Of all the things we love about summer in South Carolina, the sound of cicadas probably does not make the list. This creature is well known for its noise and is even the loudest of all insects! They are divided by scientists into two groups: annual and periodical. The main difference between the two is the amount of time they spend as nymphs feeding off roots underground, with annual cicadas emerging every year and periodicals after either 13 or 17 years. Wow! And in the United States, we will be experiencing a double emergence of cicadas in 2024, which is a rare occurrence.
This rare phenomenon is happening with the periodical Cicada Broods XIII and XIX. Brood XIII is expected to emerge only across parts of Illinois and Indiana, and Brood XIX in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
The dual emergence between these two broods of cicadas happens only once every 221 years. The last time the two broods emerged together was in 1803 when Thomas Jefferson was President of the United States.
Periodical cicadas are from the order of insects known as Hemiptera, which also includes species such as aphids and bed bugs.
You can also tell the difference between a periodical cicada and annual cicada by its appearance. Annual cicadas have black, green, or olive-patterned bodies, often with a whitish cast on the underside, black or brown eyes, and four membranous wings with a black or green tinge. In contrast, the periodical cicada looks like the one pictured above with red eyes.
Cicadas drill holes into the bark of trees to lay eggs. The branch dies back, falls to the ground, and the cicada young burrow into the earth when the eggs hatch and attach to tree roots, sucking the sap for nourishment.
Young trees can be harmed when the females lay the eggs into the tree's new growth. Experts advise it's best to protect the trees from this potential damage by loosely wrapping the branches with cheesecloth to keep the female from laying her eggs.
Because cicadas fly into a tree to lay eggs, they say spraying as a preventive measure is not effective.
Furthermore, since cicadas are not pests and provide ecological benefit, they do not need to be killed. The only ways humans are really affected by them are the noise and potential damage to trees!
Now, back to that signature noise again – it's quite fascinating that the way this noise is generated is actually much like how we create music through instruments and even with a certain type of singing! Also interesting is that it's only the male cicadas that "sing" as a mating behavior, "showing off" for females. Hear the beautiful explanation from a U.S. Department of Agriculture entomologist, Dr. Samuel Ramsey, about the cicada song:
That cicada "noise" will certainly hit different next time I hear it. What do you think?
Check out the book, Cicada Symphony, for a fun way to educate children on this incredible creature.
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