The Cicada Bug
You may have heard of the cicada bug or some times mistakenly called the 17 year locust, even though it's not related to the locust. Well when we moved out here I had no idea what they were, all I knew is that they were every where here and they made a loud annoying sound. Last year I remembering hearing them in the trees but by our old two bedroom we weren't near any trees so we didn't see these bugs but could hear them when we went on walks in the neighborhood. Now that we have moved to where there are trees right in our back yard we can hear these bugs extra loud and now have seen several of them and their shells that they come out of. E has decided that these bugs are pretty cool and plays with their shells that they leave everywhere in our back yard. Since she has become so fascinated with them I decided to learn more about them and I thought I'd share a little of what I learned about these weird bugs with you.
The reason people call them the 17 year locust is because they emerge every 17 years, though they are not locusts and aren't even related to them. At first I was wondering why if they are underground for 17 years do you hear them in the trees every year? Well I looked it up on the internet and there are over 3,000 species of the Cicada and some are called annuals and appear every year but most have several years (up to 17) of living in the ground as nymphs until they are ready to emerge. It is believed that they didn't used to have these long life cycles but have adapted them as a defense mechanism, for example: to have a different life cycle than their main predator would increase their population size (I thought that was interesting) so they kind of have "classes" if that makes sense, like the class of 2007 and then they lay their eggs and those nymphs become the class of 2024 and so on. So the 17 year cicada is just one of the thousands of cicada bugs out there all the others have shorter life cycles.
The cycle of the cicada is: They live as nymphs under ground for years living off the roots of trees and shrubs. They emerge out of the ground (creating holes every where in our back yard). They then climb whatever they can usually tree branches or our fence or poles or what ever they can find. They'll cling on to what ever it is they have climbed and they then slowly come out of their nymph shell leaving it behind (it takes several hours to do this) and then are adult cicadas with wings. They then fly up to the trees and make the loud annoying sound, well actually only the males can make that sound. After they mate the females lay their hundreds eggs in tree branches, the eggs will hatch and fall to the ground where the nymphs will burrow in and live underground for years until their cycle is ready to start.
You're probably thinking this is weird that I put all this on our blog but I found it kind of interesting and wanted to show you the funny pictures of E playing with their shells. So any way now you know more about the cicada bug all because you read the Harkers blog! Now log that useless information away and look at our cool pictures of them here they are...
A close up of one of the shells. I think they are creepy looking but E isn't scared of them any more. At first she was until we explained they aren't alive and these are just shells they used to live in, now she thinks they are cool.
We found this one on our fence in our back yard it is fresh out of it's nymph shell and that is why it is green. After they cicada's new shell hardens it turns black and their eyes are red. I think it looks less scary when it's green like this one.
This was not taken in our back yard, I found it on the internet but this is what they look like when their new shell hardens.
Here's a cool shot that C took of the shell on the fence with the cicada in the back round.
Tons and tons of shells that E and daddy gathered (I don't like to touch them)
E playing with her Cicada shells. She makes them talk to each other and has families of a mommy, daddy, E and baby one it's pretty funny to watch her play with them like they were dolls or some thing.
You may have heard of the cicada bug or some times mistakenly called the 17 year locust, even though it's not related to the locust. Well when we moved out here I had no idea what they were, all I knew is that they were every where here and they made a loud annoying sound. Last year I remembering hearing them in the trees but by our old two bedroom we weren't near any trees so we didn't see these bugs but could hear them when we went on walks in the neighborhood. Now that we have moved to where there are trees right in our back yard we can hear these bugs extra loud and now have seen several of them and their shells that they come out of. E has decided that these bugs are pretty cool and plays with their shells that they leave everywhere in our back yard. Since she has become so fascinated with them I decided to learn more about them and I thought I'd share a little of what I learned about these weird bugs with you.
The reason people call them the 17 year locust is because they emerge every 17 years, though they are not locusts and aren't even related to them. At first I was wondering why if they are underground for 17 years do you hear them in the trees every year? Well I looked it up on the internet and there are over 3,000 species of the Cicada and some are called annuals and appear every year but most have several years (up to 17) of living in the ground as nymphs until they are ready to emerge. It is believed that they didn't used to have these long life cycles but have adapted them as a defense mechanism, for example: to have a different life cycle than their main predator would increase their population size (I thought that was interesting) so they kind of have "classes" if that makes sense, like the class of 2007 and then they lay their eggs and those nymphs become the class of 2024 and so on. So the 17 year cicada is just one of the thousands of cicada bugs out there all the others have shorter life cycles.
The cycle of the cicada is: They live as nymphs under ground for years living off the roots of trees and shrubs. They emerge out of the ground (creating holes every where in our back yard). They then climb whatever they can usually tree branches or our fence or poles or what ever they can find. They'll cling on to what ever it is they have climbed and they then slowly come out of their nymph shell leaving it behind (it takes several hours to do this) and then are adult cicadas with wings. They then fly up to the trees and make the loud annoying sound, well actually only the males can make that sound. After they mate the females lay their hundreds eggs in tree branches, the eggs will hatch and fall to the ground where the nymphs will burrow in and live underground for years until their cycle is ready to start.
You're probably thinking this is weird that I put all this on our blog but I found it kind of interesting and wanted to show you the funny pictures of E playing with their shells. So any way now you know more about the cicada bug all because you read the Harkers blog! Now log that useless information away and look at our cool pictures of them here they are...
Our first findings of the Cicada shells in our back yard
They were on every thing, like our shed, C's bike our BBQ
E thought it was funny. Daddy lined them up for her.
They were on every thing, like our shed, C's bike our BBQ
E thought it was funny. Daddy lined them up for her.
A close up of one of the shells. I think they are creepy looking but E isn't scared of them any more. At first she was until we explained they aren't alive and these are just shells they used to live in, now she thinks they are cool.
We found this one on our fence in our back yard it is fresh out of it's nymph shell and that is why it is green. After they cicada's new shell hardens it turns black and their eyes are red. I think it looks less scary when it's green like this one.
This was not taken in our back yard, I found it on the internet but this is what they look like when their new shell hardens.
Here's a cool shot that C took of the shell on the fence with the cicada in the back round.
Tons and tons of shells that E and daddy gathered (I don't like to touch them)
E playing with her Cicada shells. She makes them talk to each other and has families of a mommy, daddy, E and baby one it's pretty funny to watch her play with them like they were dolls or some thing.
Well I hope you enjoyed my fun facts of the cicada bug, random I know.
