Categories
Brood I Magicicada Periodical

Brood I cicadas will emerge in Virginia and West Virginia in 2012

The Magicicada periodical cicadas belonging to Brood I (one) will emerge in western Virginia and eastern West Virginia in the spring of 2012. Brood I cicadas have a 17-year life cycle. Three species of periodical cicada will emerge: Magicicada cassini, Magicicada septendecim, and Magicicada septendecula.

Brood I is also called the Blue Ridge brood because the emergence occurs in the Blue Ridge Highlands area. Brood I has historically emerged along RT 81 in Virginia, parts of George Washington National Forest, Jefferson National Forest, and around the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area in West Virginia. Visit the Brood I page on Magiciada.org for more information and maps.

Get ready…

Magicicada septendecim

Categories
FAQs Genera

How to say cicada around the world

Ever wonder how people say “cicada” around the world. According to Google Translate, here’s how to say “cicada” in 44 different languages.

This page is a little messed up at the moment. Check back later.

Afrikaans: sonbesie
Armenian: ts’ikada
Belarusian: cykady
Bulgarian: tsikada
Catalan: cigala
Chinese: Chán
Czech: cikáda
Dutch: cicade
Estonian: tsikaad
Filipino: kuliglig
Finnish: laulukaskas
French: cigale
Galician: cigarra
German: Zikade
Greek: tzitzíki
Haitian Creole: sigal
Hindi: Sikada
Hungarian: kabóca
Indonesian: tonggeret
Italian: cicala
Japanese: Semi
Kannada: Rekkeya
Korean: maemi
Latvian: cikade
Macedonian: cikada
Malay: Cengkerik
Maori: Tatarakihi
Polish: cykada
Portuguese: cigarra
Romanian: greier
Russian: tsikada
Serbian: cikada
Slovak: Cikada
Spanish: cigarra, chicharra
Swedish: cikada
Ukrainian: tsykada
Vietnamese: con ve

Last edited 3/29/2021.

Categories
Brazil

Another Brazilian Cicada ID challenge

Jairo from Cigarras do Brasil — Brazilian Cicadas website returns with more cicadas from Brazil for you to identify.

Cicada One

Brazil Brasil

Cicada Two

Brazil Brasil

Cicada Three

Brazil Brasil

Brazil Brasil

Categories
Toys and Amusements Video

A new cicada video: Cicada Toys, Art, Action Figures, Lures, Keyrings, Soda and other Objects

I had some free time today so a made a video of the cicada-related objects I’ve collected over the past 15 or so years. The video includes cicada noise makers, whistles, action figures, a music comp, a kite, cicada soda, rubber toys, fishing lures and other fun stuff.

Cicada Toys, Art, Action Figures, Lures, Keyrings, Soda and other Objects from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.

Categories
Gene Kritsky Nymphs

Cicadas serenaded the dinosaurs

Apparently cicadas serenaded the dinosaurs! Entomologist and Mount St. Joseph professor Gene Kritsky shared the news today that cicadas lived as long as 110 million years ago during the Cretaceous period.

A quote from a press release:

New research has documented that cicadas, those noisy insects that sing during the dog days of summer, have been screaming since the time of the dinosaurs.

A fossil of the oldest definitive cicada to be discovered was described by George Poinar, Jr., Ph.D., professor of zoology at Oregon State University and Gene Kritsky, Ph.D., professor of biology, at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati. The cicada, measuring 1.26 mm in length, was named Burmacicada protera.

Read the full Press Release on the MSJ website.

Here is a photo of the ancient Burmacicada protera cicada nymph trapped in amber. Photo credit: George Poinar, Jr., Ph.D.

Burmacicada protera. Copyright of George Poinar, Jr.

It looks a lot like a modern-day first-instar cicada nymph:
First instar cicada nymphs
Photo by Roy Troutman.

Update: Here’s a video news story about Gene’s fossil find.

I need a step-up my fossil collecting hobby. It looks like there’s some places in New Jersey to find fossils. Maybe I’ll find a cicada.

Categories
Cicada Mania

What’s next for Cicada Mania?

Autumn (in North America) is usually a slow time for cicadas and this Cicada Mania website, so I have time to clean stuff up and decide what to do next to the site.

Now I turn to you, cicada fans, enthusiasts, and researchers: what would you like to see more of (or less of) on CicadaMania.com ? Please share your thoughts in the comments section of this post.

Looking forward, there’s the Brood I emergence next year in Virginia and West Virginia which should generate some buzz, and then Brood II in 2013 in the east which should be a big event.

Categories
Japan

Fukushima radiation possibly impacting cicadas in Japan

Update: @Zi_kade on twitter (he’s a cicada expert in Japan) said that these deformities were caused by wind. Good news.

Radiation from the Fukushima reactor is possibly impacting cicadas in Japan. I say possibly, because I don’t know for sure, but the following articles infer that radiation is playing a part in cicada deformities and complications during eclosing (when they shed their nymph skins and become adults). Looks like about 20% of cicadas are affected in the study mentioned in the articles. It will be interesting to see how this story plays out. If the affected cicadas were in areas that flooded during the tsunami, it could be their bodies were damaged by water soaking the ground or flooding their tunnels.

Breaking News: Radiation has started attacking DNA.

Photos of possibly affected cicadas:

奇形ゼミ続出、放射性物質は原発から３００km地点にまで大量降下した.

奇形ゼミ続出、放射性物質は原発から３００km地点にまで大量降下した.

Use Google Translate http://translate.google.com/ if you can’t read Japanese.

Categories
Annual Megatibicen Tibicen

Tibicen auletes from North Carolina

Here’s a Tibicen auletes found in Winston-Salem, North Carolina by my friend Erin Dickinson. The T. auletes is also known as Northern Dusk Singing cicada. It can be found in most Southern states, IL, IN, MI, OH, MD, DE, NJ and CT.

The Tibicen auletes is the largest species of the Tibicen cicadas (largest in terms of physical size). Visit Insect Singers to hear its song.

Neotibicen auletes found in Winston-Salem, NC by Erin Dickinson. 2011.

View both Tibicen auletes photos.

* Note as of 2023 the name of this cicada has changed to Megatibicen grossus. You can also call it a Northern Dusk-Signing Cicada.

Categories
Annual Roy Troutman Tibicen

Walker’s Cicada aka Megatibicen pronotalis (aka T. walkeri, T. marginalis)

Roy Troutman sent us these amazing photos of a female Walker’s Cicada aka Megatibicen pronotalis (aka T. walkeri, T. marginalis) taken in Batavia, Ohio. As you can guess by the various akas (also known as), the Megatibicen pronotalis has been known by several species names in the past. Sometimes it takes cicada researchers a while to figure out that two different species are the same species (which is probably the case here). Tibicen pronotalis also sounds exactly like another species of Tibicen: Megatibicen dealbatus. The major difference between the M. pronotalis and the M. dealbatus is the M. dealbatus has more pruinose than the M. pronotalis. Pruinose is the white, chalky substance that appears on the bodies of cicadas.

Megatibicen pronotalis photo by Roy Troutman, taken in Batavia, Ohio

Megatibicen pronotalis photo by Roy Troutman, taken in Batavia, Ohio

Megatibicen pronotalis photo by Roy Troutman, taken in Batavia, Ohio

Megatibicen pronotalis photo by Roy Troutman, taken in Batavia, Ohio

Walker’s Cicada is found in 18 mid-western and southern states. Read more about this pretty cicada on Bug Guide, and listen to its song on Insect Singers.

Categories
Annual Tibicen Video

It’s the season for annual cicadas

The Brood XIX (and Brood IV stragglers) are all but gone, but annual species of cicadas are emerging around the United States right now. The various annual species of cicadas differ from periodical cicadas in many ways. Annual cicadas emerge in limited numbers every year, they are not organized into broods, they tend to be timid and camouflaged to match their environment, and while their life cycles are longer than a year, they are not as long as 13 or 17 years.

The most common annual cicada east of the Rockies is probably the various species of the Tibicen genus. There are also cicadas belonging to the Diceroprocta, Neocicada, and Okanagana genera out and about now.

Use the Insect Singers website to help match the species to their song.

Eclosing Tibicen tibicen by Dan from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.