Emergence of 13-Year Cicadas, Brood XIX, The Great Southern Brood, Saluda County, SC April-May, 2024

After living underground for 13 years thousands of Brood XIX cicada (Magicicada sp.) emerge simultaneously from tunnels like in photo to find mates and reproduce.

Nymphs often cling to tree trunks and leaves to shed their skins and pupate to adult cicadas.

Males have a highly developed tymbal vibrating mechanism for producing loud vocalizations in hopes of attracting mates. Sounds are amplified by the abdomen which forces air out from the extended 'anal tube' shown in photo (vocalizing). Another photo shows male abdomen in a relaxed state, i.e., not vocalizing.

The underside of the female abdomen shows the ovipositor folded tight against the abdomen.

A photo shows two cicadas in mating position. The male is upside down. This pair held position for at least four hours (my time of observation)!

Females use the ovipositor to open slits in the surface of young twigs into which she deposits hundreds of eggs. A photo shows an ovipositor in action. They do this mostly from the underside of the twig. Note the twig scars from previous egg deposits.
The photo showing only twig scars are very fresh. indeed,...... I scared the female away in mid-deposit by venturing too close with my camera!
The eggs hatch and the young drop to the ground and bury themselves, eventually tapping into a tree root to live off the tree's nutrients till they emerge as nymphs 13 years later.

The cicadas seem to favor some trees. Sweetgum and water oak were favorites on my property. Few if any cicadas visited pine trees or cedars. I saw very few on red oak, cherrybark oak, or hickory. At anytime between April-May I could observe mating, courting, oviposition in particular individual sweetgum and water oak trees.

Publicado el 14 de mayo de 2024 a las 03:50 PM por t4m6