Return of the Cicadas – Samuel Orr (2013)

Cicadas are Hemipterans (true bugs). The genus Magicicada groups 13-year and 17-year periodical cicada species of eastern North America.

The Spring of 2020 corresponds to the emergence of Brood IX of periodical cicadas in North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. Such emergences are spectacular feats of nature. After living underground feeding with tree roots for 13-years or 17-years (depending on the brood type) the adult insects dig themselves out synchronously in massive numbers to change their exoskeletons, mate and die. Biologists think that the main force behind evolution of such a complicated number game is a predator avoidance strategy known as predator satiation. Cicadas are very large insects with nutritious muscle mass and therefore are an attractive food source for many predators including the highly specialized cicada killer wasps (Sphecius speciosus).

Brood sizes are large and cover multiple states. Entomologists heavily rely on observations provided by citizen scientists to track emergences and determine their boundaries. In a given year, cicadas from other broods may also emerge in small numbers. These early or late emerging cicadas are called stragglers. You can help mapping of broods and detect potantial stragglers by uploading your photographic observations in the iNaturalist database.

Here, the filmmaker Samuel Orr provides a beautiful encapsulation of cicada life cycle through fascinating timelapse recordings.

Australia and New Zealand Cicadas from motionkicker on Vimeo.