 2018): A company called Meat Maniac sells cicadas in a can. Don’t know which species, but they have a “nutty flavor”.

Also, send me a box of these cicadas from China… um, I mean Chinese City Tells Citizens to Fight Bug Infestation By Eating Them.

Meat Maniac cicadas in a can

Also, read this amazing story about how Brood VII cicadas helped kept the Onondaga Nation alive during a time of famine.

The original article from 2006:

[WARNING:] Cicadas, 17-year cicadas at least, are well-known bioaccumulators of mercury. If consuming mercury is a concern, you should not eat cicadas.

Dogs, cats, squirrels, fish, and people can’t stop eating cicadas. Are they crazy, or “crazy like a fox”? (Foxes will eat them too.)

Pets and other domesticated animals

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

People want to know: “is it safe for my pets to eat cicadas”. The truth is in most cases your pets will be fine if they eat a few cicadas, however, you still need to be cautious and keep a close eye on your pets. Watch them for odd behavior, and don’t let them gorge themselves. Be cautious: the Humane Society has warned: “Cicadas Dangerous to Pets” [the original link is gone].

Pet-related concerns:

  1. Pets can choke on the rigid wings and other hard body parts of the cicadas.
  2. Pets will gorge themselves on cicadas, and possibly become ill and vomit.
  3. Pets who consume cicadas sprayed with copious amounts of pesticide can and will die.
  4. Pets might have an allergic reaction to the cicadas just as people do.

Bottom line: play it safe, and don’t let your pets eat cicadas if you can help it.

People:

Whether they’re curious, hungry, or doing it for the shock value, people are eating cicadas. Asian peoples have eaten cicadas for centuries, and there are records of Native Americans eating cicadas. People joke that they’re Atkins friendly [also no gluten]. I’ve heard they taste like asparagus, popcorn, minty shrimp, and piney shrimp — YUMMY PINE.

A man in Bloomington Indiana had an allergic reaction to cicadas after eating 30. He was also allergic to seafood — both cicadas and shrimps are arthropods so this makes sense.

[Note to self, “Do it, Dan, don’t be a wimp!”]

People related concerns:

  1. Cicadas are well known bioaccumulators of mercury.
  2. You could choke on their hard body parts.
  3. You could have an allergic reaction. If you’re allergic to seafood, don’t think about eating them.
  4. Do you really want to eat something that’s been marinating in lawn fertilizers,
    pesticides and other chemicals for the past 17 years?
  5. If you get the gout, it makes sense to avoid them.

People related links:

  1. National Geographic: National Geographic News :Low-Fat, High Protein Cicadas: New Health Snack
  2. Stephanie Bailey’s Internet insect cookbook has tips on how to prepare insects for human consumption! [note that the link now goes to an article by Stephanie about eating insects in general.]

Bottom line: You’re not a contestant on Fear Factor [a reality TV show in the 00s]. Why eat cicadas when you can choose from many of the fine menu choices at Applebees [a chain restaurant]?

Fish, turkeys, squirrels and everything else

If a creature has a mouth or some other mechanism to digest cicadas, it likely will try to eat them. Cicadas make great fish bait. Squirrels (yes, they’re nuts for cicadas too), birds, possums, raccoons, foxes, other insects, fungi… they all love cicadas.

Bottom line: let nature do the dirty work and clean your yard one bite at a time.

Tom eats a cicada
Tom: Cicada Gormandize.


June 23, 2018

Brood VII, the Onondaga Brood, Will Emerge in New York State in 2018

Filed under: Brood VII | Magicicada | Periodical — Dan @ 1:01 am

Brood VII will return in 2035.

Update (June 17th): I just got back from Onondaga county and I can report that the emergence is in full swing. Lots of chorusing and mating. The best locations are around the Onondaga Nation reservation. If you visit, please do not trespass into the reservation — there are plenty of cicadas outside of it. John Cooley of Cicadas @ UCONN (formerly Magicicada.org) said there are also reports of cicadas in the Green Lakes State Park.

Here’s a video montage:

And a gallery:

Brood VII Magicicada septendecim 2018 Syracuse.

Magicicada septendecim Brood VII 2018 09

About Brood VII

Periodical cicadas (Magicicada septendecim, people call them “locusts”) will emerge in the Finger Lakes area of New York state in 2018.

This group of cicadas is called Brood VII (7) and is known as the Onondaga Brood. This brood is shrinking, and will likely be the next periodical cicada brood to go extinct

A pair of Magicicada septendecim:
A pair of Magicicada septendecim; Brood II

More details:

  • What: Brood VII is the smallest periodical cicada brood in the U.S., and is isolated in the Finger Lakes area of New York State. Only one species of cicada belongs to the brood: Magicicada septendecim (click link for sounds, video). This cicada has a 17-year life cycle. Sadly, Brood VII will likely be the next Brood to go extinct.
  • When: June, but perhaps May if it’s a very warm year. Magicicada cicadas typically emerge in the spring, once the soil underground where they live reaches approximately 64 degrees Faraihneght.
  • Where: the Finger Lakes area of NY State.
    • Where they appeared (last) in 2001: Onondaga and Livingston.
    • The following counties have had these cicadas in the distant past: Cayuga, Livingston, Monroe, Onondaga, Ontario, Seneca, Steuben, Wyoming, York.
  • The Onondaga Nation survived starvation one year by eating these cicadas

Further reading / viewing / listening:

Papers about Brood VII

  • The Historical Contraction of Periodical Cicada Brood Vii (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Magicicada by John R. Cooley, David C. Marshall and Chris Simon. J. New York Entomol. Soc. 112(2—3):198—204, 2004.
  • Decrease in Geographic Range of the Finger Lakes Brood(Brood Vii) of the Periodical Cicada (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Magicicada Spp.) by Cole Gilbert and Carolyn Klass. J. New York Entomol. Soc. 114(1—2):78—85, 2006.

1907 Map Marlatt, C.L.. 1907. The periodical cicada. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology.

Marlatt 1907 07 Brood VII

May 23, 2018

Brood X Stragglers Emerge in Ohio

Filed under: Brood X | Gene Kritsky | Magicicada | Periodical Stragglers — Dan @ 9:59 pm

Gene Kritsky, author of Periodical Cicadas. The Plague and the Puzzle, let us know that many of what are likely Brood X cicada stragglers have emerged around the Mount St. Joseph University campus, in Cincinnati, Ohio. It’s likely that cicadas are emerging elsewhere in the Cincinnati area.

This is significant because Brood X cicadas should not emerge until 2021.

This is a photo of a Magicicada periodical cicada emerging on the MSJ campus, courtesy of Gene:
2018 MSJ nymph

Quick facts:

  • Gene Kritsky is a periodical cicada expert and Dean of the School of Behavioral and Natural Sciences and Professor and of Biology at Mount St. Joseph University. Read more.
  • Brood X is a massive brood of Magicicada (the genus) periodical (the lifecycle type) cicadas that are set to emerge in 2021 in 15 states.
  • A straggler is a periodical cicada that emerges off-schedule, often a few years before or after the rest of its Brood.

May 17, 2018

Periodical cicada season starts, with a straggler

Filed under: Brood XXIII | Magicicada | Periodical | Periodical Stragglers — Dan @ 7:59 pm

Update: in addition, two Brood X stragglers were reported on 5/21 in Bloomington, Indiana (thanks Rhonda and Leah).

Original post:

Cicada researcher John Cooley has received the first cicada sighting of the year — a Brood XXIII straggler in western Tennessee!! 3 years later than expected.

So, what’s a straggler? A straggler is a periodical cicada that emerges sooner or later than it is expected to emerge. In this case, a cicada with a 13-year lifecycle emerged in 16 years — 3 years off.

May 12, 2018

Cicadas of South America

Filed under: Argentina | Brazil | Ecuador | Genera | Paraguay | South America (Continent) — Dan @ 11:42 am

There are far more species in South America than you’ll find on this page, but these are among the most well known.

Carineta Amyot & Audinet-Serville, 1843

Carineta diardi photo by Pia Öberg taken in Brazil
Carineta diardi photo by Pia Öberg taken in Brazil.

More about the Carineta genus, and Carinetini tribe.

Chonosia Distant, 1905

Chonosia crassipennis
Chonosia crassipennis photo.

More about the Chonosia genus, and Tettigadini tribe.

Fidicina Amyot & Audinet-Serville, 1843

Fidicina mannifera from Brazil, Photo by Leonardo Milhomem.
Fidicina mannifera from Brazil, Photo by Leonardo Milhomem.

More about the Fidicina genus, and Fidicinini tribe.

Hemisciera Amyot & Audinet-Serville, 1843

Hemisciera maculipennis (de Laporte, 1832)

More about the Hemisciera genus, and Piccinini tribe.

Majeorona Distant, 1905

Majeorona aper from Brazil, Photo by Leonardo Milhomem. 2005.
Majeorona aper from Brazil, Photo by Leonardo Milhomem.

More about the Majeorona genus, and Fidicinini tribe.

Quesada Distant, 1905

Quesada gigas from Brazil, Photo by Leonardo Milhomem
Quesada gigas from Brazil, Photo by Leonardo Milhomem.

More about the Quesada genus, and Hyantiini tribe.

Zammara Amyot & Audinet-Serville, 1843

Zammara smaragdina
Zammara smaragdina Walker, 1850.

More about the Zammara genus, and Zammarini tribe.

Tettigades Amyot & Audinet-Serville, 1843

Tettigades mexicana Insecta Rhynchota

More about the Tettigades genus, and Tettigadini tribe.

Blog posts by country:

Links for further research:

If you’re researching Cicadas in the Neotropic ecozone, which is Central and South America, here are some resources that will help you:

1) Follow Andreas Kay’s Flickr feed. He posts many excellent cicada photos from Ecuador. Many cicadas found in Ecuador are not endemic, so the cicadas you see in Andreas’ Flickr feed should be found in adjacent countries.

2) Visit Cigarras do Brasil – Brazilian Cicadas for photos and information about the cicadas of Brazil.

3) Read Jacobi (1907) “Homoptera Andina”. (Not sure where to find it – maybe eBay).

4) Read: Insecta. Rhynchota. Hemiptera-Homoptera. Volume I (1881-1905) by W. L. Distant and W. W. Fowler. It is available online. Here is a sample from that book:

Insecta. Rhynchota. Hemiptera-Homoptera. Volume I (1881-1905) by W. L. Distant and W. W. Fowler

5) Search for papers written by Allen F. Sanborn. Here is how to search for cicada research papers online.

6) Use ITIS to traverse cicada species names and get listings of papers about the cicada — then search for the cicada names and papers.

7) Many photos and sound files of Paraguayan cicadas.

Thanks again to David Emery!

Click the images for larger versions, the species name and the name of the photographer.

Cicadas of Europe

Filed under: Croatia | England | Europe (Continent) | France | Genera | Slovenia | Spain — Dan @ 11:39 am

Cicada Linnaeus, 1758

Cicada orni photos by Iván Jesus Torresano García. Spain. 2014.
Cicada orni photo by Iván Jesus Torresano García.

Euryphara Horváth, 1912

Euryphara contentei photos by Iván Jesus Torresano García. Spain. 2014.
Euryphara contentei photo by Iván Jesus Torresano García.

Hilaphura Webb, 1979

Hilaphura varipes photos by Iván Jesus Torresano García. Spain. 2014.
Hilaphura varipes photo by Iván Jesus Torresano García.

Lyristes Horváth, 1926

Lyristes plebejus photo by Iván Jesús Torresano García
Tibicen/Lyristes plebejus photo by Iván Jesús Torresano García

Galleries:

Tettigettalna Puissant, 2010

Tettigettalna argentata photo by Iván Jesus Torresano García
Tettigettalna argentata photo by Iván Jesus Torresano García

Blog Posts By Country:

Websites Dedicated to the Cicadas of Europe for further research:

  1. Songs of European Singing Cicadas. Many images, sound files and text content.
  2. SONGS OF CICADAS from Slovenia and Istria (Croatia) (arnes.si) Many cicada photos, sound files and about six paragraphs of information about the cicadas of Slovenia and Croatia by Prof.dr. Matija Gogala.
  3. La cigale : un insecte vraiment étonnant ! Lots of text content, photos and video of the cicadas of France.
  4. Species Action Plan: New Forest Cicada (Cicadetta montana) (ukbap.org.uk) A photo and about ten paragraphs of information. England.
  5. Welcome to the New Forest Cicada Project. A site devoted to finding the New Forrest Cicada in England.
  6. Cicadas of Spain. There are a lot of photos and video from Spain on Cicada Mania thanks to Iván Jesús Torresano García.

Click the images for larger versions, the species name and the name of the photographer.

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