By Darla Shelden, Metropolis Sentinel Reporter —
OKLAHOMA CITY – The mass emergence of periodical cicadas is a pure phenomenon that has piqued curiosity worldwide. Whereas the 17-year cicada is crawling aboveground now on the East Coast and within the higher Midwest, Oklahoma State College Extension specialists say Oklahoma is within the clear.
Eric Rebek, OSU entomology professor and Extension specialist, stated the Brood X species of periodical cicada making headlines this summer time is fulfilling its life cycle after 16 years of feeding on plant sap underground.
Trillions will emerge alongside a lot of the East Coast throughout the subsequent few weeks to finish their section of maturity by mating and laying eggs, Rebek stated.
“Relying on how you are feeling about bugs, you both get pleasure from studying about this uncommon prevalence, or it causes numerous consternation among the many public,” Rebek stated.
“Whether or not it’s the shrill and deafening buzz of the cicada’s mating name, their orange eyes or the disagreeable stench of their rotting shells, cicadas typically are related to plague-like invasions of Biblical proportions,” he added.
As a naturalist and biologist, Rebek tries to teach the general public on this marvel of nature.
“A part of my job as an Extension entomologist is to highlight the great facet of bugs,” he stated. “Folks get freaked out by bugs normally, however not all of them are dangerous.”
Cicadas and locusts are two utterly totally different teams of bugs.
The time period locust is commonly used to explain a cicada, however cicada is technically right, Rebek stated. A locust is what Oklahomans sometimes name a grasshopper, and though periodical cicadas are inclined to steal the present, greenish, canine day cicadas are extra prevalent.
“Canine day cicadas emerge within the canine days of summer time when it’s scorching,” Rebek stated. “We’re accustomed to listening to them singing within the timber. There’s a number of species of these, and so they come out each single yr.”
“As for the periodical cicadas that floor throughout totally different geographical areas of the nation, a sure brood of the bugs exhibits up like clockwork each 17 or 13 years,” writes Gail Ellis, OSU Agricultural Communications Providers. “The periodical cicada’s organic technique is to swamp out birds and different vertebrae predators by showing in mass numbers in a big geographical space.”
Rebek acknowledged, “On this case with Brood X, there are too a lot of them for predators to eat, making certain sufficient cicadas to mate and result in the following era 17 years down the road.”
Eggs are laid within the small twigs and branches of timber, which finally break off and fall to the bottom. When these eggs hatch, the nymphs burrow underground and feed on tree roots.
“Cicadas may cause mild injury to younger timber which have been lately planted, particularly when there’s a mass emergence,” Rebek stated. “Some individuals will cowl their timber for a couple of weeks to stop any injury.”
Oklahoma hosts three broods of periodical cicadas – recognized by scientists by Roman numerals – the 17-year Brood II and Brood IV and the 13-year Brood XIX. The newest brood to emerge was Brood IV in 2015.
Whereas the East Coast swarms with cicada frenzy, Oklahomans can count on the extra nostalgic buzz of the canine day cicada quickly sufficient to usher in these last days of summer time, in line with Ellis.
For extra info, go to cicadamania.com.
