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Health & Fitness

Cicadas Suck - They Really Do

The sounds of cicadas are everywhere now and are one of the great sounds of summer.

The incessant buzzing sounds of cicadas are everywhere around town now and herald the hot steamy dog days of summer. Their buzzing continues from nearly dawn to dusk. In East Brunswick we have a few species of cicadas, each with its own distinct buzzing call. Only the males make noise, as a mating call to attract females. They make the sound with specialized membranes and the sound is then amplified by the body cavity. The buzzing can be as loud as 100 decibels.

Cicadas have an amazing life history. The cicadas we see flying around and hear buzzing are the adults that have recently emerged from a nymph that spent many years underground. Depending on the species, the underground portion of their life cycle can be from a few years to as much as 17 years. After emerging from the underground larval or nymph stage, the larva crawl a few feet up a tree or other similar place and shed their larval skin and become the winged adult. The larva look like an alien creature with big hooked claws and a strangely rounded back. It is pretty easy to find the shed brown larval skins still attached to trees and it is worth a close look. After a short period to allow the adult body to harden, the cicadas fly off in search of food and mates. After the adults mate the female lays eggs on twigs of trees and shrubs. The eggs then hatch and the nymphs drop to the ground and burrow into the soil where they will spend years feeding on fluids in tree roots. When the time is right, they emerge from the ground and start the whole process over again. The cicadas we are hearing now are known as Dog-day cicadas and typically spend only a few years underground. But every 13 or 17 years we are treated to an amazing emergence of the Periodical cicadas with literally millions emerging at one time. This is one of those biological phenomenons not be missed when it happens. The next emergence of them in our area will be in 2013

Adult cicadas are incredible looking with huge clear wings with heavy veins, bulging eyes and a big fat hard green, brown and white body. The adults are pretty wary and will often fly off when approached but dead or dying ones can be found pretty frequently on the ground. Like the larval skin, pick them up and check them out, they are really cool looking. 

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So, why the title, Cicadas Suck - They Really Do? Because that is exactly what adult cicadas do to feed. They have mouthparts that are essentially a piercing straw that they can jam into a plant and suck out the sap from. If you find a cicada, turn it over and look underneath. The straw-like mouthpart is prominent and rests right between the legs. Cicadas are harmless and can be handled without concern. If they start buzzing while they are being held, expect to be startled, otherwise enjoy this amazing insect that fills our summers with sound.    

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