Magicicadas in The Mood | TIME
Periodical cicadas spend over a decade buried beneath the soil, feeding on xylem. And then one spring, they emerge, shed, swarm, sing, mate and die in a few short weeks.
30 billion
Number of cicadas that will emerge with one order of business: mating. Their odds are good, but birds will feast on them.
400
Number of eggs female cicadas can lay. Offspring fall from the trees and burrow into the ground for 13 to 17 years. They emerge when the soil is 64°F (18°C). The reason behind their cycles is still unknown.
Actual wingspan is 6.2 cm
Body length from eyes to bottom is 2.1 cm
THE RED EYES of cicadas are only two of their five eyes. They have smaller, triangular eyes on the front of their head.
THE SONG Male cicadas gather in swarms to produce a mating song that can be deafening. The sound is the result of the buckling and contracting of the tymbal–a corrugated membrane that resonates in the abdomen. An interested female Magicicada responds with a click of her wing.
MOLTING The insects emerge as nymphs and molt for about a week. Their new adult skin will harden and turn dark with elements of red, black and amber.
AFTER A LONG NAP, A SHORT VISIT
Mayflies live only one or two days as adults.
Locusts live three to five months in the wild.
Dung beetles, best known for representing the ancient Egyptian god Khepri, can live up to three years.
Cicadas, once they emerge, live a few weeks.
WHILE THEY WERE SLEEPING …
In 1996, Brood II went underground. Here’s what else happened that year.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin begin work on a search engine that will be called Google.
Pfizer patents Viagra.
Tupac Shakur is killed in Las Vegas.
Dolly, the first cloned sheep, debuts.
Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Steffi Graf win French Open singles titles.
Nintendo 64 is released in North America.
Bill Clinton heads toward his renomination for President.
Sources: National Geographic; University of Arizona; Magicicada.org British Museum; San Diego Zoo; Radiolab org Australian Museum; NPR.org University of Michigan Museum of Zoology; University of Maryland
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