Latest news with #Massosporacicadina
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.
New York Post
12-05-2025
- Science
- New York Post
Red-eyed zombie bugs emerge hungry for sex after 17-year slumber — and they're set to take over these states
They're buggin' out. After lying dormant for nearly two decades, billions of sex-crazed cicadas will be emerging from their subterranean sleep pods hungry for love. However, this year, many will be extra horny thanks to the spread of a creepy, 'The Last Of Us'-esque zombie fungus. 'Nature is stranger than any science fiction that's ever been written,' said John Cooley, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Connecticut, told the Scientific American while describing the phenomenon. 3 'Nature is stranger than any science fiction that's ever been written,' said John Cooley, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Connecticut, told the Scientific American while describing the fungus. AFP via Getty Images Trees across the US have already been abuzz with the hornball bugs' siren-esque chirps after the Brood XIV class surfaced for the first time since 2008, USA Today reported. The red-eyed insects are the second largest of the periodical cicadas, a version that hunkers down underground for years — 17 in the case of Brood XIC — as nymphs, feeding on tree sap, before surfacing when the ground temp hits the requisite 64 degrees Fahrenheit. These cyclical critters are expected to break ground in 13 states this year, including New York, according to Gene Kritsky, an entomologist at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, Ohio. The love bugs' goal is to find a mate and procreate in the four to six weeks they spend above ground before dying off, the Daily Mail reported. After copulating, the female deposits eggs so that her offspring can repeat the cycle when they emerge in the year 2042. 3 A map showing the spots of the cicadas' emergence. U.S. Forest Service In fact, their earsplitting siren sound, which is so loud it has prompted police calls, is actually a mating song that's used to attract prospective partners. Unfortunately, for many cicadas, possibly millions, mating will be especially intense due to a genital-destroying fungi called Massospora cicadina that ramps up their sex drive and turns them into 'zombies' — like those described in HBO's sci-fi horror series 'Last of Us' Affecting both 13-year and 17-year cicadas, the spores replace the insect's genitalia with a plug of fungus. After hijacking the host's system, it then urges the zombified cicada to flick its wings like an amorous female would. When healthy males try to mate with the imposters, they become infected and spread the fungus like an STD. 3 The fungal phenomenon has been compared to an STD. Gene Kritsky In other words, they're spreading a bug. 'By doing so, they can infect males and females alike … and they are tricked into doing so as much as they can for as long as they can before they ultimately succumb to the fungus and die,' Smithsonian Entomologist and Collections Manager Floyd Shockley previously told the Washington Times. 'It's sex, drugs and zombies,' quipped Cooley while describing this carnal cordycep phenomenon, which begins underground while the bugs are still nymphs. Fortunately, we have nothing to fear from cicadas, zombified or otherwise. 'They are harmless, they don't bite or sting,' Senior Research Scientist and cicada expert Dr. Chris Simon of UConn wrote to However, cicadas are known to 'pee' on people as a defense mechanism and they can be dangerous to young trees, however, as they lay their eggs in small tree branches, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The agency advises covering maturing saplings in mesh or netting to keep the insects out.
Scientific American
07-05-2025
- Science
- Scientific American
Prepare for ‘Sex, Drugs and Zombies'—Brood XIV Cicadas Are Coming
As spring warms the eastern U.S. and green shoots peek from the ground, other forms of life stir in the soil. Periodical 17-year cicadas in Brood XIV—one of 15 broods found only in North America—begin to creep from their underground burrows. Last seen in 2008, they will emerge in the billions across a dozen states from early May through June. Above ground, flightless cicada nymphs transform into black-bodied, winged adults, ready for a month-long bacchanal of song and sex. But for many cicadas—possibly tens of millions—mating will be a gruesome parody of procreation in which their body is turned into a disintegrating puppet by the deadly fungus Massospora cicadina, which only infects 13-year and 17-year cicadas. An infected insect will try to mate even though its genitals have been consumed by the fungus and replaced by a plug of fungal structures called conidiospores, which spread their 'zombification' effect on contact. M. cicadina makes male cicadas flick their wings like amorous females do; healthy males become infected when they try to mate with the imposters. The fungus also floods cicadas with cathinone, a stimulant that also occurs in khat, a plant chewed as a recreational drug in some parts of the world. In cicadas, cathinone may boost hypersexualized behavior. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. 'It's sex, drugs and zombies,' says John Cooley, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Connecticut. 'Nature is stranger than any science fiction that's ever been written.' 'World's Best Study Organisms' Fungus and cicada, zombifier and zombie: their relationship is at least 100 million years old, and scientists are still piecing together how it works, says Matt Kasson, a mycologist at West Virginia University. Every brood emergence helps address questions that can't be answered in a lab, such as when the fungus invades nymphs' bodies. 'When you're dealing with something that spends 16.9 years underground, there's a lot of uncertainty there,' Kasson says. When M. cicadina infects adults, it produces durable, thick-walled 'resting spores' that drop from its host's crumbling abdomen onto the ground. Resting spores infect other nymphs, which, after metamorphosis, develop their own plug of stalklike conidiospores—the spores that sexually transmit the fungus to other adults. But scientists don't know if resting spores infect nymphs after they hatch or when they surface more than a decade later. In fact, the fungus may have more than these two spore types; they can possibly produce others that kill nymphs underground, Kasson says. Researchers recently found that M. cicadina has the largest genome in the fungus kingdom, meaning that certain aspects of its biology—such as its reproductive cycle—could be quite complex. The only other fungi with a comparable genome size are rust fungi: plant pathogens with up to five life cycle stages. Given that rust fungi and M. cicadina both have unusually large genomes, M. cicadina might share other features with rust fungi, such as multiple spore varieties, Kasson suggests. According to Cooley, periodical cicadas' unusually long nymph stage has led to a lack of specialized predators of these insects, with one exception: M. cicadina. 'It's not surprising that the thing that would crack the cicada life cycle is a fungus that can have resting stages, so it can just wait out until the appropriate time,' he says. Because M. cicadina prevents its hosts from reproducing, the fungus may also affect cicada populations and brood distribution; that relationship, Cooley adds, is another piece of the periodical cicada puzzle. For Cooley, periodical cicadas offer a window into species distribution and how populations shift over time. Despite their lengthy underground stage, periodical cicadas are nonetheless good research subjects because adults are abundant and easy to find. 'They're loud; they're obvious; they tell you exactly where they are,' Cooley says. 'They turn out to be one of the world's best study organisms for asking really big evolutionary questions about species and speciation.' Over time, climate change and human activity have reshaped the cicadas' habitats: populations wax and wane, and some broods vanish entirely. Brood XIV will include three periodical cicada species: Magicicada cassini, Magicicada septendecim and Magicicada septendecula. Their emergence will show how the species and populations interact and identify potential mates of their own kind. 'What I'm going after directly is the question of range change,' Cooley says. 'I'm also looking for overlaps between this and other broods.' Within the broods, patterns of waxing and waning zombie infections can reveal how cicada populations change over time. Zombie Counting and Tracking Brood XIV cicadas will be most abundant in Kentucky and Tennessee, with smaller populations as far south as northern Georgia and as far north as Massachusetts. Places with more cicadas will almost certainly have more zombies, says entomologist Chris Alice Kratzer, author and illustrator of the field guide The Cicadas of North America. 'I would expect to see a lot more Massospora in Kentucky and Tennessee this year than in some places like Pennsylvania or Massachusetts,' Kratzer says. Based on prior records from the crowdsourcing app iNaturalist for other broods, Kasson predicts that approximately two to four percent of Brood XIV will be zombified. For people who want to contribute to M. cicadina research, 'uploading photos to community science platforms like iNaturalist is really essential for scientists like myself to figure out where the fungus is and is not,' he says. Kratzer, who has previously confirmed sightings of cicadas and M. cicadina for iNaturalist, is also verifying Brood XIV sightings for the platform. When someone posts a sighting of a cicada with a Massospora infection, Kratzer encourages the observer to create entries for both the cicada and the fungus. 'It's a very exciting part of science to be in because anyone with a camera or a microphone can contribute.' If cicada-spotters are patient, they could pinpoint a zombie or two. But even if they don't find any, the sheer number of periodical cicadas is impressive to behold. With predictions of as many as 1.5 million insects per square acre in some places, this year's Brood XIV emergence will be a sight that observers won't soon forget. 'Everybody loves a spectacle,' Cooley says. 'And if these aren't a spectacle, I don't know what is.'
Forbes
06-04-2025
- Science
- Forbes
This Morbid Fungus Turns Cicadas Into Hypersexual Zombies Without Genitals — A Biologist Explains
Massospora cicadina's lifecycle is so closely linked to periodical cicadas, that it waits 17 years ... More to hijack its sex life — then spreads by turning them into walking spore bombs. Every 13 or 17 years, the forests of eastern North America erupt in a slow-motion frenzy. Billions of cicadas claw their way to the surface after spending nearly their entire lives underground, waiting for the moment to molt, mate and vanish. For a few manic weeks, tree trunks drip with newly hatched adults, and the air rings with a chorus that can rival jet engines. But they're not alone. Emerging with them — timed to the very year, to the very brood — is something far more sinister. This is a parasitic fungus called Massospora cicadina. A pathogen that infects these ancient insects and rewires their behavior, turning them into sexual decoys whose final acts spread spores like a plague. Beyond the chaotic rise of every brood lies one of nature's most grotesque manipulations — a horrid affair that keeps this species alive against the odds. The life cycle of Massospora cicadina reads like a precision-timed ambush. This parasitic fungus lies dormant underground for 13 or 17 years, synchronized perfectly with its host — the periodical cicada. When broods emerge en masse, so does the fungus, triggered by the very same environmental cues that summon the cicadas from the soil. Massospora infects its host in two distinct stages, according to a January 2018 study published in Scientific Reports. In the first, called 'Stage I,' cicadas emerging from the ground pick up resting spores, ready to infect others around them. Once these cicadas take to the skies, the fungus actively spreads from infected cicadas to healthy ones. White fungal plugs burst from the insect's abdomen, shedding spores as the cicada continues to move, mate and interact, often without apparent distress. Later, in 'Stage II,' the fungus produces hardy spores that fall to the soil and lie dormant until the next generation surfaces, years down the line. Among the stranger twists in Massospora's evolutionary arsenal is its probable chemical manipulation of host behavior. Infected periodical cicadas have been found to carry cathinone, a psychoactive compound that is chemically related to amphetamines, according to an October 2019 study published in Fungal Ecology. This discovery marks one of the few known cases of a fungus producing such a stimulant. Researchers detected cathinone only during the active (conidial) phase of infection, when the fungus might be helped by its host staying mobile, sociable and — most critically — sexually active. Though the exact biochemical pathways remain unknown, it appears Massospora may be chemically encouraging infected cicadas to keep flying, mating and thereby spreading the spores. Unlike Cordyceps, which kills and immobilizes its hosts, Massospora keeps the lights on just long enough to turn cicadas into vessels of transmission. The cathinone doesn't seem to play a role in killing the insect directly, but it might be influencing its priorities until it dies. If cathinone nudges infected cicadas toward hyperactivity, their sexual behavior provides the perfect delivery system. During the conidial phase, infected males flick their wings in a way that mimics female mating signals, attracting both uninfected males and females. What the responding cicadas don't realize is that this apparent invitation comes with a fungal payload. The infection is brutal but precisely targeted. The fungal plug replaces much of the host's abdomen, often destroying reproductive organs in the process. Yet despite this mutilation, infected cicadas continue to attempt mating. Sexual signaling becomes a spore-spreading mechanism. Males try to mate with infected mimics, females are drawn in by the performance, and the fungus passes silently between them all. This behavioral hijacking turns what should be a reproductive dead end into a superhighway for infection. This manipulation of courtship behavior is rare and unusually complex. Even males missing their reproductive organs continue to call and copulate, seemingly unaware that their role has shifted from mate to vector. Healthy males, duped by the wing-flicks, attempt to mate and walk away carrying spores. Females, too, are drawn into the cycle, often losing their genitalia during the act, sometimes left with pieces of fungal-infected tissue lodged on their partners. The choreography is grotesque, but efficient — an intricate, parasitic pageant engineered to keep the show going for as long as the fungus needs until the next brood comes along. Some may find Massospora cicadina's behavior horrifying, while others might appreciate the ingenuity at play. Take this 2-minute quiz and see where you stand on the Animal Attitude Scale.
