CICADAS

Danielle Dean & Shannon

McGowan
WHY CICADAS? • Grew up
hearing them
while camping

• They lie
dormant for 20
years???
Taxonomy
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Anthropoda
Order: Homoptera

Suborder: Auchenorrhycha
Family: Cicadidae
FEATURES
• 2 to 5 cm
• Compound eyes
• 3 ocelli
• Bristle-like antennae
• Carina separating front
of head
• Beak arises posteriorly
WINGS
• Clear front wings
• Uniformly textured
• Wings held roof-like
over body at rest
 What’s that sound?
 Tymbals  120 - 600 pulses/sec

 First abdominal
 Single nerve fiber

sternum
 Tymbals act together

 Flexion and/or
Relaxation
Mating Call
 Only the males have tymbals
 Combine the call with wing flapping to
attract females
 Males crowd trees/shrubs
 Females will copulate
with several different
partners
Male or Female?
Female Male
Ovipositor
 Long, hollow
structure evolved
to cut a slit into
woody tissue
 Female uses
ovipositor to
needle in up to
500 eggs
 Female dies
shortly after
17-year Cicada
 Magicicada
septendicim is a
species with a 17
year life cycle
 Stick together in
broods
underground
 Magicicada septendecim
Life Cycle Stages
 Eggs are deposited in twigs and stems
by female using ovipositor
 Nymphs hatch out of eggs and fall to
the ground
 Burrow in the ground and attach to roots
for nutrients
 Build a chamber around root and grow
within it
 Goes through 4-5 molts as nymph
(hemimetabulous growth)
 Magicicada septendecim
Life Cycle Stages Cont’d
 They emerge in 17 years in the spring
 Build exit tunnels and emerge usually in
May
 Go through one final molt as adults
 Are exposed for some time but
eventually schleritize
 Emerge as broods all at once
 Most likely for predator satiation
Questions?