The Living Landscape: Clicking cicadas
- Kathleen Scavone
- Posted On
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Their humming, thrumming, clicking sounds provide a summer soundtrack on warm days.
When I happened upon a cicada under a bay tree, I immediately brightened and searched around for more. I thought, "That's right! The cicadas are emerging from their 17-year hideouts!"
After a quick web search I realized my mistake. Here in California where there are 65 species of cicadas, we won't meet up with the throngs of bugs brought out of 17 years of hiding, but instead will find cicadas in smaller numbers who emerge annually.
Cicadas in California begin their egg-to-nymph-to-adult life cycles beginning with around 400 eggs which have been laid in, or on tree branches.
Next, nymphs hatch by ascending a tree trunk to shed their now useless skins, then burrow underground to dine on the juicy plant roots found there. They will surface from their burrows beneath the earth every year.
Cicadas can use the sound produced by their wings to attract a mate. After mating they scope out a willow, oak or madrone bough on which to lay their eggs. Watch for the distinctive diagonal blemishes left behind on branches they have selected.
According to the University of California Press publication, “The Cicadas of California,” here in Lake County we can find eight kinds of cicadas as reported to them through county records.
These alien-looking creatures have prominent, OK, I'll say it – bug eyes – and are considered a superfamily called Cicadoidea, who have “cousin” species around the world numbering in the thousands.
Like dragonflies, they have been in existence for millions of years. According to fossil records, cicadas are known to have existed since the Upper Permian period.
It is believed that the mysterious breeding cycle of the Southern United States' 17-year cicada is due to, what else? Self-preservation. In order to evade predators who eat these bugs, they have “figured out” how to emerge every 17 years. Then, around 1.5 million hungry cicadas per acre will participate in the phenomenon.
These southern cicadas, although not as destructive as locusts, are still voracious and impressive in both their noise and appetites.
Entomologists report that besides the din of millions of cicada's chirps and clicks that are used by males of the species to garner a mate, these cicadas are poised to drink the sap of trees and can be quite destructive in large numbers.
Cicadas have many predators: squirrels, wasps, bats, birds, spiders and more.
If you look, you will find cicadas featured throughout mythology, art and music. These humble creatures were portrayed in Aristotle's “History of Animals,” in the Japanese novel, “The Tale of Genji” and in myths of many cultures, such as a myth known as “Kapampangan” from the Philippines.
In ancient Greece cicadas were consumed during meals, and their husks used in Chinese traditional medicine.
Since cicadas don't sting or bite, they deserve a closer look!
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, freelance writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.”