Pennsylvania may see some limited emergence of 17-year cicadas in 2018, according to CicadaMania.com, the online home to everything cicada.
But, any of the large, bulgy-eyed insects that do crawl from their underground burrows in Pennsylvania this year will be stragglers, probably from Brood VIII, which is expected to make a full emergence next year.
Brood VIII occurs in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and western Maryland.
The full emergence expected this year is Brood VII in the Finger Lakes region of New York, north of northcentral and northwestern Pennsylvania.
The insects typically emerge in May, but they have been known to emerge in late April or early June. It’s based on the weather.
Cicadas will begin to emerge when the soil 8 inches beneath the ground reaches 64 degrees Fahrenheit. A nice, warm rain will often trigger an emergence.
In addition to the Brood VIII stragglers, annual cicadas can be expected throughout Pennsylvania this summer.
Annual cicadas, which we layman tend to lump under the generic name of dog-day cicada, a name derived from the insect’s tendency to emerge during the Dog Days of summer in late July through early August.
Annual cicadas are in the genus Neotibicen, while periodical cicadas are in the genus Magicicada.
While there are nearly 200 species of annual cicadas in North America, most states have at least 4 species and Pennsylvania has at least 9, according to Cicada Mania, an online authority on all things cicada.
While 17-year cicadas emerge in late May and June, when soil temperatures 8 inches beneath the ground reaches 64 degrees Fahrenheit, annual cicadas wait for much warmer temperatures.
Annual cicadas emerge in the adult stage of their 3- to 5-year life cycle, most of which has been spent underground.
Only the males make a buzz, which they do by vibrating a pair of membranes in their abdomens, to attract females for mating.
They do that from the tops of trees, often pines, after crawling out of the ground and up into the trees, where they molt to grow into their final adult forms. They leave their tan shells on the trunks of trees and other vertical structures.
After mating, each female cuts slits into twigs or small branches with a saw-like structure on her legs and deposits 400-500 eggs in clusters of 10-25 in each slit.
The eggs hatch in 6-7 weeks. The nymphs drop to the ground and burrow down into the soil, where they will live on sap from tree roots for the next 3-5 years.
An annual cicada is about 1.75 inches long and green to dark green to black with transparent, green-veined wings and black eyes.
A periodical cicada is about 1-1.25 inches long and black with transparent, red-veined wings and red eyes.
Let’s block ads! (Why?)
