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Fast Facts
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- Cicada's are the loudest insect - their sound
can be heard up to a half mile away (400 meters)!
- Blue-eyed cicadas are
rare... and the reward for finding a blue-eyed cicada
is a hoax! Rumors that Hopkins University was paying $100
or $1,000 for rare blue-eyed cicadas are not true. No
one is paying.
- Scientists believe that the large numbers of cicadas
in a periodic species is an evolutionary adaptation to
ensure survival of the species - there are too many of
them to be eaten before they produce their eggs.
- They live in largegroups called broods; Brood
X is the largest brood in the United States
- They live in the following states: states DE, GA,
IL, IN, KY, MD, MI, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TN, VA, and
W-VA
- They are not dangerous, generally speaking -
except when they startle you! Cicadas are not poisonous
- many animals make a happy meal of these insects
- Note - adult males make a loud defensive
buzzing or cawing sound that can startle, but
they are harmless.
- Adult cicadas live for thirty to forty days
- Adult cicadas are flying, plant-feeding insects.
- Females have blade-like ovipositors that are
visible on the bottom surface of the abdomen.
- Males do not have the ovipositors.
- Larva eat the sap of tree roots, for years
- Their internal "clock" signaling the
end of 13 or 17 years is a mystery to scientists.
- Cicadas naturally climb upwards after they come
out of their holes in the ground. They climb and at random
points they will molt. Molting is the process of
shedding their exoskeleton by splitting open the back
of their brittle exoskeletons andwiggling out.
- The small eggs take six to eight weeks to fully
mature. At the end of the maturation period, the nymphs
drop down to the ground and they immediately start their
descent.
- The new nymphs burrow 2 to 18 inches (5-46 cm)
down below the surface to find a tree root to feed on.
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