Cicadas in New Chauncey?
Yes, indeed they are! Typically in early July they emerge from the ground begin their short life as an adult, lasting from a few weeks to a couple of months. The male's mating or calling song is that high pitch sound you hear especially in the early summer evening in the neighborhood. Listen for the Tibicen pruinosus or the Tibicen linnei as you walk through the neighborhood in the evening or through your open windows. Cicadas in 2009 and 2010 promise to be very thin in our area, but still there will be some of the annual variety.
What are Cicadas?
Cicadas are large winged insects that, depending on the species, emerge annually or periodically (13 or 17 years) for a short period of time to mate. These insects are harmless to humans and not classified as pests by most standards. Cicadas develop underground for most of their lives. Sometimes they are referred to as "locusts." This is a mistake as locusts are large grasshoppers that are not closely related to the cicada family at all.
A photo of an annual cicada typical of what you may find in the New Chauncey Neighborhood.
Photo by Tom Ingling
"A lot of people will be excited, one way or another, when they appear," said Todd Hutson, agriculture and natural resources extension educator with Purdue University's Cooperative Extension Service. "Some of these people are even going to panic a bit, but there is really no reason to panic. Cicadas are not poisonous, they do not bite or sting. There is really no danger to humans at all."
According to the Farmer's Almanac "weather folklore says that cicadas start singing six weeks before a frost. The bright side is that folklore also says that the singing of cicadas heralds warm, dry days ahead. We recommend enjoying those warm, dry days while you can!" This bit of folklore has not proven itself the past couple of years as the first cicadas were heard in early July and the first frost was not until October. I guess that's why it's called folklore!
A newly emerged cicada on a tree trunk.
Photo courtesy of Purdue University Plant and Pest Digital Library Project
According to Australia's foremost expert on the cicada, Dr Max Moulds from the Australian Museum in Sydney, cicadas are the most efficient and loudest sound-producing insects in existence. While Dr Moulds said nobody is exactly sure which species is the loudest, he said the Green Grocer "must be close". With noise intensity in excess of 120dB at close range, the Green Grocer, Yellow Monday and the Double Drummer produce sound that approaches the human ear pain point. Other species of cicada create songs so high in pitch that they cannot be heard by the human ear. Fortunately for us in the New Chauncey Neighborhood here in West Lafayette Indiana, the Green Grocer, Yellow Monday and the Double Drummer species of cicada are not local residents.
As the song is a mating call, only the male actually sings and different species have different songs to only attract the “right” females. The male cicada has a pair of ribbed membranes called tymbals at the base of the abdomen. By contracting the abdominal muscles, the tymbals buckle inward crating a sound and when released, the tymbals pop back into shape producing another pulse of sound. The hollow abdomen enhances and amplifies the sound. The loud noises produced by cicadas actually repel birds that are a natural predator.
Once mating is complete the female lays several hundred eggs in slits she makes in the bark of tree branches. The eggs stay in these slits in the bark for many weeks, then hatch into a miniature cicada called a nymph. These nymphs are so small that when they fall off the tree branch they are unharmed. Once on the ground, they seek cover under leaves and debris. From here the cicada burrows underground looking for a tree root from which they can suck sap. When a root dries up, they move to another root. This process continues for anywhere between nine months to 17 years or more depending on the species with the average being between six and seven years. "Nobody really knows exactly what it is that tells cicadas when to emerge from the ground," Dr Moulds said. "It's most likely to be a combination of events or signals, one of which would be increased sap flow in the tree indicating that warm weather and rain is around.”
When they emerge from the ground they live for varying periods of time, from a few days to a couple of months, depending on the species. The majority live for around two to four weeks during which time they mate and lay eggs and the cycle starts again.
There is much more to learn about this fascinating insects. You can start here at the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology site.
