Large brood of 17-year cicadas expected in 2013

[Chris_]

We have them every year here, too. I remember putting the shells on our shirts when we were kids and walking around with them like they were decoration. We called them locusts back then...heck, we still do The annual cicadas do not swarm as bad as the 13 or 17 year brood.

If they're showing up every year, they probably are locusts.

[CG6468]

I am, or was for over 45 years, an amateur entomologist. Our daughter is now keeper of my "bug" collection.

Gleaned from several internet sites:


Cicadas are in the order Homoptera, most closely related to plant lice and leafhoppers.

Cicadas lay eggs in slits in twigs. Annual species hatch and mature on their host trees and sing loudly during hot summer days. Periodical cicadas drop to the ground after hatching and spend anywhere from a few to 17 years as nymphs feeding on tree roots underground before maturing to adults. Cicadas also destroy the small twigs on trees.

"Locust" is a general, colloquial term that usually refers to migratory grasshoppers of the order Orthoptera, but is sometimes applied to other insects of the order, including crickets, cicadas and katydids. Swarms of locusts were common during our Dust Bowl years, and there are still swarms of them throughout the world.

[thundley4]

I am, or was for over 45 years, an amateur entomologist. Our daughter is now keeper of my "bug" collection.

Gleaned from several internet sites:


Cicadas are in the order Homoptera, most closely related to plant lice and leafhoppers.

Cicadas lay eggs in slits in twigs. Annual species hatch and mature on their host trees and sing loudly during hot summer days. Periodical cicadas drop to the ground after hatching and spend anywhere from a few to 17 years as nymphs feeding on tree roots underground before maturing to adults. Cicadas also destroy the small twigs on trees.

"Locust" is a general, colloquial term that usually refers to migratory grasshoppers of the order Orthoptera, but is sometimes applied to other insects of the order, including crickets, cicadas and katydids. Swarms of locusts were common during our Dust Bowl years, and there are still swarms of them throughout the world.

We used to call cicadas katydids and locusts. Looking at pictures of the different ones, they are three separate things. Locusts are what is more commonly called a grasshopper, katydids look like a funny green grasshopper with wider wings and cicadas look like some alien monster.

[A7X_foREVer]

Large brood of 17-year cicadas expected in 2013

Great, teenagers. All the drama, loud music, fast cars, and the bobby sox clubs...yuck!

LOL too funny

[dixierose]

If they're showing up every year, they probably are locusts.

I went to some websites, and a cicada shell is what we were calling a locust shell. There are some varieties that come out yearly.

[J P Sousa]

  Cicadas also destroy the small twigs on trees.
 

So that's why there are so many twigs in my backyard this year. 

.

[Eupher]

I've got a pin oak that was killed by galls.

I've got a guy coming out in a week or so to cut it down. It was a great tree, but the critters that formed the galls killed it and I don't want it falling across my fence.

No stump grinding. The tree is in my back yard and I couldn't care less how the stump looks.

[J P Sousa]

I've got a pin oak that was killed by galls.

I've got a guy coming out in a week or so to cut it down. It was a great tree, but the critters that formed the galls killed it and I don't want it falling across my fence.

No stump grinding. The tree is in my back yard and I couldn't care less how the stump looks.

If you will leave it there then make sure you treat it with this;

Spectracide 1.3 gal. Ready-To-Use Termite and Carpenter Ant Killer
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Spectracide-1-3-gal-Ready-To-Use-Termite-and-Carpenter-Ant-Killer-HG-53391-5/100046531#.UWR8Y5zD9jo
.

[Evil_Conservative]

If they're showing up every year, they probably are locusts.

Do the locusts make those annoying humming noises too?  It's just those humming noises and dead skin shell things.

[Chris_]

Do the locusts make those annoying humming noises too?  It's just those humming noises and dead skin shell things.

I don't know.  I only encountered locusts once in North Carolina and I wasn't there long enough to find out.

I went to some websites, and a cicada shell is what we were calling a locust shell. There are some varieties that come out yearly.

That is a locust and not a cicada.

[Eupher]

If you will leave it there then make sure you treat it with this;

Spectracide 1.3 gal. Ready-To-Use Termite and Carpenter Ant Killer
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Spectracide-1-3-gal-Ready-To-Use-Termite-and-Carpenter-Ant-Killer-HG-53391-5/100046531#.UWR8Y5zD9jo
.

Okay, I see the wisdom of doing that, but this tree is about 100 meters from my house. Kinda stands alone - though there is some sort of really nasty picker-type bush next to it that's on my neighbor's property.

[dixierose]

I don't know.  I only encountered locusts once in North Carolina and I wasn't there long enough to find out.
That is a locust and not a cicada.

That's what pops up when I do Google image search for cicada shells.

https://www.google.com/search?q=cicada&hl=en&rlz=1C1GPEA_enUS316&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=OE5lUafnNYek8ASVroHwBw&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=909#hl=en&rlz=1C1GPEA_enUS316&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=cicada+shells&oq=cicada+shells&gs_l=img.3..0l3j0i24l2.6982.7911.0.8381.7.6.0.1.1.0.102.337.5j1.6.0...0.0...1c.1.8.img.bcym9ItjXNg&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.44990110,d.eWU&fp=af726cb83c19077b&biw=1280&bih=909

[BlueStateSaint]

Okay, I see the wisdom of doing that, but this tree is about 100 meters from my house. Kinda stands alone - though there is some sort of really nasty picker-type bush next to it that's on my neighbor's property.

A gallon of kerosene or gasoline and a match would do the trick, too.

[Eupher]

A gallon of kerosene or gasoline and a match would do the trick, too.

 

  It's a thought, but somehow I don't think my neighbor would be keen on the idea of a 75 foot tree going nukular about 30 yards from his house. 

[BattleHymn]

That's what pops up when I do Google image search for cicada shells.

https://www.google.com/search?q=cicada&hl=en&rlz=1C1GPEA_enUS316&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=OE5lUafnNYek8ASVroHwBw&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=909#hl=en&rlz=1C1GPEA_enUS316&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=cicada+shells&oq=cicada+shells&gs_l=img.3..0l3j0i24l2.6982.7911.0.8381.7.6.0.1.1.0.102.337.5j1.6.0...0.0...1c.1.8.img.bcym9ItjXNg&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.44990110,d.eWU&fp=af726cb83c19077b&biw=1280&bih=909

That is a cicada shell, dixierose.  Locust don't shed like that. Locust basically look like a huge, overgrown grasshopper.   

I think some people call a 'locust' a 'cicada', and vice versa, sort of a buffalo/bison thing.     

[CG6468]

They’re here: Cicadas are emerging!
By Kevin Ambrose, Published: May 13, 2013 at 10:40 amE-mail the writer

This photo shows a group of cicadas that emerged from the ground Saturday night near Manassas, Virginia.  The cicadas crawled out of their nymph skins during the overnight hours and patiently waited for their shells to harden and for their wings to expand and dry out.  (Kevin Ambrose)

For those of you who live in an area affected by Brood II of the periodical 17 year cicadas — see map here — they have started to emerge.  During this past weekend, the loud and clumsy bug was observed in counties just to the south of Washington.

I had a camp out scheduled with my kids this past weekend in central Prince William County and I knew that my campsite was located in Brood II country.  I packed my camera hoping to find and photograph cicadas.

On Saturday afternoon, I arrived at the camping area near Manassas, Virginia and I looked in the trees for cicadas and their nymph shells.  I found an apple tree that had a few nymph skins and one cicada.  Most of the trees in the surrounding area, however, did not have cicadas.

Get ready for some noise! (And crunching underfoot.)

[thundley4]

I hope we see some soon.  Our dog loves chasing them and eating them.