Billions Of cicadas have emerged across eastern parts of the United States

Billions Of cicadas have emerged across eastern parts of the United States

Subject: Science & tech

Context : Periodical cicadas, so called because of their 13- or 17-year life cycle, most of which is spent underground, emerge from their earthy digs to romance, reproduce and retire. This year is the year of the Brood X periodical cicadas. Here, X stands for the Roman numeral and refers to the sequence of emergence

Concept:

Cicadas

• Cicadas are insects that spend most of their lives underground and emerge from the soil mainly to mate.
• Once out of the ground, their life span is fairly short, somewhere between two-four weeks.
• At present, there are about 15 active broods of these cicadas as some have gone extinct.
• The insects are found in America’s as well as New Zealand and Australia.
• The name 13 and 17 year refers to the number of years that cicada nymphs take to reach adulthood.
• It is not clear why their development period is so long, researchers suspect that it may be linked to avoiding predators above the soil.

How are the fed?

• During this time underground the nymphs feed on sap from plant roots.
• After this developmental period, the cicada nymphs construct a “cicada hut” and burrow their way out from the soil and climb onto any nearby tree or vegetation.