{"id":5486,"date":"2015-06-28T09:52:25","date_gmt":"2015-06-28T16:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/?p=5486"},"modified":"2020-09-25T18:14:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-26T01:14:00","slug":"what-do-cicadas-eat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/what-do-cicadas-eat\/","title":{"rendered":"What do Cicadas Eat and Drink?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Cicadas &#8220;eat&#8221; \/ drink something called <strong>xylem<\/strong> (sap), which is a watery tree fluid containing amino acids and minerals. Cicadas drink rather than eat. <\/p>\n<p>People probably ask &#8220;what do cicadas eat&#8221; because they are afraid that cicadas will eat their flowers and garden fruits and vegetables. Cicadas lack mouthparts that can chew and swallow vegetation. Your tomatoes and marigolds are safe.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How does a cicada drink xylem?<\/strong> The cicada&#8217;s mouth parts (aka <strong>rostrum<\/strong> or <strong>beak<\/strong>) are in the shape of a straw, which can pierce rootlets, roots and branches.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/cicadas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/updatedbeak.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/cicadas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/updatedbeak.jpg\" alt=\"beak\" title=\"updatedbeak\" width=\"448\" height=\"523\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1539\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/updatedbeak.jpg 448w, https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/updatedbeak-256x300.jpg 256w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 448px) 100vw, 448px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>labium<\/strong> form the outside of the beak of the cicada; inside the labium is the <strong>stylet<\/strong> which is comprised of the <strong>mandibles and maxillae<\/strong>, which the cicada uses to pierce plants and drink their sap.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>labrum<\/strong> connects the labium to the rostrum&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>rostrum<\/strong>, or what people call the &#8220;nose&#8221; of the cicada, contains enourmous pumping muscles (1) that suck the xylem up into the cicada.<\/li>\n<li>The cicadas&#8217;s polymerized, viscous saliva plugs up any holes their mouth parts create (2), so a root will not continue to leak xylem when the cicada moves on to a new root. They put the cork back in the wine bottle, so to speak.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Cicadas are able to derive nutrition from the xylem thanks to <a href=\"\/cicadas\/cicada-endosymbionts-beneficial-bacteria-in-their-bellies\/\">bacterial endosymbionts<\/a> that live in the cicada&#8217;s gut.<\/p>\n<p>Cicadas are known for drinking xylem from tree roots (as nymphs) and branches &#038; twigs (as adults), however, when they are small they must rely on grasses, and possibly other small plants for nourishment. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Young cicada nymphs are smaller than a grain of rice when they first begin feeding so the tiny roots of grasses are the best fit for their small beaks.<\/li>\n<li>Grass roots are likely the first roots a young cicada nymph will encounter, as they are close to the surface.<\/li>\n<li>Deciduous trees shed their rootlets in winter months, but grasses do not (2). This is not an issue in tropical regions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Perhaps the reason why periodical cicadas are &#8220;attracted to woodland edges and exposed aspects, especially for chorusing and ovipositing&#8221; (1) is their offspring will be more likely to find the roots of grasses in those areas. Young nymphs would be unlikely to find suitable tiny roots deep in a shady forest.<\/p>\n<p>Once the cicada nymph is larger, they can burrow to larger and more permanent tree roots, and feed on there. <\/p>\n<p>It is interesting to note that not all cicadas feed on trees. Some feed on sugarcane, which is a giant grass (we&#8217;re back to the grasses again). The Brown sugarcane cicada (Cicadetta crucifera) and Yellow sugarcane cicada, (Parnkalla muelleri) of Australia feed on the sugarcane plants and cause damage to plants. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/cicadas\/do-cicadas-bite-or-sting\/\">Do cicadas bite or sting<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><sup>1<\/sup> <strong>The Ecology, Behavior, And Evolution Of Periodical Cicadas<\/strong>, Kathy S. Williams and Chris Simon, <em>Annu.Rev. Entomol.<\/em> 1995. 40:269-95<\/li>\n<li><sup>2<\/sup> <strong>Xylm Feeding by Periodical Cicada Nymphs on Pine and Grass Roots, With Novel Suggestions for Pest Control in Conifer Plantations and Orchards<\/strong>, Monte Lloyd and Joann White, O<em>HIO J. SCI.<\/em> 87 (3): 50-54, 1987<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cicadas &#8220;eat&#8221; \/ drink something called xylem (sap), which is a watery tree fluid containing amino acids and minerals. Cicadas drink rather than eat. People probably ask &#8220;what do cicadas eat&#8221; because they are afraid that cicadas will eat their flowers and garden fruits and vegetables. Cicadas lack mouthparts that can chew and swallow vegetation. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,281],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cicada-anatomy","category-faqs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5486\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}