Cicadas

[abcat1993]

This year it is the 17 year cicadas for the midwest, and hits the hardest where I live. I know they lay eggs in small tree parts (1/8 inch to 1/2 inch diameter) which usually kills that part, but will they lay eggs in my sarracenia or fly trap?

 

[Finch]

No. They only bother with woody plants

 

[Clint]

I'm jealous. I wish that was happening here.

How come here we have cicadas every year? I mean... why is it that every year we get a normal amount instead of a giant swarm once every 17 years?

 

[rattler]

cause its a different species..............we get a handful every year..........just one within a block from my house drives me nuts.............cant imagine a whole swarm of the damn things

 

[Ant]

Love those things. They face looks soo coool! I have caught a pair of mating ones, a few nephs, and a few adults alone!

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

Technically 17 year cicadas aren't every 17 years, they are EVERY YEAR! lol 17 year means just the time it takes for a generation to grow and mature to egg layers, so every year you have a new generation coming up.

 

[joossa]

I remeber watching them on Planet Earth.

 

[nepenthes_ak]

nepenthes gracilis

their are Species of Cicadas that only come out every X years in mass swarms (like Hear in ohio they came out 2 years ago). Unless you are saying 17 years is how long it takes to develope and the majority of the species just happens to develop this year than say last year or the year before that?

 

[glider14]

our outbreak was 2 years ago too. we really couldnt take a step without stepping on one
Alex

 

[rattler]

we never have "outbreaks" here just a few every year.................last summer(or was it the summer before that?) when i was out of town visiting some relitives for a sorta mini family reunion at a park in Miles City, MT(3ish hour drive from here to the southwest) it happened to be the day when they were coming out of the ground and i got to see a handful of them up close for the first time......not what i would call a swarm but in about a block there were a couple dozen out and on their way up the trees to molt and start drying out getting ready to make a racket..........

 

[abcat1993]

Technically 17 year cicadas aren't every 17 years, they are EVERY YEAR! lol 17 year means just the time it takes for a generation to grow and mature to egg layers, so every year you have a new generation coming up.

WRONG! I think. I'm pretty sure they stay underground for 17 years, then come up after that time, when the ground reaches a certain temperature. This year is Brood XIII for us, and there are 13 broods.

 

[Finch]

There are annual cicadas called dog day cicadas that do not emerge in a synchronized fashion. There are also several 13- year species. The 17-year species emergence map is as follows, though it is a bit old, the distribution is the same

periodical cicadas do not extend west past the great plains. Only dog-day cicadas occur west of the great plains

While the familiar green-and-black Dog-Day Cicadas are present every July and August in small numbers, the Periodical Cicadas appear, simultaneously, only once in seventeen years in any given area.

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

WRONG! I think. I'm pretty sure they stay underground for 17 years, then come up after that time, when the ground reaches a certain temperature. This year is Brood XIII for us, and there are 13 broods.

Well if you think I'm wrong then you cannot possibly be 100% sure either, so research it and get some facts to back up your "I'm wrong statement". I took entomology and thats what we discussed in there, in depth, so thats my evidence.

 

[herenorthere]

I know someone on another forum who had just finished planting a huge number of fruit trees he had grafted a few winters ago and then he learned it was his area's year for periodic cicadas. The cicadas hit those little trees hard and he had to regraft onto a lot of the rootstocks.

 

[mabudon]

There ARE cicadas every year tho right?? I'm a tad confused by that there distribution map

I know we always have plenty of them, enough to have one or two in each tree, but as far as I recall I've never experienced any "swarms" of them or anything.
I do think they're really cool tho- I also take a guilty enjoyment from seein a little sparrow struggling with a fighting cicada and hearing that "Brrt...Brrt..Brrt" sound they make when they're getting eaten by birds (or fighting with them at least) I think they're getting older by the time the birds start catching them usually tho

 

[glider14]

i think the way the Periodical Cicadas work is that outbreaks occur ever 17 years. the reason we get a few every few years or so is because of some oddballs that stay under for more than 17 years or less than 17 years. i used them for fishing bait last year and i de-winged one and fed it to my tarantula. yumm!
Alex

http://chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/documents/Cicada - Periodical Emergence in 2004.htm

 

[herenorthere]

There are more non-periodic than periodic cicada species and those are the ones that are seen every year.

 

[glider14]

yes. periodic cicadas are black and have red eyes. other types are green and brown.
Alex

 

[Finch]

Well if you think I'm wrong then you cannot possibly be 100% sure either, so research it and get some facts to back up your "I'm wrong statement". I took entomology and thats what we discussed in there, in depth, so thats my evidence.

____________________________
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/steincarter/cicadas.htm

While the familiar green-and-black Dog-Day Cicadas are present every July and August in small numbers, the Periodical Cicadas appear, simultaneously, only once in seventeen years in any given area.

http://insects.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/fauna/michigan_cicadas/Periodical/Index.html

All but a few cicada species have multiple-year life cycles, most commonly 2-8 years (de Boer and Duffels 1996). In most cicada species, adults can be found every year because the population is not developmentally synchronized; these are often called "annual" cicada species. In contrast, populations of the periodical cicada species are synchronized, so that almost all of them mature into adults in the same year. The fact that periodical cicadas remain locked together in time is made even more amazing by their extremely long life-cycles of 13 or 17 years.

http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/entomology/444-276/444-276.html

Periodical cicadas emerge in specific locations once every 17 years

All these quotes are from University sites