Wednesday, April 27, 2016
The Cicadas are coming! The Cicadas are coming!
And if you are in one of the prime areas for the emergence of this years brood, the warm summer days will be filled with the buzz of male cicadas trying to get laid after 17 years underground.(And you think your life is hard)
Although adult cicadas are harmless to people, they can cause some damage to shade and fruit trees, Mr. Hoover said. They can also cause a mess and discomfort for humans.And kids will be finding shed casings of their former life, harmless but perhaps icky to people afraid of nature.
In addition to the eerie noise cicadas emit, they leave behind casings that can coat decks and patios, prompting some homeowners in the past to get power washers to remove them. If you have a phobia about insects, this will be a time of high anxiety. Dog owners have discovered the undigested remnants of the insects from the upset stomachs of their pets.
But for some other animals, such as birds and fish, the emergence of the periodical cicada means a bumper crop of food. Trout, bass and carp “will literally gorge themselves” on the adult insects, Mr. Hoover said.
The lead-up to cicadas’ emergence is a prolonged, low-key process. Cicada nymphs spend 17 years underground, where they “await an undetermined signal for emergence,” Mr. Hoover said.
A combination of soil temperatures reaching 64 degrees and light rain seems to trigger their ascension, he said. The nymphs climb trees and within an hour, they shed their skins and become adults.
Ten days later, the mating begins. Each female lays up to 400 eggs in the twigs of more than 75 species of trees.
Nymphs hatch in six to eight weeks and then drop to the soil for a period longer than four presidential administrations before they re-emerge and the cycle continues.
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