It’s a Sci-Fi World

Last June I was enjoying a little outdoor exercise below a mighty maple tree while visiting my parent's home in Illinois. A simple pleasure of feeling the grass beneath my feet while shaded by this towering masterpiece. The world seemed still of motion, but alive with the sounds of birds welcoming in the day. It felt like it was just me and this beautiful tree in perfect harmony.

A leisurely forward bend, however, brought me face to face with an unseen creepy crawly world.

A Sci-Fi World!

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of experiencing cicadas, let me give you a quick explanation.

Cicada Basics:

Cicadas are winged insects that appear in mass numbers. Mass numbers that can reach Sci-Fi proportions! They are often confused with locusts, but the two are not related at all. They create a loud buzzing song that echoes throughout the early summer months. They live on every continent, except Antarctica, but are not necessarily found in every State and/or Country.

They cycle through life above ground every 13-17 years or 2-5 years depending on the species. They crawl out of the ground, latch onto living plants with their large front legs to molt leaving discarded shells behind. They mate, they die, and their larvae hatch, and resubmerge underground for their allotted length of time before beginning the cycle all over again.

Back to my Sci-Fi World...

As this new Sci-Fi reality takes shape, I realize there is a whole world happening beneath my bare feet. I gaze around the base of the tree and can see the carnage for what it is. Dozens and dozens of empty shells holding the form of the former bug littering the ground and brown creatures with beady red eyes crawling towards the trunk. They are literally all around me.

Did I mention I was barefoot?!!

Following the movement from the base of the tree, glancing up its rugged trunk, this Sci-Fi world unfolds, literally. Not only are their empty casings littering the ground below the tree, there are numerous empty casings dangle from its jagged bark. At this point I have lost count of my "Wows and icks!"

Exercise gives way to curiosity and now I am in discovery mode. Despite having to be careful where I step, I am finding this quite fascinating. I circle the tree and there before me the cycle of life is in full swing. I spy an alien-looking being unfurling from a delicate brown shell. A mirror image in shape and size but white as can be. As it takes a respite from breaking free of its shell, it reminds me of an elegant high-dive diver frozen in motion just as its about to begin a back dive.

A little further below a newly hatched cicada glistening in the morning light looks elegant, yet ghostly, in its finest freshly pressed white outfit. Its red beady eyes and translucent wings sparkle. I myself am now transformed. The WOW factor still remains, but the ick factor has given way to appreciation and amazement. 

2024 is being called the Year of the Cicada!

Now, my experience I just described happened in 2023. I cannot even begin to fathom what it will be like this year with TRILLONS of these insects emerging all at once! If I happen to be in Illinois at the time, I will be sure to share the experience with you. If I don't make it there this year, I will certainly be looking forward to hear all about it from my family members and their experience in a cicada sci-fi world.

Until then, remember the more we understand the world around us, the more we feel connected to it. The more we feel connected to it, the more we will do to protect it. Granted, bugs are not on everyone's favorite critter list, but the complexity of their often-unknown world cannot help but be admired even with a little bit of the ick factor attached.

Even in my new found admiration for them, as I was ready to head back indoors, I couldn't help but feel that somehow one managed to mistake me for a tree and possibly crawled up my leg or may have fallen on me from above. Shaking myself off, I stood in admiration of an insect I knew little about until they welcomed me into their Sci-Fi world under the canopy of our mighty maple.
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Cicada Facts...

Periodical cicadas are found only in North American and cycle to life every 13 to 17 years, depending on the species. Annual cicadas' cycle to life every two to five years. In all, there are around 3,400 cicada species, of which seven are periodical. Their wings are not only veined and transparent, but they are also waterproof and antimicrobial. They have no stingers and lack chewing mouthparts, so there is no fear of being bitten by one. They are really harmless and are an abundant food source for every living critter, including some humans who view them as a delicacy.

Cicadas grow underground by molting through several nymph stages or instars. It is during the last instar that nymphs emerge from their burrows. The aboveground nymph stage is wingless, hence the crawling, with a light-brown exoskeleton. Their large front limbs are used to anchor themselves to trees and other plants in preparation of their transformation into adulthood. When adults emerge out of the nymph exoskeleton their bodies are soft and white. Over the next few hours their wings will unfurl and over the next four to six days their adult exoskeleton will darken and harden.

The loud buzzing sound cicadas make is a matting call and all the males sing together in a chorus. After mating, the males die and female's lay their eggs (approximately 20 at a time) into the slits in tree branches. The eggs hatch within six to ten weeks with the nymphs dropping from the branches to the ground. They burrow into the soil and suck nutrients from the plant's roots.

Cicadas spend most of their life underground in their nymph stage, while their adulthood above ground lasts between two to six weeks. Although no species of cicada is endangered, like many other critters we share this earth with, they too are losing habitat.

For more cicada facts visit ScienceAlert.com

For a fun animated version visit Time.com