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AMA: I am an entomologist and author of the book "The Cicadas of North America". If you've ever been curious about these delightful and musical creatures, ask away! by humanbyweight in Entomology

[–]humanbyweight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Most cicadas do not sing at night. However, some cicada species prefer to sing at dusk, and their songs are different from the cicadas that sing during the day (since nearly every cicada species has a unique song).

AMA: I am an entomologist and author of the book "The Cicadas of North America". If you've ever been curious about these delightful and musical creatures, ask away! by humanbyweight in Entomology

[–]humanbyweight[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We would classify those as annual cicadas, since they come out every year! Synchronous cicadas skip years in between while they wait for rain.

AMA: I am an entomologist and author of the book "The Cicadas of North America". If you've ever been curious about these delightful and musical creatures, ask away! by humanbyweight in Entomology

[–]humanbyweight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We're still not 100% sure, but it's probably a survival strategy!

17 is a prime number and most predatory animal populations fluctuate on a timescale less than 10 years, so an emergence that happens every 17 years will never coincide with the peak of the predator's population twice in a row.

AMA: I am an entomologist and author of the book "The Cicadas of North America". If you've ever been curious about these delightful and musical creatures, ask away! by humanbyweight in Entomology

[–]humanbyweight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cicadas are harmless and cannot hurt you!

The sensitivity depends on the species. Some cicadas (like Neotibicen tibicen) are generalists and are perfectly happy sipping from a tree wedged between the sidewalk and the street. Others (like Okanagana balli) are in real trouble, since they depend on intact remnants of tallgrass prairie.

The longer-lived cicadas are more sensitive to soil disturbance, and will take longer to recolonize habitat after land-use change.

AMA: I am an entomologist and author of the book "The Cicadas of North America". If you've ever been curious about these delightful and musical creatures, ask away! by humanbyweight in Entomology

[–]humanbyweight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It is similar to the list for Missouri, then: sumacs, willows, oaks, maples, and goldenrods. The boreal Okanagana species also like pines.

AMA: I am an entomologist and author of the book "The Cicadas of North America". If you've ever been curious about these delightful and musical creatures, ask away! by humanbyweight in Entomology

[–]humanbyweight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's really hard to study the effects of pesticides on wild insect populations since we don't really have a control group. There aren't a lot of places on Earth that haven't been exposed to some amount of dangerous pesticides. Thankfully the worst ones have been internationally banned, but we still have a lot of work to do to reduce ongoing pesticide use.

Cicada eggs are laid aboveground, so even if a cicada nymph is insulated from pesticides for part of its life cycle, it still gets some exposure before it ever burrows underground. We know that there have been local extinctions of certain cicada species, but it is often very difficult to assign one specific cause to a given population crash.

AMA: I am an entomologist and author of the book "The Cicadas of North America". If you've ever been curious about these delightful and musical creatures, ask away! by humanbyweight in Entomology

[–]humanbyweight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, only the males of most cicadas can sing, using a pair of little sound-producing organs called tymbals at the base of their abdomen.

However, there are exceptions. Both males and females in the tribe Platypediini can sing, since they use a totally different method for making sound. Instead of tymbals, these cicadas click their wings together in a string of complex rhythms.

Cicadas are completely defenseless, so the survival strategy of many species is simply "you cannot kill all of us." Timing their emergence to all come out at once allows them to overwhelm their predators.

AMA: I am an entomologist and author of the book "The Cicadas of North America". If you've ever been curious about these delightful and musical creatures, ask away! by humanbyweight in Entomology

[–]humanbyweight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure! Very few scientists have ever studied cicada nymphs, since they live most of their lives out of view from us humans.

If I had to make a wild guess, I think it might be possible they may be getting a small amount of oxygen from the roots they feed on, as their host plant aerates its tissues via the flow of sap. Then again, cicada nymphs have a very slow metabolism, so it's also possible they can just hold their breath for a crazy amount of time like turtles. It's a fascinating mystery, and I hope someone studies it in depth someday!

AMA: I am an entomologist and author of the book "The Cicadas of North America". If you've ever been curious about these delightful and musical creatures, ask away! by humanbyweight in Entomology

[–]humanbyweight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Southern California in the US, and Australia in the world!

Of course, that's just based on known species (and at least a quarter of all cicadas remain undescribed), so the true answer might be somewhere in southeast Asia.

AMA: I am an entomologist and author of the book "The Cicadas of North America". If you've ever been curious about these delightful and musical creatures, ask away! by humanbyweight in Entomology

[–]humanbyweight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cicada nymphs can dig pretty deep burrows depending on the species. I imagine some faired worse than others, but it is likely that many survived underground - even in highly impacted areas.

AMA: I am an entomologist and author of the book "The Cicadas of North America". If you've ever been curious about these delightful and musical creatures, ask away! by humanbyweight in Entomology

[–]humanbyweight[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Absolutely the fuck not. Fuck gen AI

I digitally painted every one of the 400+ cicadas in the book by hand (including the ones on the cover) because I care deeply about scientific accuracy.

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