Photos by Stan Tekeila ©2004

Cicada

by Stan Tekiela
© 2003 NatureSmart
September 6, 2003

Nothing reminds me more of summer than the thundering buzzing of the periodic cicada. What, you don't know what a cicada is? Well, just go outside on any warm day in late summer and listen. The loud penetrating buzzing sound coming from the tops of the trees is the cicada.

Cicadas are one of the most common summer insect. Admittedly, not many people seen this insect but just about everyone has heard their loud buzzing trill that comes emanating the tops of the trees at this time of year.

Cicadas are rather large insects with nearly two-inch long, clear membranous wings that are used to carry them from tree top to tree top. While most insects such as crickets and katydids, use their wings or legs to make sounds, cicadas have a large hollow section of their abdomen that vibrates like a drum to make their specialized and loud call. There are many different species of cicada and each has its own unique song which may be a loud continuous buzz or a pulsating buzz.

They are often incorrectly called locusts. The term locust is reserved to describe times when our ordinary grasshopper becomes over populated and causes crop damage.

Only the male cicada produces the buzzing sound which is meant to attract prospective females for a tree top rendezvous. After the lofty encounter the female cicada moves to another tree and seeks out small dead twigs where she will wedges her eggs in tiny slits and cracks of the dead branches. She deposits her eggs with a specialized needle-like appendage called an ovipositor. The eggs quickly hatch into small bug-like nymphs that purposefully fall to the ground and land unharmed. The nymph then burrows into the ground where begins to feed on the roots and sap of the host tree.

The nymph carries on this subterranean life for many years before emerging. The periodical cicada (Magiciada spp.) emerges only once every 13 or 17 years. They come out by the tens of thousands which usually attracts the attention of the local media because it is such an unusual sight.

The more common varieties of cicada, emerges every 1 to 3 years, which means we have at least one species of cicada every summer to serenade us. No matter how long they spend underground, the newly emerged nymphs climb the nearest tree or vertical structure where they attach themselves and then split open their skin and the winged adult cicada finishes the climb to the top of the tree to announce another summer is at hand.