Latest news with #Hemiptera
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Why Are Cicadas Extra Noisy This Year? Which States Are at Risk of Peak Disturbance
They're loud, they're downright horny, and after 17 years underground, they're back. If you thought spring allergies were the worst thing in the air this season, think again — billions of periodical cicadas from Brood XIV are emerging for a noisy, all-out mating frenzy. From Tennessee to New York, these alien-eyed insects are already making their presence known, and some are even infected by a fungus that turns them into zombie love machines. 'Nature is stranger than any science fiction that's ever been written,' evolutionary biologist John Cooley told the Scientific American while describing the phenomenon. Here's what makes this brood so unusual, why you'll hear them from dawn to dusk, and whether you should be worried. Periodical cicadas emerge in massive, synchronized swarms every 13 or 17 years, unlike regular cicadas that appear in smaller numbers every year or two. Once above ground, adults have one mission: to reproduce before dying off. Females lay eggs in tree branches, and when the eggs hatch, the tiny nymphs fall to the earth, burrow underground, and disappear — beginning the cycle again, not to be seen for another 15 years or so. Their return is usually triggered when soil temperatures reach around 64°F, typically between April and June. This year, warming trends pushed their emergence back by about two weeks. In some areas, like Tennessee, they've already started to appear, with sightings reported in mid-May. The 2025 cohort, known as Brood XIV, isn't just punctual — it's unusually frisky. Many have been infected by a bizarre fungus called Massospora cicadina, which hijacks their bodies, destroys their genitals, and supercharges their sex drive, effectively turning them into mating-obsessed zombies. Periodical cicadas typically measure about 1 to 1.5 inches long, with wingspans up to 3 inches. They're not especially big, but those bright red eyes definitely grab your attention. Their bodies are black or dark brown with bold reddish-orange markings, and their clear wings are lined with orange veins, making them pretty hard to miss once you spot one. Despite being frequently mistaken for locusts, cicadas aren't even close. They don't jump, they don't eat crops en masse, and they're not grasshoppers. In truth, cicadas are more closely related to stink bugs and bedbugs, part of the insect order Hemiptera, or 'true bugs.' Cicadas from Brood XIV are expected to emerge this summer in at least a dozen states across the country. In some areas, like Tennessee, they've already started to appear, with sightings reported in mid-May. Here's the full list of where you can expect to see and hear them: Georgia Kentucky Indiana Massachusetts North Carolina New Jersey New York Ohio Pennsylvania Tennessee Virginia West Virginia Even this particular sex-crazed brood poses no real threat to you or your beloved pet. Cicadas don't bite, sting, carry diseases, or secrete anything toxic. They're basically all buzz and no bite (literally). That said, they do love to make some noise. Male cicadas belt out high-pitched buzzes and clicks to attract mates, and when thousands are singing in unison, the volume can hit around 100 decibels — that's as loud as a motorcycle or a lawnmower. In some areas, the drone can last from sunrise to sunset, so if you're not a fan of nature's noisiest dating ritual, it might be worth investing in earplugs or a white noise machine. The post Why Are Cicadas Extra Noisy This Year? Which States Are at Risk of Peak Disturbance appeared first on Katie Couric Media.
Boston Globe
07-05-2025
- Science
- Boston Globe
They're baaack! After 17 years underground, Brood XIV cicadas are suddenly emerging.
Advertisement Since I'm not an entomologist, I reached out to Christine Simon, a senior research scientist at the University of Connecticut's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, to help me understand these interesting bugs. She's been studying Magicicada, aka periodical cicadas, since 1974, and this will be her fourth time studying the emergence of this brood. Part of the order Hemiptera, these unique and sometimes misunderstood insects are part of a large group known as 'true bugs.' While you may refer to things crawling around your house as a bug, true bugs have, among other characteristics, two pairs of wings, and beak-like mouth parts made for sucking fluids from plants or animals. Advertisement Periodical cicadas that emerge every 17 years in about a dozen areas in the US. Gene Kritsky Also unlike other insects, all true bugs must go through what is called 'incomplete metamorphosis,' which means they hatch as nymphs from their egg on tree branches. Think of a nymph as a miniature version of the adult bug, a sort of 'mini-me.' True bugs include cicadas, grasshoppers, stink bugs, and bed bugs, to name a few. Mosquitoes may bug you, but they are not true bugs. The second largest group of periodic cicadas in the US, Brood XIV will really start to emerge the third week of May. They can emerge in the thousands, but these are not some biblical plague of locusts, despite all of the misinformation out there. As they head into the trees, they won't be swarming because they actually don't move very far from where they emerge. 'Honeybees swarm. These just happen to be in large numbers,' said Gene Kritsky, an author of cicada books and professor emeritus in biology at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati. 'They generally come out in the evening just after dark,' said Simon. 'The emergence can take place every night for a week, with males more common at the beginning of the week and females more common near the end of the week. If it's cold and rainy that week, the emergence can be drawn out.' Cicadas of Brood XIV from a previous year. Gene Kritsky A couple of other things about these bugs you should know: They are not menacing. They don't sting or bite humans. If you look at their bulging red eyes, they're actually kind of cute. They also are not dangerous to plants and trees. After they emerge, they will lay their eggs in trees, and there can be some minor damage, like any other insect does to foliage during the summer. The cicadas die three to four weeks later. Advertisement For those of you in areas where these cicadas are emerging, this is an opportunity to be a citizen scientist and provide valuable information to researchers. According to Simon, this year there will be various people out mapping throughout the range of Brood XIV. Kritsky developed the Observations and the study of the periodic cicada have a lengthy history. Kritsky said the Brood XIV cicadas were documented as far as back as 1770 in Cape Cod and in 1634 in Plymouth. In 1834, Gideon B. Smith is, according to the University of Maryland, credited with identifying the cycle of the 17-year cicada or brood, the very one emerging this year! He reportedly studied cicadas from 1817 until he died in 1867. He was friends with John James Audubon, the American ornithologist.. One of the images that I couldn't help get out of my head was the fact that, like the entire insect population of the world, these guys are under pressure, especially from humans. Seventeen years ago, these Magicicada cicadas hatched from eggs in trees and made their way down into the ground where they spent all these years maturing. One of the problems is that parking lots and buildings have replaced some of these trees and smothered the insects alive. I just couldn't help feeling bad for these little creatures. Advertisement Finally, if you are wondering how climate change might be affecting these periodical bugs, the answers are still a bit unclear. One hypothesis is that a warming climate can cause the various broods to emerge ahead of schedule due to a longer growing season, more feeding time in the ground, and a faster move through the various underground stages. What we do know is that after the cicadas have mated and laid their eggs, the next generation of Brood XIV is scheduled to emerge in 2042. Where might we all be when that happens?
News.com.au
01-05-2025
- Science
- News.com.au
Seventeen years later, Brood XIV cicadas emerge in US
The last time these thrumming, red-eyed bugs burrowed out of the ground across America's suburbs and woodlands was the early summer of 2008. Global financial jitters were mounting, iPhones were a luxury item, and George W. Bush was still president. Now, reports from the citizen-science app Cicada Safari show the first insects of Brood XIV -- which emerges every 17 years -- surfacing in the US South. As ground temperatures warm across the North, millions more are expected to follow. Cicadas belong to the insect order Hemiptera, which includes stink bugs, bed bugs, and aphids. But they are often mistaken for locusts, a confusion that dates back to early English settlers who likened the mass emergences to Biblical plagues. Brood XIV itself was first documented in 1634. There are roughly 3,500 species of cicadas globally, many still unnamed. But periodical cicadas -- which emerge en masse after 13 or 17 years -- are unique to the eastern United States, with two additional unrelated species found in northeastern India and Fiji, says Chris Simon, a leading cicada expert at the University of Connecticut. "Everybody's fascinated by them, because you see nothing for 13 or 17 years, and then all of a sudden, your house and car are covered in these insects," Simon told AFP. "This is a marvelous phenomenon that you can take your kids to see and marvel at, watch them come out of their shells and wonder about how they evolved," she added, urging the public to appreciate, not fear them. "The world wouldn't survive without insects." Because their emergence years are staggered, different periodical cicada broods appear in different years. In 2024, a rare "double whammy" occurred when the 13-year Brood XIX overlapped with the 17-year Brood XIII. That's not the case in 2025, but excitement remains high around these mysterious critters, which continue to intrigue scientists -- especially given that the evolutionary logic behind their prime-numbered life cycles remains unresolved. Cicadas are often thought of as "creatures of history," conjuring memories of past life chapters -- what you were doing when this brood last emerged. They spend nearly their entire lives underground, passing through life stages called instars, before tunneling to the surface for a brief few weeks to molt, mate, and die -- while their newly hatched offspring drop from trees and burrow into the soil, beginning the cycle anew. Males produce their deafening mating calls using tymbals, sound-producing membranes on either side of their abdomens, creating a chorus that's been likened to sirens or power tools. They don't bite or sting, and they don't eat solid food in their adult form, though they drink water. Instead, their defense is overwhelming abundance -— swarming in such numbers that they satiate predators like birds, raccoons, foxes, and turtles, playing a crucial role in the ecosystem. But their survival strategy is increasingly challenged by human-caused changes. Widespread deforestation and urbanization have destroyed habitat. And now, climate change is triggering more frequent occurrences of "stragglers" -- cicadas that emerge four years too early or too late, often in numbers too small to survive, which could threaten long term population numbers. Simon added that in areas like the capital Washington, these asynchronous emergences are forming "a patchy mosaic" of overlapping broods. Then there's the political climate. Under President Donald Trump, the federal government has fired scientists en masse and frozen funding for new research. Simon submitted a grant proposal last August to the National Science Foundation for a major genetic study into cicadas' internal clocks -- biological mechanisms that somehow track the passage of years, unlike humans' 24-hour circadian cycles.
Time of India
01-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Seventeen years later, Brood XIV cicadas emerge in US
The last time these thrumming, red-eyed bugs burrowed out of the ground across America's suburbs and woodlands was the early summer of 2008. Global financial jitters were mounting, iPhones were a luxury item, and George W Bush was still president. Now, reports from the citizen-science app Cicada Safari show the first insects of Brood XIV, which emerges every 17 years, surfacing in the US South. As ground temperatures warm across the North, millions more are expected to follow. Cicadas belong to the insect order Hemiptera, which includes stink bugs, bed bugs, and aphids. But they are often mistaken for locusts, a confusion that dates back to early English settlers who likened the mass emergences to Biblical plagues. Brood XIV itself was first documented in 1634. There are roughly 3,500 species of cicadas globally, many still unnamed. But periodical cicadas which emerge en masse after 13 or 17 years are unique to the eastern United States, with two additional unrelated species found in northeastern India and Fiji, says Chris Simon, a leading cicada expert at the University of Connecticut. "Everybody's fascinated by them, because you see nothing for 13 or 17 years, and then all of a sudden, your house and car are covered in these insects," Simon told AFP. "This is a marvelous phenomenon that you can take your kids to see and marvel at, watch them come out of their shells and wonder about how they evolved," she added, urging the public to appreciate, not fear them. "The world wouldn't survive without insects." Because their emergence years are staggered, different periodical cicada broods appear in different years. In 2024, a rare "double whammy" occurred when the 13-year Brood XIX overlapped with the 17-year Brood XIII. That's not the case in 2025, but excitement remains high around these mysterious critters, which continue to intrigue scientists -- especially given that the evolutionary logic behind their prime-numbered life cycles remains unresolved. Cicadas are often thought of as "creatures of history," conjuring memories of past life chapters , what you were doing when this brood last emerged. They spend nearly their entire lives underground, passing through life stages called instars, before tunneling to the surface for a brief few weeks to molt, mate, and die -- while their newly hatched offspring drop from trees and burrow into the soil, beginning the cycle anew. Males produce their deafening mating calls using tymbals, sound-producing membranes on either side of their abdomens, creating a chorus that's been likened to sirens or power tools. They don't bite or sting, and they don't eat solid food in their adult form, though they drink water. Instead, their defense is overwhelming abundance swarming in such numbers that they satiate predators like birds, raccoons, foxes, and turtles, playing a crucial role in the ecosystem. But their survival strategy is increasingly challenged by human-caused changes. Widespread deforestation and urbanization have destroyed habitat. And now, climate change is triggering more frequent occurrences of "stragglers" cicadas that emerge four years too early or too late, often in numbers too small to survive, which could threaten long term population numbers. Simon added that in areas like the capital Washington, these asynchronous emergences are forming "a patchy mosaic" of overlapping broods. Then there's the political climate. Under President Donald Trump, the federal government has fired scientists en masse and frozen funding for new research. Simon submitted a grant proposal last August to the National dcience foundation for a major genetic study into cicadas' internal clocks, biological mechanisms that somehow track the passage of years, unlike humans' 24-hour circadian cycles. "Nobody knows what's happening," she said, decrying the current attacks on science.
eNCA
01-05-2025
- Science
- eNCA
Seventeen years later, Brood XIV cicadas emerge in US
WASHINGTON - The last time these thrumming, red-eyed bugs burrowed out of the ground across America's suburbs and woodlands was the early summer of 2008. Global financial jitters were mounting, iPhones were a luxury item, and George W. Bush was still president. Now, reports from the citizen-science app Cicada Safari show the first insects of Brood XIV -- which emerge every 17 years -- surfacing in the US South. As ground temperatures warm across the North, millions more are expected to follow. Cicadas belong to the insect order Hemiptera, which includes stink bugs, bed bugs, and aphids. But they are often mistaken for locusts, a confusion that dates back to early English settlers who likened the mass emergences to Biblical plagues. Brood XIV itself was first documented in 1634. There are roughly 3,500 species of cicadas globally, many still unnamed. But periodical cicadas -- which emerge en masse after 13 or 17 years -- are unique to the eastern United States, with two additional unrelated species found in northeastern India and Fiji, says Chris Simon, a leading cicada expert at the University of Connecticut. "Everybody's fascinated by them, because you see nothing for 13 or 17 years, and then all of a sudden, your house and car are covered in these insects," Simon told AFP. "This is a marvellous phenomenon that you can take your kids to see and marvel at, watch them come out of their shells and wonder about how they evolved," she added, urging the public to appreciate, not fear them. "The world wouldn't survive without insects." Because their emergence years are staggered, different periodical cicada broods appear in different years. In 2024, a rare "double whammy" occurred when the 13-year Brood XIX overlapped with the 17-year Brood XIII. That's not the case in 2025, but excitement remains high around these mysterious critters, which continue to intrigue scientists -- especially given that the evolutionary logic behind their prime-numbered life cycles remains unresolved. Cicadas are often thought of as "creatures of history," conjuring memories of past life chapters -- what you were doing when this brood last emerged. They spend nearly their entire lives underground, passing through life stages called instars, before tunnelling to the surface for a brief few weeks to moult, mate, and die -- while their newly hatched offspring drop from trees and burrow into the soil, beginning the cycle anew. Males produce their deafening mating calls using tymbals, sound-producing membranes on either side of their abdomens, creating a chorus that's been likened to sirens or power tools. They don't bite or sting, and they don't eat solid food in their adult form, though they drink water. Instead, their defence is overwhelming abundance -— swarming in such numbers that they satiate predators like birds, raccoons, foxes, and turtles, playing a crucial role in the ecosystem. But their survival strategy is increasingly challenged by human-caused changes. Widespread deforestation and urbanisation have destroyed habitat. And now, climate change is triggering more frequent occurrences of "stragglers" -- cicadas that emerge four years too early or too late, often in numbers too small to survive, which could threaten long-term population numbers. Simon added that in areas like the capital Washington, these asynchronous emergences are forming "a patchy mosaic" of overlapping broods. Then there's the political climate. Under President Donald Trump, the federal government has fired scientists en masse and frozen funding for new research. Simon submitted a grant proposal last August to the National Science Foundation for a major genetic study into cicadas' internal clocks -- biological mechanisms that somehow track the passage of years, unlike humans' 24-hour circadian cycles. "Nobody knows what's happening," she said, decrying the current attacks on science.
