The Year Of The Cicada

[Lil' Hannah]

After 17 years underground, millions of periodical cicadas (Brood X) will emerge throughout the eastern United States in late spring 2004.

Those who experienced the last emergence in 1987 will remember populations as large as 100,000 per acre disrupting outdoor events and sounding off with loud - almost deafening - mating calls.

http://www.indystar.com/articles/5/110576-6755-127.html

http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache...hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[Lil' Hannah]

They're different from crickets.

The cicadas are part of the insect order Homoptera. These are all sucking insects, which pierce plants with their pointy mouthparts and suck out the juices. The breeding cycle begins when huge numbers of adult cicadas emerge in the spring. They mate within a week, and a few days later, the female lays her eggs. She drills into the wood of trees, and inserts up to some 400-to-600 eggs. These eggs hatch up after two to six weeks. The little babies make their way down to the ground (by crawling down, or just dropping), dig their way into the soil with their claws and begin the next phase of their life, feeding on the roots of shrubs and trees for the next 6, 12 or 16 years. The 17-year cicadas are almost fully grown into nymphs by 8 years, but they continue to feed underground until the 17th year when they come out of the soil, and attach themselves to any nearby tree or post. Their shell splits open, the adults emerge and live only for a few weeks before dying.

[xok85xo]

no, cicadas are not crickets. we have crickets also.

[Rudey]

These things are disgusting and the fact that they lay all over the ground - gross.

-Rudey
--But it turns me on, I won't lie.

[Lil' Hannah]

Originally posted by Rudey
These things are disgusting and the fact that they lay all over the ground - gross.

-Rudey
--But it turns me on, I won't lie.

And they leave their shells all over the place.

BE AFRAID!

[Rudey]

Originally posted by Lil' Hannah
And they leave their shells all over the place.

BE AFRAID!

Haha but they have pretty colors.

-Rudey
--EWWWW

[xok85xo]

Originally posted by Rudey
These things are disgusting and the fact that they lay all over the ground - gross.

Don't forget the whole part when they are all over the ground and you accidentally stop on one and it crunches.. ewwwwww

Really? There are no chipmunks in England? How sad... I love chipmunks!

I don't think we really have problems with cicadas in Wisconsin. If we do, I don't remember them from last time around (I was only 8!).

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally posted by Ginger
Really? There are no chipmunks in England? How sad... I love chipmunks!

I don't think we really have problems with cicadas in Wisconsin. If we do, I don't remember them from last time around (I was only 8!).

We do. They're freaking nasty.

-GP, who stepped on one barefoot at the tender age of 4

Ew. I'll keep that in mind.

[AXJules]

Originally posted by Lil' Hannah
After 17 years underground, millions of periodical cicadas (Brood X) will emerge throughout the eastern United States in late spring 2004.

Those who experienced the last emergence in 1987 will remember populations as large as 100,000 per acre disrupting outdoor events and sounding off with loud - almost deafening - mating calls.

http://www.indystar.com/articles/5/110576-6755-127.html

http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache...hl=en&ie=UTF-8

OH MY GOD THIS IS MY WORST NIGHTMARE!!!!!!
I KNEW I hadn't missed it....the last time it happened it scarred me for life....all of them flying and going in people's hair and laying all over the place....
We were just talking about this last night, and I was like, don't they come back every 15 years??? And everyone made fun of me, saying it wasn't like some horror movie or something...

Think again!!!! AAGHGHGHGHGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

[Lil' Hannah]

[DeltAlum]

Are we sure of the dates? I think they last appeared in SE Ohio while my daughter was in school in Athens. She was there from 1997 to 1999.

Did someone miss the dates by 10 years? Or is the cycle different from place to place?

[GeekyPenguin]

http://insects.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/fa...cal/Index.html

There are a bunch of different kinds of 13 and 17 year cicadas - there's a calendar for them at the bottom of this page, which also has gross pictures of them.

It claims that WI doesn't get them, but yet our neighboring states do. Apparently it isn't aware that bugs travel.

[sugar and spice]

We get them, but I don't think they are as bad as in a lot of places near us.

Thank god.