Every year we have an emergence of little creatures from the ground around our locust tree. These little Cicada bugs offered a little scientific lesson for my grandson.
With Magnifying glass in hand we went on the search for the annual carcass hunt. He collected a large amount of the little shell casings and thought that was wonderful. He decided that he would create a Cicada army to overtake my fairy garden. Really! Who does that to little fairies, yep a 6 year old boy with a wild imagination.
Never the less, you should have seen his expression when he came across the big Cicada in my garden. He enjoyed the little creature all afternoon. You gotta love seeing things through the eyes of a child.
Life Cycle of Cicadas
Cicadas begin life as a rice-shaped egg, which the female deposits in a groove she makes in a tree limb, using her ovipositor. The groove provides shelter and exposes the tree fluids, which the young cicadas feed on. These grooves can kill small branches. When the branches die and leaves turn brown, it is called flagging.
Once the egg hatches the cicada begins to feed on the tree fluids. At this point it looks like a termite or small white ant. Once the young cicada is ready, it crawls from the groove and falls to the ground where it will dig until it finds roots to feed on. Once roots are found the cicada will stay underground from 2 to 17 years depending on the species. Cicadas are active underground, tunneling and feeding.
After the long 2 to 17 years, cicadas emerge from the ground as nymphs. Nymphs climb the nearest available tree, and begin to shed their nymph exoskeleton. Free of their old skin, their wings will inflate with fluid and their adult skin will harden. Once their new wings and body are ready, they can begin their brief adult life.
Adult cicadas, also called imagoes, spend their time in trees looking for a mate. Males sing, females respond, mating begins, and the cycle of life begins again.
Source
Thank you for stopping by my post, I hope you enjoyed our little backyard creature adventure.
Until next time, this is Sunscape...
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