Saturday, July 26, 2008

Cicadas!

My family found a Tibicen Cicada on our front steps and took some pictures. Here he is, along with some other cicada info.



Cicadas like him have compact eyes (That means each eye is made up of a lot of tiny ones.), as you can see here:



Also, they have three extra eyes between their two big ones! They are small and red; can you see them?



The cicada we photographed had actually just emerged from its smaller skin. When cicadas are too big for their skin, they molt and come out of their old one! Here, you can see the old skin.



Cicadas have a very interesting life cycle. In May and June, adult cicadas mate, and the females make a slit in a stick or hollow tree. She lays her eggs in the slit, and leaves. In about six weeks, the cicada nymphs (babies) hatch and fall to the ground. The nymphs look nothing like adult cicadas. They dig into the ground and suck the sap from the roots of the tree. After about three years (wow!), they come out of the ground, shed their skin, and emerge as an adult. As an adult, they don't eat anything. Their mission is to mate, lay eggs (if it's a female), and die.

Adult male cicadas make the chirping noises we all hear in the summer to attract females in the mating season. The sound of the chirping depends on what type of cicada it is.

I hope now you understand more about cicadas. Please remember that cicadas don't bite or sting, so don't smoosh them. =)

(I got the information on this post from this page.)

Here's another great cicada website: www.cicadamania.com

1 comment:

APS said...

How interesting! I never knew all of that about cicadas! I admire your ambition to research and learn more. I'm also impressed that you remembered to cite your sources!!