Periodical cicadas

Periodical cicada
Specimen of Magicicada septendecim in the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology, Munich (2015)
A Magicicada chorus with M. septendecim, M. cassini, and M. septendecula
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Auchenorrhyncha
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadettinae
Tribe: Lamotialnini
Genus: Magicicada
W. T. Davis, 1925
Type species
Magicicada septendecim[1]

The term periodical cicada is commonly used to refer to any of the seven species of the genus Magicicada of eastern North America, the 13- and 17-year cicadas. They are called periodical because nearly all individuals in a local population are developmentally synchronized and emerge in the same year. Although they are sometimes called "locusts", this is a misnomer, as cicadas belong to the taxonomic order Hemiptera (true bugs), suborder Auchenorrhyncha, while locusts are grasshoppers belonging to the order Orthoptera.[2] Magicicada belongs to the cicada tribe Lamotialnini, a group of genera with representatives in Australia, Africa, and Asia, as well as the Americas.[3]

Magicicada species spend around 99.5% of their long lives underground in an immature state called a nymph. While underground, the nymphs feed on xylem fluids from the roots of deciduous forest trees in the eastern United States.[4] In the spring of their 13th or 17th year, mature cicada nymphs emerge between late April and early June (depending on latitude), synchronously and in tremendous numbers.[5][6] The adults are active for only about four to six weeks after the unusually prolonged developmental phase.[7]

The males aggregate in chorus centers and call there to attract mates. Mated females lay eggs in the stems of woody plants. Within two months of the original emergence, the life cycle is complete and the adult cicadas die. Later in that same summer, the eggs hatch and the new nymphs burrow underground to develop for the next 13 or 17 years.

Periodical emergences are also reported for the "World Cup cicada" Chremistica ribhoi (every 4 years)[8] in northeast India and for a cicada species from Fiji, Raiateana knowlesi (every 8 years).[9]

  1. ^ Maxine Shoemaker Heath (1978). Genera of American cicadas north of Mexico (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Florida. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.42291.
  2. ^ "General Periodical Cicada Information". Cicadas. Storrs, Connecticut: University of Connecticut. February 16, 2017. Archived from the original on May 11, 2021. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
  3. ^ Marshall, DC; Moulds, M; Hill, KBR; Price, BW; Wade, EJ; Owen, CO; Goemans, G; Marathe, K; Sarkar, V; Cooley, JR; Sanborn, AF; Kunte, K; Villet, MH; Simon, C (2018). "A molecular phylogeny of the cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) with a review of tribe and subfamily classification". Zootaxa. 4424 (1): 1–64. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4424.1.1. PMID 30313477. S2CID 52976455. Archived from the original on August 23, 2018.
  4. ^ Lloyd, M. & H.S. Dybas (1966). "The periodical cicada problem. I. Population ecology". Evolution. 20 (2): 133–149. doi:10.2307/2406568. JSTOR 2406568. PMID 28563627.
  5. ^ "Magicicada". Cicada Mania.
  6. ^ "CICADAS IN ILLINOIS 2024". Field Museum.
  7. ^ Williams, K.S. & C. Simon (1995). "The ecology, behavior, and evolution of periodical cicadas" (PDF). Annual Review of Entomology. 40: 269–295. doi:10.1146/annurev.en.40.010195.001413. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 29, 2010.
  8. ^ Hajong, Sudhanya Ray; Yaakop, Salmah (August 29, 2013). "Chremistica ribhoi sp. n. (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) from North-East India and its mass emergence". Zootaxa. 3702 (5): 493–500. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3702.5.8. PMID 26146742.
  9. ^ Simon, Chris; Cooley, John R.; Karban, Richard; Sota, Teiji (January 7, 2022). "Advances in the Evolution and Ecology of 13- and 17-Year Periodical Cicadas". Annual Review of Entomology. 67 (1): 457–482. doi:10.1146/annurev-ento-072121-061108. PMID 34623904. S2CID 238529885.