Post by biged on Jul 1, 2018 9:39:16 GMT -8
After waiting 38 years (since I was 6 years old) I was finally able to experience an emergence of the Magicicada septendecim. It's just as surreal as is often presented in literature. Brood VII is the smallest brood of this species and some predictions suggest it will be the next to go extinct. We had taken a drive up to the area of expected emergence and where I was told they were currently seen on June 9th. This is the intersection of Cleveland Rd and Yenny Rd in the Onondaga Hill area of Syracuse. I've read that at times there can be concentrations of 1.5 million per acre. I'm not sure how many were there, but easily tens of thousands per acre, maybe a million or more. They were also present in large numbers along Rt 11 in Cardiff.
This species has always fascinated me. As a boy, I remember cringing when I thought of cities being built and paving over nymph cicadas that are in the ground. Certainly, habitat destruction has a most profound impact on a species with a 17 year life cycle. However, something more happening, too. In many places where these cicadas lived, broods are failing to appear as expected. Is an increase in certain predators causing the cicadas to not overwhelm them in sheer numbers? Is fungus or disease a culprit?
This species has always fascinated me. As a boy, I remember cringing when I thought of cities being built and paving over nymph cicadas that are in the ground. Certainly, habitat destruction has a most profound impact on a species with a 17 year life cycle. However, something more happening, too. In many places where these cicadas lived, broods are failing to appear as expected. Is an increase in certain predators causing the cicadas to not overwhelm them in sheer numbers? Is fungus or disease a culprit?
