Magicicada happens

or return of the plant suckers

Question: On or about May 21st the Department of Natural Resources for the State of Maryland predicts we will see the emergence of:

a) the ecological phenomenon known as predator satiation

b) the planet’s longest living insect

c) a great source of vittels

d) all of the above

For the first time since 1987, the periodic cicadas in our area will be back in force late this spring. Scientists characterize the emergence of a group of periodic cicadas as a brood. Different broods emerge on different years and in different geographic regions. This year, Brood X, the largest brood covering 14 states including Maryland will be emerging, providing us a chance to experience all of the above.

The University of Michigan Zoology Department describes Cicadas as "flying, plant-sucking insects of the Order Hemiptera; their closest relatives are leafhoppers, treehoppers, and fulgoroids. Adult cicadas tend to be large (most are 25-50mm), with prominent wide-set eyes, short antennae, and clear wings held roof-like over the abdomen." Not exactly flattering, but it does go on to say, "Cicadas are probably best known for their conspicuous acoustic signals or ‘songs,’ which the males make using specialized structures called tymbals, found on the abdomen."

Many people are familiar with the singing of the Dogday Cicada, the annual cicadas that appear every year but in smaller numbers than the Periodic Cicada. The Dogday Cicadas can also have long lifecycles, usually 2 — 8 years, but their emergence is not synchchronized. Periodic Cicadas can be distinguished from the annual cicadas by their red eyes, darker bodies, and brighter wing coloring. Songs are another way to distinguish cicada species. Check out http://insects.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/fauna/michigan_cicadas/Periodical/Index.html to hear different cicada species "sing." These delightful sounding conspicuous acoustical signals or "songs" were most often described by Maryland residents who experienced the 1987 emergence as "deafening."

Periodic Cicadas are often called Seventeen Year Locusts, but they are not locusts at all. Locusts are in the grasshopper family. The Periodic Cicada in the genus Magicicada sp. only occurs in the Eastern United States.

The Periodic Cicada has a very strange life cycle, but it seems to serve the insect well. Life starts for the periodic cicada as the nymph emerges from its egg that has been put in notch made by the nymphs parents in a tree or a bush. As soon as the nymph emerges it falls to the ground and begins to burrow and look for a source of food. Periodic cicadas feed on smaller tree roots by actually attaching to the root and sucking nutrients out of it much the way a mosquito sucks our blood.

The Periodic Cicadas live in their nymph stage for seventeen years underground before emerging to breed as they will next month.

As the nymphs emerge from the ground they climb up the trunks of trees to complete their transformation into their adult stage. The process in which the cicada sheds its existing exoskeleton, fills its wings with fluid and create a new exoskeleton takes about two hours and can be observed without much difficulty.

But after being under ground for nearly seventeen years, the cicadas live in their adult, above ground for only four to six weeks spending almost all of their time singing and breeding. Still, one of the periodic species, Magicicada septendecim, is considered the insect with the longest lifespan.

This odd lifecycle makes it very difficult for predators to have an impact on the populations of cicadas. With a seventeen year dormant period there are not many predators that could depend on the cicada as a steady food source and therefore there is little specialization among predators for consuming cicadas. When the Periodic Cicadas do emerge they overwhelm any potential predators. It seems like everyone takes advantage of the plentiful food source–birds, foxes, dogs, cats, even people–but the cicada numbers are still overwhelming. Estimates are that as many as 1.5 million cicadas can emerge from an acre of land, though tens, hundreds, or thousands are more likely.

People across the world eat annual cicadas and for many people here in the US the Periodic Cicada represents an opportunity to feast on a local, rare delicacy. Here is one of my favorite recipes for cicadas I found on the web:

Ingredients: Cicadas, anise, salt, rice wine, mashed garlic, celery, turnip greens.

Recipe:

1. Boil the cicadas and anise in salted rice wine for five minutes, then remove the cicadas.

2. Saute the mashed garlic, adding water and rice wine to make a paste.

3. Deep-fry the cicadas, then skewer them with bamboo picks. Arrange them on a plate with the turnip greens, celery, and garlic paste to look like the cicadas are climbing out of a mud pie onto green foliage. (Courtesy of West Virginia University Alumni Magazine)

Just think, for a few minutes the young periodic cicada experiences our world on a fine spring day and then falls to the ground and buries itself in the ground for seventeen years, knowing there is something better out there. Finally, it emerges for four weeks of singing and breeding. An amazing thing to think about.

Then make yourself a snack.