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SleeplessinSoCal

(9,483 posts)
Sat Apr 20, 2024, 07:26 PM Apr 2024

The Cicadas are coming!

The cicadas are coming, and some may become ‘flying saltshakers of death’

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2024/04/20/cicadas-2024-emergence-fungus-mysteries/

That is quite the healine: "Flying Saltshakers of Death"

Not since Thomas Jefferson was president has this happened in 1803.

This spring and summer, people in parts of the American Midwest and South will get to experience a numerically magnificent wildlife event: a rare double emergence of periodical cicadas. With the arrival of Brood XIX and Brood XIII, trillions of harmless, baby-carrot-size insects will be singing their hearts out from Wisconsin to Louisiana, Maryland to Georgia, and many places in between.

The last time these broods co-emerged, the year was 1803, Thomas Jefferson was president, and the Louisiana Purchase had just been completed — which means many of the states where cicada love songs will soon fill the air were not even officially part of the nation yet.

As impressive as that is, this year’s entomological phenomenon will be extra-special for researchers hoping to unravel the evolutionary mysteries of bugs that only crawl out of the ground in roughly 13-year and 17-year intervals.
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The Cicadas are coming! (Original Post) SleeplessinSoCal Apr 2024 OP
Do not take if you are allergic to Secada. NT mahatmakanejeeves Apr 2024 #1
John Secada CurtEastPoint Apr 2024 #2
Very funny. SleeplessinSoCal Apr 2024 #8
I post from a phone. I'm not surprised by imaginative spelling. mahatmakanejeeves Apr 2024 #10
I post from my phone as well. SleeplessinSoCal Apr 2024 #11
more than roughly 13 and 17 - its exactly 13 and 17 years. There is no doubt when the next hatching will be. Blues Heron Apr 2024 #3
it's the double emergence that makes it news worthy SleeplessinSoCal Apr 2024 #5
im commenting on the word roughly. Blues Heron Apr 2024 #6
I'm thinking horror movie now... SleeplessinSoCal Apr 2024 #7
i would love to see a new brood form, maybe a 7 year or something. Blues Heron Apr 2024 #9
Cicadas. ms liberty Apr 2024 #4
First the eclipse; now this. End times for sure. mahatmakanejeeves Apr 2024 #12
Here is a pic of one from Berwyn, Illinois today Beringia May 2024 #13
Wow! How do they sound? SleeplessinSoCal May 2024 #14
Their chorus Beringia May 2024 #15
I've heard them once in New Mexico about 40 years ago. SleeplessinSoCal May 2024 #16

SleeplessinSoCal

(9,483 posts)
11. I post from my phone as well.
Sat Apr 20, 2024, 08:17 PM
Apr 2024

It changed "misspelled' to 'missed', even using predictive text. It's become very entertaining.

Blues Heron

(6,073 posts)
3. more than roughly 13 and 17 - its exactly 13 and 17 years. There is no doubt when the next hatching will be.
Sat Apr 20, 2024, 07:39 PM
Apr 2024

AI written?

SleeplessinSoCal

(9,483 posts)
7. I'm thinking horror movie now...
Sat Apr 20, 2024, 08:03 PM
Apr 2024
these two are so geographically close that they may overlap and interbreed in some of the woods and fields near Springfield, Ill., a potentially exciting rarity for entomologists.

“And what will be the cycle of the new cicadas? We will have to wait to see,”

Blues Heron

(6,073 posts)
9. i would love to see a new brood form, maybe a 7 year or something.
Sat Apr 20, 2024, 08:08 PM
Apr 2024

or maybe an extra long rip van winkle type brood - 40 years.

Beringia

(4,416 posts)
15. Their chorus
Fri May 24, 2024, 05:01 PM
May 2024

I think they make their song in unison up in trees. You only see one here or there flying. They do it parked on the bark as you say, or maybe in the leaves high up on the trees.
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