Category: Researchers

Cicada researchers associated with academic institutions.

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Brood X Gene Kritsky Magicicada Periodical Stragglers

Brood X Stragglers Emerge in Ohio

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.
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Annette DeGiovine U.S.A.

Website highlight: Long Island Cicadas

Long Island Cicadas is a blog about cicadas created and maintained by artist & photographer Annette DeGiovine.

Annette is a fantastic photographer and citizen scientist.

Long Island Cicadas

Here’s a sample of the articles on the blog.

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Citizen Science Megatibicen

Cicada habitat in peril in Connecticut

Update: The hearing on the development of this property is May 14 at 7 p.m. but researchers can write testimony now and send it to Wallingford Planning and Zoning Commission, Wallingford Town Hall, 45 S. Main St., Wallingford, CT 06492.

Megatibicen auletes, the largest cicada in North America:
Megatibicen auletes, the largest cicada in North America

Anytime we remove trees, we reduce cicada habitat. Remove a small forest of trees and we might destroy the habitat for an entire species. North American cicada species need trees to survive and live out their life cycles, and certain cicada species require specific types of trees and specific environmental conditions. This is the case for Megatibicen auletes, also known as the Northern Dusk Singing Cicada, which prefers oak trees growing in sandy soil.

Megatibicen auletes habitat is in peril in Wallingford, Connecticut, where a rare sandplain is about to be excavated and turned into space for a warehouse. Read this article: Environmental concerns prompt questions of state oversight in Wallingford. After reading the article, it seems like there is still a chance to reverse plans to develop this area. I hope it does not happen, for the sake of the cicadas.

Megatibicen auletes is the largest cicada in North America. You can hear its remarkable call right after sunset in late summer months. I wonder how many residents of the Wallingford area knew that the largest cicada in North America lived in their community. I wonder how many people have heard the auletes’ scream right after sunset and wondered what creature made that sound. Hopefully, people will have another chance to hear them this summer, rather than the sounds of machines grinding up a forest, or the silence of yet another warehouse parking lot.

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Allen F. Sanborn Maxine E. Heath

Second edition of Cicadas of North American North of Mexico

Allen F. Sanborn and Maxine S. Heath have released the second edition of their book Cicadas of North American North of Mexico.

What’s new:

The second edition includes the addition of four new genera, the removal of two genera, and the addition of a few new species that were described since the first edition. We also added distributional data for all species.

Purchase a copy online from the Entomological Society of America.

Related articles:

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David Marshall John Cooley Kathy Hill Massospora Mating Papers and Documents

New paper: Massospora cicadina hijacks the sexual signals of periodical cicadas

A new paper, A specialized fungal parasite (Massospora cicadina) hijacks the sexual signals of periodical cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Magicicada), has been published by John R. Cooley, David C. Marshall & Kathy B. R. Hill, in Scientific Reports 8, Article number: 1432 (2018).

Read the paper online.

In a nutshell: the fungus infects males and causes them to exactly mimic the mating behavior of female cicadas, thus infected males end up spreading the fungus to uninfected males.

Abstract:

Male periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.) infected with conidiospore-producing (“Stage I”) infections of the entomopathogenic fungus Massospora cicadina exhibit precisely timed wing-flick signaling behavior normally seen only in sexually receptive female cicadas. Male wing-flicks attract copulation attempts from conspecific males in the chorus; close contact apparently spreads the infective conidiospores. In contrast, males with “Stage II” infections that produce resting spores that wait for the next cicada generation do not produce female-specific signals. We propose that these complex fungus-induced behavioral changes, which resemble apparently independently derived changes in other cicada-Massospora systems, represent a fungus “extended phenotype” that hijacks cicadas, turning them into vehicles for fungus transmission at the expense of the cicadas’ own interests.

And now, because I need an image for the post: a meme:

Fungus Bae

Cicadas, when infected, are called “salt shakers of doom”. Add that to the meme “Salt Bae”, and the image makes sense.

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Brood XXII Chris Simon Gene Kritsky John Cooley Magicicada Papers and Documents Periodical Roy Troutman

New paper about Brood XXII Magicicadas

There is a new paper out about Brood XXII, titled Evolution and Geographic Extent of a Surprising Northern Disjunct Population of 13-Year Cicada Brood XXII (Hemiptera: Cicadidae, Magicicada). I helped with the field work for this paper, traveling through Ohio and Kentucky with Roy Troutman, recording the locations of periodical cicadas.

Brood XXII, a brood of Magicicada periodical cicadas with a 13-year lifecycle, exists in Louisiana & Mississippi, and Ohio & Kentucky with no geographic connection between them (the two groups are geographically isolated). The paper discusses the similarities and differences between the two groups.

You can read and download the paper for free.

Citation for the paper:
Gene Kritsky, Roy Troutman, Dan Mozgai, Chris Simon, Stephen M Chiswell, Satoshi Kakishima, Teiji Sota, Jin Yoshimura, John R Cooley; Evolution and Geographic Extent of a Surprising Northern Disjunct Population of 13-Year Cicada Brood XXII (Hemiptera: Cicadidae, Magicicada), American Entomologist, Volume 63, Issue 4, 12 December 2017, Pages E15—E20, https://doi.org/10.1093/ae/tmx066

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David Emery Pham Thai Psithyristriini Semia Vietnam Young June Lee

Four new species of Semia from Vietnam

Four new species of Semia cicadas living in Vietnam were described in 2017: Semia magna, Semia spiritus, Semia pallida, and Semia albusequi.

Here’s the details on the paper:

Title: Descriptions of four new species of Semia Matsumura (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Psithyristriini) from Vietnam, with a key to the species of Semia
Authors: David Emery, Young June Lee, & Thai Pham.
Year: 2017
Publication: Zootaxa. 4216. 153-166.
Document link: https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.4216.2.2
Abstract:

This paper provides descriptions of four new species of the genus Semia Matsumura, 1917 from Vietnam: Semia magna sp. nov., Semia spiritus sp. nov., Semia pallida sp. nov., and Semia albusequi sp. nov. A key to the 13 species of Semia is provided.

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Chremistica India Periodical Sudhanya Hajong Tacuini (Cryptotympanini)

The World Cup Cicada, Chremistica ribhoi

Update: this cicada has a Leap-Year Brood (2024) as well as a World-Cup Brood (2026)! Both have 4-year year life cycle.

cicada soccer

Chremistica ribhoi Hajong and Yaakop 2013 is a cicada that lives in the Ri-Boi district of India. C. ribhoi is known as the World Cup cicada because it emerges every four years in synch with the World Cup association football (soccer) tournament.

C. ribhoi is known locally as Niangtasar. It only lives in a very small area: Saiden village (25°51’37.1"N 91°51’16.3"E) and Lailad/Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary (25°55’09.7"N 91°46’25.0"E) situated on the northern part of the state of Meghalaya. The cicada can be identified by the presence of two white spots on either side of the anterior abdominal segment.

Researcher Sudhanya Hajong is gearing up to study these cicadas since this is the year they will emerge. Ri-Boi area locals use these cicadas as a food source and fish bait. These cicadas are threatened by deforestation (cutting down forests for agricultural purposes). Sudhanya plans to educate locals about conserving them and protecting their habitat.

Photos of Chremistica ribhoi.

Most of the facts in the post come from the following document: Hajong, S.R. 2013. Mass emergence of a cicada (Homoptera: Cicadidae) and its capture methods and consumption by villagers in ri-bhoi district of Meghalaya. Department of Zoology, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong – 793 022, Meghalaya, India.

Thanks to Chris Simon of The Simon Lab at UCONN for providing the information that made this post possible.

Note: the image in this article is not an accurate depiction of C. ribhoi. 🙂


There’s also a brood of C. ribhoi that emerges during Leap-years.

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Papers and Documents Robert L. Sanders U.S.A.

A 3-Year Survey of Oklahoma’s 41 Cicadas

Cicada researcher Robert L. Sanders has written a paper documenting a 3-Year survey of Oklahoma cicadas. The paper is appropriately titled “A 3-Year Survey of Oklahoma Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea: Cicadidae) with New State Records” and was published in Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, 89(4):315-337. Access it via this link.

The number of cicadas identified living in Oklahoma has been raised to 41. The previous number, as documented in the works of Allen F. Sanborn and Polly K. Phillips, was 341.

Here’s the abstract of Robert’s paper:

ABSTRACT: Between September of 2013 and September of 2016 an intermittent survey of the cicada diversity and distribution in Oklahoma was conducted. The results of this survey are presented here as a current updated annotated checklist. Seven species in four genera are newly recorded as resident in Oklahoma: Diceroprocta texana (Davis, 1916), Megatibicen figuratus (Walker, 1858), Neotibicen davisi harnedi (Davis, 1918), Neotibicen linnei (Smith & Grossbeck, 1907), Neotibicen robinsonianus (Davis, 1922), Okanagana viridis Davis, 1918, and Pacarina shoemakeri Sanborn and Heath, 2012. This brings the total number of species inhabiting the state to 41. Discussed are seven additional species possibly occurring in the state and Oklahoma’s cicada diversity.

1 Sanborn Allen F. Phillips, Polly K. (2014). Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico. Diversity 2013, 5, 166-239; doi:10.3390/d5020166

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Chris Simon Kikihia New Zealand Papers and Documents

A new paper about Kikihia hybridization

There’s a new paper from Sarah E. Banker, Elizabeth J. Wade, and Chris Simon titled “The confounding effects of hybridization on phylogenetic estimation in the New Zealand cicada genus Kikihia”.

Here are the highlights:

  • Tested validity of an unexpected “Westlandica” mitochondrial clade with nuclear loci.
  • Phylogenetic signal and pattern differ dramatically among nuclear genes but always weak on South Island.
  • No conflict between nuclear concatenation vs species trees from multiple methods.
  • Three nuclear species trees support major North Island but not South Island mitochondrial clades.

Here’s the citation information:

Sarah E. Banker, Elizabeth J. Wade, Chris Simon, The confounding effects of hybridization on phylogenetic estimation in the New Zealand cicada genus Kikihia, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Volume 116, November 2017, Pages 172-181, ISSN 1055-7903, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2017.08.009.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790317302348)