so beautiful bug-4: periodical cicada (주기성 매미)

It is summer, hot and humid, making people so antsy. Then cicada's songs and a little breeze under a tree lightens up our mind.

I had a chance to visit MTSU campus at Murfreesboro, TN, a few days ago, and found very interesting cicadas. 

They have eyes with red brick color and orange-colored wings (veins). They are about 1-inch long and fly short distances.
Since there are so many of them and they are not strong fliers, it was pretty easy to catch and examine them more closely. I took several shots with pleasure and excitement.

Images of adults.  Very pretty. ^^!

(All images: Click to enlarge)

Cicada nymphs (= juveniles or larvae) live underground, and then they crawl out and climb up the trees where adults emerge, leaving empty cuticles behind (see below).

Some poor guys failed to emerge into adult, thus died in the nymphal cuticle.  The one shown below made about half way, then died (kind of birth defects in human terms). 

As adults, they live only for a few days.  After mating and reproduction, their terms on earth are done (mission accomplished!).  Below is a graveyard of the dead cicadas.  You also can see the exit holes (arrows) through which nymphs came out. 

As I suspected, these cicadas turned out to be "periodical cicadas".  

Who are they?

Cicadas belong to 'Order Homoptera', so distantly related to aphids.  They undergo 'incomplete metamorphosis' (meaning there is no pupal stage).

There are two types of cicadas: annual and periodical.  

Annuals are ones that we commonly see during the summer every year.  Since the pace of nymphal development is not synchronized, some nymphs emerge into adults this year, while others do so next year, etc. 

In contrast, nymphs of the periodicals grow synchronously, meaning that they mature into adults at the same time.  Such synchronized nymphal development is of mystery. (Do they communicate each other to determine when to become grown-ups???)

Nymphs live underground for 13 or 17 years depending on species.  This is why we can see a swarm of adult cicadas periodically with an interval of 13 or 17 years.  WOW!! COOUUL!!  This kind of surprise was reflected in their genus name (Magicicada).

I knew the story of the periodical cicadas, but never seen them with my own eyes. I was very lucky to meet with them, and I will have to wait for another 13 or 17 years to see them again.  Oh, boy!!

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