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After 17 years underground, billions of cicadas emerging
KC Star ^ | 5/20/07 | TARA BURGHART

Posted on 05/20/2007 9:59:37 PM PDT by hole_n_one

After 17 years underground, billions of cicadas emerging

These flying insects live only about 30 days as adults, and their main goal will be mating.

By TARA BURGHART

The Associated Press

CHICAGO | Coming soon: Brood XIII.

It sounds like a bad horror movie. But it’s actually the name of the billions of cicadas expected to emerge this month in parts of the Midwest after spending 17 years underground.

The red-eyed, shrimp-sized, flying insects don’t bite or sting. But they are known for mating calls that produce a din that can overpower ringing telephones, lawn mowers and power tools.

Brood XIII is expected across northern Illinois and in parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. Cicadas live only about 30 days as adults, and their main goal is mating.

They don’t harm humans, although they are clumsy and might fly into people. Birds, squirrels and pets, especially dogs, love to eat them, and they are high in protein.

“They’re going to have quite a meal. It’s going to be like Thanksgiving for them,” said Tom Tiddens, supervisor for plant health care at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

They are periodical cicadas, which are only found in the eastern half of North America. The annual, or dog-day cicadas, that appear every summer are common around the world.

The last massive emergence of periodical cicadas was in 2004, when Brood X emerged after 17 years underground in parts of 15 Eastern states. Some broods emerge after 13 years.

A single male’s shrill courtship call can reach 90 decibels, which is equivalent to a kitchen blender.

At the Chicago Botanic Garden, spokeswoman Gloria Ciaccio joked that her advice for brides holding outdoor weddings will be to put the tent flaps down and turn the music up.



TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bug
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To: Pharmboy

Are those your personal pictures?


61 posted on 05/21/2007 12:23:55 PM PDT by Xenalyte (You have to defile a mummy completely, or they come back to life. You know that.)
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To: hole_n_one

Will these bad boys make it to Texas?


62 posted on 05/21/2007 12:26:32 PM PDT by Xenalyte (You have to defile a mummy completely, or they come back to life. You know that.)
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To: Xenalyte

We had them around here a few years back. The dog loved them. I thought the noise was kinda cool. They get louder when the sun is out. Everytime a cloud would pass over, they would calm down.


63 posted on 05/21/2007 12:28:33 PM PDT by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: AppyPappy

I think they might be cool to see once. Preferably from inside.


64 posted on 05/21/2007 12:29:45 PM PDT by Xenalyte (You have to defile a mummy completely, or they come back to life. You know that.)
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To: AppyPappy

Did your dog munch on ‘em?


65 posted on 05/21/2007 12:29:58 PM PDT by Xenalyte (You have to defile a mummy completely, or they come back to life. You know that.)
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To: Xenalyte

If they are, Pharmboy looks a lot like bugs in batter.

Who’d a thunk it?


66 posted on 05/21/2007 12:30:05 PM PDT by listenhillary (Democrats are sacrificing civilization for political power)
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To: Xenalyte

Yup


67 posted on 05/21/2007 12:30:55 PM PDT by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: hole_n_one

In 2004 you couldn’t hear anything but these 17 year cicadas when they got ramped up around sunset(East TN). They seem to always be on time.


68 posted on 05/21/2007 12:33:26 PM PDT by eyedigress
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To: Vision

I lived in Maryland once and remember the cicadas. They say they taste like asperagus. My kids used to wack ‘em with a tennis racket.


69 posted on 05/21/2007 12:35:10 PM PDT by rbosque (L)
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To: Vision
Maryland’s 17 year hatching happened a few years ago.

I live in the midwest within 300 miles of Chicago and the 17 year locust cycle occurred just 3 years ago or so here. If you live through it, it is not something you forget. It's noisy, the dead carcuses stink of rotting flesh, your house is covered with the larvae shell, you have gizzard goop on your windshield the size of a baseball. It's just nasty.

Makes me wonder how local the cycle is...

70 posted on 05/21/2007 12:37:18 PM PDT by IamConservative (I could never be a liar; there's too much to remember.)
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To: Ghost of Philip Marlowe
Strange that there was no mention that when the 17-year cicadas emerge they strip the trees down to bear branches.

They also weaken the branches of trees because the females burrow into branches to lay their eggs. When we had the 17-year cicadas here in the mid-Atlantic three years ago, we spent hours picking up broken branches off the ground.
71 posted on 05/21/2007 12:45:19 PM PDT by piperpilot
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To: Xenalyte

Yeccchhh. Not me...found them on the net. The guy has a whole slew of them.


72 posted on 05/21/2007 1:05:44 PM PDT by Pharmboy ([She turned me into a] Newt! in '08)
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To: boop

Do they have a lot of iodine in them?


73 posted on 05/21/2007 1:09:22 PM PDT by Scotsman will be Free (11C - Indirect fire, infantry - High angle hell - We will bring you, FIRE)
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To: hole_n_one

More illegal aliens coming here to have babies!


74 posted on 05/21/2007 1:16:00 PM PDT by N. Theknow (Kennedys - Can't drive, can't fly, can't ski, can't skipper a boat - But they know what's best.)
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To: SittinYonder; wysiwyg
We lived in the country when our first child was young. He pointed out to me that we had 2 sets of grasshopper-like bugs. The first set to hatch out he called the wee-ooo bugs because of the sound they made. The second set he called the oooo-wee bugs. At age 3 or so the kid was right, they were different bugs and made different noise but I had never noticed. He has grown up to be a very smart man who notices everything.
75 posted on 05/21/2007 1:17:02 PM PDT by Ditter
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To: Gideon Reader

Yes. I expect Arlen Specter to quote Scottish law to back that up.


76 posted on 05/21/2007 1:26:05 PM PDT by alarm rider (Why should I not vote my conscience?)
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To: boop

Did you find a link between shellfish allergy and the cicida or was there another factor that may have caused the patient to be alergic. Other allergies? Did the patient have arthritis or family history of arthritis?

I remember reading about that patient, probably here on FR by you?


77 posted on 05/21/2007 1:37:03 PM PDT by Cold Heart
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