Worse is Yet To Come

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/05/31/cicadasong.ap/index.html

Cicada chorus hits fever pitch in June

Monday, May 31, 2004 Posted: 9:33 AM EDT (1333 GMT)

Cicada chorus hits fever pitch in June

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (AP) -- Most of the singers in the chorus are poised and ready to burst forth with song; some are already practicing to get their pitch perfect.

If the mating song of the male cicada seems loud now, though, just wait. The shrill, unified call will hit full pitch in early June, when the cicadas live up to their reputation as one of the world's loudest insects, according to entomologist Lee Townsend.

Billions of the red-eyed insects are crawling their way above ground for their rare mating opportunity. This year's batch, known as Brood X, emerges every 17 years and is the largest of the cicada groups.

The insects' range stretches from Georgia, west through Tennessee and to isolated pockets of Missouri, north along the Ohio Valley and into Michigan, and east into New Jersey and New York.

At General Butler State Resort in Carrollton, desk clerk Tammy Layne said visitors have been asking about the humming noise. "Several people said they thought they were having car trouble," she said.

Males produce their sounds with "tymbals," which are specialized abdominal structures. The calls primarily are used to attract females, but the insects also produce an alarm noise if caught by a predator.

The cicadas that are singing now emerged earlier this spring to look for a mate after living underground on sap from tree roots for 17 years.

Cicadas are distinctive insects that tend to stay in the tops of trees, which is why they are heard more than seen, said Townsend, who works with the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture.

Townsend said he can understand why people would be interested when they see -- or hear -- the hordes of insects.

"You tend to associate that with the desert locusts of the Middle East and the more tropical areas, and so it's curious when we get a huge explosion of insects like that," he said.

The life cycle of the cicada is long but relatively simple. Adults usually emerge between late April and early June.

After mating, females lay eggs in trees. Eggs hatch in six to eight weeks. Nymphs fall to the ground and burrow down to the root system for their long wait until the next emergence.

DAmb, I thought those suckas were starting to die down.

I'm sitting here eating a Cicada and salsa sandwich as we speak. In June, I'll listen to their serenade as I mix up a batch of Cicada soup. :puke:

Im really getting annoyed by them being around, at least im glad they stay to the trees near my house, though at night they tend to come down and sit on the ground. I just had a pretty bad experience with a cicada, so ill be pretty glad when theyre gone.