Cicada ManiaGenera of cicadas.
I felt bad about always using an illustration of North American cicadas, so I made a Green Grocer cicada for Australian fans.
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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.
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.
During the Brood II emergence in 2013, Elias Bonaros, Roy Troutman and I spent some time experimenting with coercing male Magicicada to call in response to finger snaps, which mimic the snap of a female cicada’s wings. This trick works fairly well with Magicicada, and can quickly be mastered once you work out the timing. Fingers, wall switches, and the zoom button on my Sony video camera do a good job at mimicking the snap of a females wings.
Magicicada cassini responding to fingersnaps from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.
I also recorded their calls in terms of decibels to see just how loud they could get. They can get very loud, but not as loud as a rock concert (see this db chart).
Magicicada cassini calling at 109db in Colonia NJ from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.
Magicicada cassini chorusing center peaking at 85db from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.
Here are two videos of Magicicada septendecula from Brood II.
Magicicada septendecula from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.
A female Magicicada septendecula ovipositing from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.