32 NEBRASKAland • JULY 2016
female counterparts. The noise
produced creates a cacophony
of sound that is impossible to
miss. If you listen closely, you
may even be able to pick up
variations in their calls, which
are produced from a membrane
just behind their wing known as
a tymbal. Different species have
unique calls that are discernible
from one another. In addition,
each individual species has a
variety of calls with different
meanings. The most obvious
of these is the call to attract
females, and, though females
cannot respond because they
lack noisemaking tymbals, they
give a quick flick of their wings
that produces a small sound in
response to the males' efforts.
Once a suitor is identified, the
males will change their call by
increasing frequency and pitch
that communicates courtship
as he continues in his efforts to
woo the female. If something
disturbs them during this
process, the males can also emit
an alarm call in an effort to
ward off whatever is distracting
them.
After mating, a female will
carve many small notches into
thin branches on trees where
she will deposit her eggs. This
carving will damage only the
youngest and most fragile of
branches, so trees typically
survive the process relatively
unscathed. Breeding and
depositing their eggs are the
last efforts the adults will go
through in their lives, dying
shortly thereafter to return
nutrients to the soil and to feed
other organisms. The eggs will
hatch in short order, and the
freshly emerged nymphs will
drop to the ground and begin
burrowing in earnest. Moving
Two periodical cicadas mate as an empty exoskeleton clings to the branch below.
Magicicada larvae hatch out of the notches in twigs and will fall to the ground to bury
themselves and begin developing.
The first instar of a periodical cicada is smaller than a grain of rice and barely visible
to the naked eye.
PHOTO
BY
ALEX
WILES
PHOTO
BY
ALEX
WILES
PHOTO
BY
JEFF
KURRUS
