{"id":5581,"date":"2015-07-12T11:59:34","date_gmt":"2015-07-12T18:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/?p=5581"},"modified":"2026-02-08T12:48:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T19:48:57","slug":"30-things-cicadas-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/30-things-cicadas-do\/","title":{"rendered":"30 Things Cicadas Do"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most frequently asked questions we receive is: &#8220;<strong>what do cicadas do<\/strong>&#8220;? This question is similar to the question &#8220;<a href=\"\/cicadas\/what-is-the-purpose-of-cicadas\/\">what is the purpose of cicadas<\/a>&#8221; &#8212; the answers to both questions help people understand why these fascinating, unusual creatures exist at all. <\/p>\n<p>The simplest reduction of their life cycle is:<br \/>\n1) They hatch from an egg.<br \/>\n2) They burrow underground where they will drink from plant roots for most of their lives.<br \/>\n3) They leave the underground and become adults.<br \/>\n4) The males make sounds that attract females.<br \/>\n5) Males &#038; females court &#038; mate.<br \/>\n6) Females lay fertilized eggs in the branches of plants, and the cycle continues.<br \/>\n7) They die.<\/p>\n<p>The specifics of a cicada&#8217;s life cycle <em>varies from species to species<\/em>, but here is a more detailed view of what cicadas do:<\/p>\n<p>From egg to 1st instar nymph:<br \/>\n1) Cicada nymphs <strong>hatch<\/strong> from eggs.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/egg-nest.webp\" alt=\"Marlatt 1907 Egg Nest Detail\" width=\"800\" height=\"642\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19969\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/egg-nest.webp 800w, https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/egg-nest-300x241.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/egg-nest-768x616.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>2) Nymphs <strong>feed on plant fluids<\/strong> which they access thanks to the egg-nest groove made by their mothers.<\/p>\n<p>3) They leave the groove, and <strong>drift to the ground<\/strong>. Their descent to the ground doesn&#8217;t hurt them because they weigh so little.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/20998664\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" frameborder=\"0\" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>4) Once on the ground, they dig into the soil until they <strong>find small rootlets<\/strong>, from which they will feed. <\/p>\n<p>Once Underground:<br \/>\n5) Underground, they will <strong>tunnel\/dig<\/strong>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>6) and <strong>establish a cell<\/strong>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>7) from where they&#8217;ll comfortably feed. Cicadas feed on the xylem sap of plants. <a href=\"\/cicadas\/cicada-endosymbionts-beneficial-bacteria-in-their-bellies\/\">With the help of bacteria<\/a> <strong>they transform the water, minerals and amino acids found in tree fluids to the tissues of their own bodies<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>8) They <strong><a href=\"\/cicadas\/do-cicadas-pee\/\">pee<\/a><\/strong>, in fact they seem to use excess plant fluid to moisten soil to help mold the walls of their cells.<\/p>\n<p>9) Throughout their life underground they will <strong>move from root to root<\/strong>&#8230; as plant root systems change with the seasons, when roots die off, or perhaps to avoid predators.<\/p>\n<p>10) Underground, a cicada may (depending on the species) <strong>go through four instars, molting three times<\/strong> (<a href=\"\/cicadas\/help-the-simon-cicada-lab-study-periodical-cicada-nymphs\/\">see an image of the four instars<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Preparing to emerge:<br \/>\n11) Cicadas will <strong>build a tunnel to the surface<\/strong> of the ground, in preparation for their emergence.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/y9BDnhgQn2U\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>12) Cicadas often take that a step further an <strong>build a <a href=\"\/cicadas\/cicada-turrets-or-chimneys\/\">chimney\/turret<\/a><\/strong> above ground. This often happens in shady areas or when the ground is muddy.<\/p>\n<p>Once above ground:<\/p>\n<p>13) They <strong>emerge from their tunnels<\/strong>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>14) Cicadas <strong>run<\/strong> as fast as they can&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>15) And <strong>find a surface perpendicular to the ground<\/strong>, hold tight, and begin to molt&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>16) During the molting process (ecdysis), cicadas perform many acrobatic moves to <strong>separate themselves from their nymphal skin<\/strong>, including pulling their old trachea from their bodies.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/michaelf200702small-300x190.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"190\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-849\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/michaelf200702small-300x190.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/michaelf200702small.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>17) Once outside their nymphal skin, they will <strong>inflate their wings<\/strong>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>18) &#8230; and <strong>expand various parts of their bodies<\/strong>, like their heads. <\/p>\n<p>19) They will <strong>change color<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>20) Once their bodies are hard enough (<strong>sclerotization<\/strong> counts as a thing they do)&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>21) They will either <strong>seek shelter<\/strong>, perhaps by crawling up higher along a tree trunk&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>22) or if your are a Magicicada, you might <strong>stick around in the <a href=\"\/cicadas\/what-is-predator-satiation\/\">hopes that a predator will eat you<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Mating and Reproduction:<\/p>\n<p>23a) If you are a Male cicada, you are going to <strong>sing<\/strong>&#8230; unless you belong to a species that cannot sing, in which case, you&#8217;ll <strong>move your wings in a way that will produce a sounds<\/strong>.<br \/>\nThere are many types of songs: a) distress calls, b) calls to establish territory, c) calls to attract females, d) including choruses of many cicadas and e) courting calls<\/p>\n<p>23b) Female cicadas, and some male cicadas, <strong>move their wings to make sounds<\/strong>, also in an effort to attract and engage a mate. <\/p>\n<p>24) Most cicadas (aside from Magicicada during the early days of their adult lives) will <strong>try to avoid being eaten by predators<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>25) They&#8217;ll <b>fly<\/b>, of course.<\/p>\n<p>26) Cicadas, like Magicicada, will <strong>establish chorusing centers<\/strong>, which are places where the male cicadas sing together and females come to meet them. <\/p>\n<p>27) Male and female cicadas will <b>court<\/b>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>28) and <b>mate<\/b>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>29) the female cicada will <b>lay her eggs<\/b> in grooves (ovipositing) she etches into a suitable plant stem, and we&#8217;re back to step 1.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1wtepEI5AJk\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>30) The last thing cicadas do, of course, is <strong>die<\/strong>, and return the nutrients found in their bodies to the soil, where they will be broken down and absorbed by the plants they fed upon.<\/p>\n<h2>Some things cicada <strong>do not<\/strong> do:<\/h2>\n<p>Here are some things cicadas do not do:<\/p>\n<p>1) They don&#8217;t seek shelter during the fall months (i.e. they don&#8217;t try to live inside your house), unlike Ladybugs or Stinkbugs.<br \/>\n2) They don&#8217;t sting or otherwise pass venom onto people.<br \/>\n3) They don&#8217;t chew plant leaves, like caterpillars or grasshoppers.<br \/>\n4) They don&#8217;t dump garbage in the ocean.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most frequently asked questions we receive is: &#8220;what do cicadas do&#8220;? This question is similar to the question &#8220;what is the purpose of cicadas&#8221; &#8212; the answers to both questions help people understand why these fascinating, unusual creatures exist at all. The simplest reduction of their life cycle is: 1) They hatch [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[673,281,164],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eggs","category-faqs","category-life-cycle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5581","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=5581"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21531,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5581\/revisions\/21531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}