Category: Magicicada

Return of the 17-Year Cicadas

Post author By Dan
Post date October 11, 2005
5 Comments on Return of the 17-Year Cicadas

Way back in July a man by the name of Samuel Orr mailed me a DVD trailer of a film he had a part in making called Return of the 17-Year Cicadas. At the time my reaction was “I am simply blown away by its excellence. That might be the best cicada video I’ve seen so far”. Somehow I let it slip through the cracks and I forgot to write about it. In the mean time the movie has won first prize in the Non-Interactive Media category of the 2005 Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge. I’m sure once the film reaches a wider audience — perhaps PBS or the Animal Planet channel (hint! hint!) — it will win more awards.

Read all about the new, award winning cicada documentary Return of the 17-Year Cicadas on the excellent EurekAlert! Science Reporting Alert website. Make sure you download and watch the video too. It is incredible.

Thanks to Roy and Dona for reminding me to post something about this film.

Brood X Magicicada Pop Culture Video

Brood X: Year of the Cicada documentary

Post author By Dan
Post date August 7, 2005
1 Comment on Brood X: Year of the Cicada documentary

Director Rohit Colin Rao is getting set to release his documentary Brood X: Year of the Cicada. The documentary focuses on the Brood X emergence of last year. The trailer looks awesome.

Speaking of Brood X, I found a home movie from 2004 on the Internet Archive: Cicadas in Cincinnati, May 2004.

Magicicada Periodical

Emergence of Prime Numbers as the Result of Evolutionary Strategy

Post author By Dan
Post date July 27, 2005
No Comments on Emergence of Prime Numbers as the Result of Evolutionary Strategy

Professor Douglas Galvao of the State University of Campinas has written a paper titled Emergence of Prime Numbers as the Result of Evolutionary Strategy. He is hoping to get feedback from the scientific / cicada community.

We investigate by means of a simple theoretical model the emergence of prime numbers as life cycles, as those seen for some species of cicadas.

You can download a PDF version of the paper. Windows users will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it, and Mac users can simply use Preview.

You can contact Prof. Douglas Galvao, as well:

Prof. D.S. Galvao
Head of Applied Physics Department
State University of Campinas
Campinas – Sao Paulo – BRAZIL

Magicicada Matt Berger Periodical Stragglers

Straggler pictures from Matt

Post author By Dan
Post date July 8, 2005
No Comments on Straggler pictures from Matt

Matt Berger ent us some straggler pictures taken earlier this year:

Matt 2005 Straggler.

Eating Cicadas Magicicada

Jake is Cicada Maniac

From this article in the Shippensberg Sentinel:

Jake Crider takes a bite of a chocolate-covered cicadas. He has kept a container of pre-cooked, frozen periodical cicadas that he harvested last year.

Brood XI John Cooley Magicicada Periodical Stragglers

$50 Reward for Cicadas

Hey folks, I just got this message from John Cooley, a cicada researcher:

Have I got a deal for you……..see the attached. We’re hoping to
mobilize the cicada fan club to see whether our local brood really
has gone extinct (I think it has- no sightings at last known patch in
1971, 1988, or 2005).

There’s more info about this on Cicada Central— I’ll also consider
some sort of a reward for significant collections of live M.
septendecim stragglers from the eastern part of Brood X, and I’ll
grant the full reward for XI specimens in the CT river valley of MA
and CT, as well as anywhere in RI.

— John Cooley
home page: http://hydrodictyon.eeb.uconn.edu/people/jcooley/

So, if you find a Magicicada in those areas, and have proof, please contact John.

Cooley Reward.

Gerry Bunker Magicicada Periodical Stragglers

Brood X Straggling in Hedgesville WV

Post author By Dan
Post date June 6, 2005
No Comments on Brood X Straggling in Hedgesville WV

Gerry's Cicada.

Gerry Bunker sent us these pictures of a straggler from Hedgesville, WV, which he found on June 1st.

Visit Gerry’s excellent cicada web sites for more information:

Massachusetts Cicadas.

Magicicada Periodical Stragglers

Straggler Cicadas in Yellow Springs, Ohio

Post author By Dan
Post date June 6, 2005
1 Comment on Straggler Cicadas in Yellow Springs, Ohio

Greg Spahr reports from John Bryan State Park in Yellow Springs, Ohio:

I was out birdwatching yesterday and was shocked and surprised to hear a few Magicicada Cassini calling. I didn’t know about the stragglers until I got on the web and found the reports on your site. In any case, I could hear about 10 individuals calling at John Bryan State Park in Yellow Springs, Ohio yesterday (June 5th).

Magicicada Periodical Stragglers

1,000 Stragglers Could Pop Up This Summer

Post author By Dan
Post date June 2, 2005
2 Comments on 1,000 Stragglers Could Pop Up This Summer

From 5 Channel Cinncinati:

Pesky Cicadas Are Back
1,000 Stragglers Could Pop Up This Summer

CINCINNATI — Tri-staters thought they saw the last of the cicadas for a few years, but a local woman is saying they’re back.

Target 5’s Michelle Hopkins checked into the situation and found proof — a dead cicada that lived about three days in Springfield Township.

Magicicada Matt Berger Periodical Stragglers

Ohio Straggler cassini Male and Female

Post author By Dan
Post date June 1, 2005
1 Comment on Ohio Straggler cassini Male and Female

Matt 2005 Straggler.
Matt Berger sent us this excellent photo of male and female cassini stragglers, found in Loveland, Ohio.