Cicadas (4 Viewers)

[sfidc3]

Any chance cicadas eat mosquitoes? Asking for a bunch of friends here in Louisiana.

Once they are winged adults (for the day or 2 they live) they can't eat....

 

[superchuck500]

Once they are winged adults (for the day or 2 they live) they can't eat....

Seems like a poor evolutionary feature. I guess their whole purpose is to make more?

 

[sfidc3]

Seems like a poor evolutionary feature. I guess their whole purpose is to make more?

Not really, almost all aquatic insects (all trout food) like mayflies, caddis, stoneflies have a similar life cycle (except they only live as nymphs for 1-2 years)....make more indeed....

 

[Optimus Prime]

Anyone know why a 17 year incubation period?

it can't possible take that long to nourish an insect of that size

 

[sfidc3]

Anyone know why a 17 year incubation period?

it can't possible take that long to nourish an insect of that size

Now is never the time....to question Mother Nature.....

Something to do with avoiding predators....

 

[superchuck500]

Calls Pour Into 911 as People Mistake Cicadas for Alarms - Videos from The Weather Channel

What does a cicada’s mating song sound like? Judging from these 911 calls, it sounds a lot like an alarm. Take a listen. - Videos from The Weather Channel | weather.com

weather.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

I used to chuckle at how ancient Romans were convinced they could discern the future in the entrails of animals and the flights of birds. And then I learned that modern Americans thought that cicadas arrived bearing a message.

Some modern Americans, anyway. People like Charles Fackler, a farmer in Lawrenceville, N.J. During the 1902 appearance of Brood X, Fackler strode into the newsroom of the Trenton Evening Times and placed a cicada on a desk.

He invited the bemused newsmen to examine the delicate tracery of the insect’s wings. Fackler had been around for the previous Brood X appearance, 17 years earlier. He’d noticed that back then, the periodical cicadas had a W on each wing, an obvious harbinger of war.

But this cicada was different. Wrote the paper: “This time there is an ‘N’ on the right wing in addition to the ‘W’ on the left, which is taken as being a sign of ‘no war.’ ”

I don’t know what kind of funky cicada Fackler had, but it was an outlier. Periodical cicadas have a “W” on both wings. Well, not “W’s” — cicadas don’t read or write English — but designs that look like W’s. The veins are slightly thicker and darker there.

“It’s very important to use your imagination,” said Donald C. Weber, a USDA research entomologist and co-author of a 2018 biography of Charles V. Riley, a 19th-century entomologist who studied cicadas.................

The wings of war: Some people believed cicadas carried a dire warning

 

[Optimus Prime]

Been really loud the past couple days

 

[superchuck500]

Been really loud the past couple days

You should call 9-1-1.

 

[sfidc3]

I sure hope our cicada overlords are calling for peace this go round!!!!

 

[Zztop]

In case anyone was wondering

 

[superchuck500]

In case anyone was wondering

Too late!

 

[Optimus Prime]

cute
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FAIRFAX, VA — When Scott Kanowitz walked into his Fairfax home recently with his shirt covered in cicadas, he wasn’t surprised when his wife told him to immediately get out. What did shock him, however, was what came next.

The backyard that an entire community of cicadas call home has became an impromptu photo backdrop for a collection of photos starring the insects that, in their own right, have become a national craze. What started with search for a fun family activity hatched into a new hobby centered around toys and other props that Kanowitz's children have connected and that has continued to grow the family's bug-centric infatuation............

Fairfax Father, Daughter, Son Make Cicadas The Star Of The Show

 

[DaveXA]

cute
===========
FAIRFAX, VA — When Scott Kanowitz walked into his Fairfax home recently with his shirt covered in cicadas, he wasn’t surprised when his wife told him to immediately get out. What did shock him, however, was what came next.

The backyard that an entire community of cicadas call home has became an impromptu photo backdrop for a collection of photos starring the insects that, in their own right, have become a national craze. What started with search for a fun family activity hatched into a new hobby centered around toys and other props that Kanowitz's children have connected and that has continued to grow the family's bug-centric infatuation............

Fairfax Father, Daughter, Son Make Cicadas The Star Of The Show

Where's the obligatory "no bugs were harmed" disclaimer?

 

[B4YOU]

Anyone know why a 17 year incubation period?

it can't possible take that long to nourish an insect of that size

It has to do with predator life cycle timing. Both 13 and 17 are prime numbers. It makes it hard for a predator to match this timing and any existing cycles like 2 or 3 years don’t always match up. The regionally of the broods with different 13/17yr cycles also helps.