It’s hard to believe it’s happening again so soon, but this week we began seeing the 17-year “periodical cicadas” emerging from their underground chambers. With each passing day, we’re seeing more and more of the newly emerged cicadas on leaves, bark, grass, and buildings. It rained last night, and it must have rained cicadas because they are everywhere.
Magicicada spp., the 17-year cicada seen in the Blue Ridge
The periodical cicada species are so named because, in any one location, all of the members of the population are developmentally synchronized—they emerge as adults all at once in the same year. All other cicada species (about 6,000 worldwide) are not synchronized, so some adults mature each summer and emerge while the rest of the population continues to develop underground. Many people know periodical cicadas by the name “17-year locusts” or “13-year locusts”, but they are not true locusts, which are a type of grasshopper.
Magicicada spp. spend much of their 17-year life cycle underground feeding on xylem fluids from the roots of deciduous trees. In the spring of their 17th year, a few weeks before emerging, the cicada nymphs construct exit tunnels to the surface. These tunnels are visible as approximately ½-inch diameter holes, or as chimney-like mud “turrets” which the nymphs sometimes construct over their holes.
Then on some spring evening when the soil temperature at roughly an 8-inch depth is above 17 °C (63 °F), the nymphs come out of their tunnels and climb to a suitable place on nearby vegetation to molt one last time and complete their transformation into an adult cicada.
Empty shell after the cicada’s last molt
After molting, cicadas spend about six days hidden in the leaves waiting for their exoskeleton to harden completely. During this time, they are easy prey for birds, reptiles, squirrels, cats, and other large and small mammals. So it would appear that overwhelming predators by their sheer numbers, ensuring the survival of most of the individuals, is an advantageous survival mechanism for the cicadas.
Despite their prolonged developmental phase, the adults are only active for a few weeks. Soon after molting, the males gather in the trees and “sing” to attract the females. Within two months of their appearance (about mid-July in Virginia), the females will lay their eggs and then the adults will die and the cicadas will be gone for another 17 years.
Nature never hurries. Atom by atom, little by little, she achieves her work. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wood and Field 
I would have to admit I didn’t know any of that about the cicadas. In my distant, distant memory as a boy I remember their bulging red eyes, capturing a few and chasing my sister and her friends around the neighborhood with them – hmm, Jo Ann’s sister is coming to visit, hmm. Just kidding of course.
You know, I can actually see you doing that. No wonder you poor sister is afraid of insects! And when you say distant, you really mean distant 🙂
Forgot to mention the pics look great!
Wow, early indeed! I’ve yet to spot a Cicada in Ohio yet.
They’re not as bad here (yet) as I thought they would be. From the number of shells I was seeing, I thought we’d be inundated. Anyway, the birds are sure happy. Your turn will come…
My daughter lives in MD and she doesn’t have them there yet either.
Wow! I’ve never seen anything like that before! Incredible red eyes! *shudder* 😉
They are strange insects indeed, Karen. They live underground for 17 years, then emerge, mate, lay their eggs and die — all in a few weeks’ time.
Fascinating facts, they look quite large from the photos. Do they sting or bite?
They are about an inch and a half long and, no, they don’t sting or bite. In fact, they’re quite harmless, although I don’t think they see too well – either that or they aren’t good flyers because one might occasionally fly into me.
We get a type of large flying beetle called a Cockchafer or ‘May bug’ here, they hit the house windows at night with a thud, attracted to the light. The grubs live in the soil for a number of years before emerging, no where near as long as Cicada though. Thanks for the info, very interesting.