Swarm of Cicadas Takes Aim at U.S.

wetshoe writes "'After 17 years of relative quiet, Mother Nature is bringing the noise. 'Periodical cicadas, a species of the grasshopper-like insects best known for the scratching, screeching "singing" of the males, will emerge this May, filling forests in more than a dozen states. Almost as abruptly as they arrive, they'll disappear underground for another 17 years.' The article also talks about areas in the Mid-West where 17-year June Bugs sometimes overlap with 13-year June Bugs. I remember as a child one such time, you literally couldn't walk anywhere without stepping on them, they were everywhere. Reminded me of a biblical plague."

Comments

Not June Bugs

[Anonymous Coward]

Cicadas are not June Bugs .

Maps

[DustMagnet]

This website has a nice table showing the years and locations of cicada broods. There are maps of the range, include one for 2004.

Interestingly, they don't list any 13-year broods in 2004 (unlike CNN).

Re:June Bugs?

[elmegil]

Probably not many people. Where I'm from (midwest US) June Bugs are May Beetles (see below for picture links) and May Flies have always been May Flies. But in any case, who ever came up with the idea of calling Cicadas June Bugs?

Re:June Bugs?

[hawkstone]

I think only the submitter would call cicadas "June Bugs". Nowhere in the article were they ever called June Bugs. And here is what I think of when someone says June Bugs.

(That and the Bugs Bunny marathon on Cartoon Network.)

Prime numbers

[CalCudahy]

I remember reading an interesting essay by Stephen Jay Gould on why these species that only emerge periodically do it at prime number intervals. The problem is that they have to swarm in such huge numbers to overwhelm any predators and multiply rapidly. To prevent a predator from evolving to depend on their "blooms" and wipe them out when they emerge, they only do it at prime number intervals. That way a predator would have to multiply in the same time interval and not some fraction of it. If it was 12 years a predator could multiply every 2,3,4, or 6 years and have a chance of feeding just when the cicadas were blooming. It's a lot less likely that a predator will multiply at only 17 years at the same time as the cicadas.

There are also species of bamboo that periodically produce tons of seeds to reproduce, but on the order of every 70 years. These too only do it on prime number years.

Who knows if he was right, but it is a cool theory.

Re:June Bugs?

[qengho]

Who here thinks that June Bugs are, in fact, these things? [mayflies]

Nope. These are what we called june bugs when I was growing up in Mississippi. I used to catch them all summer and store them in a jar, then release them all at once in August. Quite a sight to an elementary school kid.

We also used to amuse ourselves by tying a long thread to one of their back legs and letting them fly in circles.

Re:17 year, 13 year overlap

[dcocos]

almost ... but there are several 17 and 13 year cycles.

the chart from http://insects.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/fauna/michigan_c icadas/Periodical/Index.html
shows it

These couple of lines show an example
1961, 1978, 1995, 2012 - VA, WVA

1962, 1979, 1996, 2013 - CT, MD, NC, NJ, NY, PA, VA

1963, 1980, 1997, 2014 - IA, IL, MO

Re:Um, so?....

[martinde]

Here in Cincinnati they are saying there will be billions of them - 500 per square meter. That's fairly unusal if you ask me. See this article for what they are predicting here. Should be interesting.

Re:June Bugs?

[evilad]

Yup, absolutely. I'm from Ontario, and firmly disagree with the grandparent poster.

A mayfly is not a junebug.

Re:Um, so?....

[crow]

According to the article: There are at least 13 broods of 17-year cicadas, plus another five broods that emerge every 13 years. My understanding of this is that most years you'll get a 17-year cicada brood emerging. What's unusual is the size of the brood: This year, it's time for Brood X, the so-called "Big Brood," to surface.

No BB guns? (and other memories)

[Stonent1]

I can't believe that no one here has mentioned shooting them with BB guns during the summer. I never did but I saw several people do it. These things are easy to catch. You just pinch their wings between your thumb and forefinger and they can't do anything. We have green ones in Texas every year, they are the most common. (They black and yellow zig-zags on their head) From time to time I see very large brown/orange ones which only seem to come out at night. I've also seen a few solid black ones that were the size of the green ones. Once I even caught an extremely tiny one that was no bigger than a coffee bean. Each one seems to have their own special call. (Only males can call) The greeon ones in Texas have a rising and falling sequence that takes about 7 seconds. The large brown/orange ones alternate wee-oh-wee-oh-wee-oh. The solid black ones seem to have a long high pitch call. When you try to catch cicadas they will sometimes spray you with a drop of clear liquid. I assume it is either urine or reproductive juice. Males are easily identified by their sound. (Females are silent) Males also have breast plates which vibrate to make their sound. Females have none. The females end in a point, and if you flip them over they have a black line extending to the point. Males have an organ (I assume a sort of penis) that flips out from their tail end.

During the summer, you can find their shells all over the place. They emerge with their wings folded very tightly and take about 12 hours to unfold and dry.

And remember, there's nothing that a Cocker Spaniel loves more than proudly running around with a buzzing creature in their mouth followed by a loud CRUNCH.