Cicadas the 100 Decibels Insect and the Many Broods
I have not slept good in days. Being in the DMV with the Brood X is no fun. You can see 100s of them on one tree. Or have one hit you in the head as they are falling out of trees.
The Cicada is an incest capable of reaching 100 decibels. Now let us put it in perspective, the average motorcycle ranges around 95 Decibels. So, a cicada is louder than the average motorcycle. A car horn at 15 feet is 100 Decibels the same range as a cicada.
Large Cicada Broods can come out of the ground at 1.5 million per acre. My neighborhood is full of them and nighttime is a nightmare. Cicadas are not usually active at nighttime but when frightened they will. I know you saw all the videos of humans eating them.
Cicadas are eaten by many different species. Birds love them, once a Brood emerges from the ground certain birds will eat crazy quantities of them. Wasp also love cicadas and will hunt them for hours on end. Rodents will eat them especially rats, they are one of their favorite foods. Ants swarm them when they hit the concrete.
Maybe I should have named the article "Everything Eats Cicadas."
Snakes, lizards, fish, opossums, raccoons, cats, dogs, moles, skunks, spiders and will eat cicadas.
The benefits of cicadas
Besides being food for many animals’ cicadas have other benefits. Cicadas help prune mature trees. They aerate the soil, once they die, they serve as nitrogen for trees. They keep tree roots under control during their 13–17-year cycle.
There are 15 Broods of cicadas with 15 beginning extinct. Magicicada is the genus of the 13-year and 17-year periodical cicadas of eastern North America. Cicadas belong to the taxonomic order Hempitera or true bugs (mouthparts used to pierce and suck plants). Cicadas generally live from 4 to 6 weeks once becoming adults. Imago is the name for adult cicadas.
There were once 30 different broods of cicadas now only 15 are left. It was 17 broods of 17 years and 13 or the 13-year broods. Only three 13-year broods are left. Only twelve 17-year broods are left.
17-year Broods
Name Last Emergence Next Emergence Location
Brood I-2012-2029-Western Virginia/West Virginia
Brood II-2013-2030-East Coast
Brood III-2014-2031-Iowa
Brood IV-2015-2032- Plains/Midwest
Brood V-2016-2033-Midwest/Northeast
Brood VI-2017-2033-Southeast
Brood VII-2018-2035-Central New York
Brood VIII-2019-2036-Ohio/Pennsylvania/West Virgina
Brood IX-2020-2037-Virgina/West Virgina/North Carolina
Brood X-2021-2038-Eastern/Southeast
Brood XIII-2007-2024-Midwest
Brood XIV-2008-2025-Midwest/Southeast/Northeast
13 Year Broods
Brood XIX-2011-2024-Southeast/Northeast
Brood XXII-2014-2027-Louisaina/Mississippi
Brood XXII-2015-2028-Southeast