Cicadas coming, but not this year
“The monsters aren't going to come and devour the hillsides,” Mary Reefer said, being sarcastic.
Reefer, a master gardener with the Penn State Extension, said Butler County will not have its bout with the periodical cicada this year.
Other areas will get invaded by these creatures this year, but Butler County will wait until 2018.
She said the cicadas have a determined pattern for their unique lifestyle.
The cycle is broken into groups called broods, and the cicadas lying in wait under county soil belong to brood VII and VIII. Brood VII is set to rise in 2018 and VIII will buzz in 2019.
Then the county will be quiet until 2035, at least from these particular cicadas.
Some reports are describing the phenomenon as a sweeping swarm of the humming insects that engulfs the entire Northeastern United States, the only place in the world with this particular species. However, the bugs' emergences occur in smaller, regional groups.
The evidence is solid enough that Penn State Extension's website has an article that breaks down which counties will be affected by which broods.
Jack Layne, a biology professor at Slippery Rock University, said these tables are general predictions. He said while they are accurate, there are still instances where smaller groups can break from the pack and emerge at a different time.
<h3>Tidal wave of sound</h3>He said it will be obvious that Butler won't be affected this summer. He said the noise the bugs make is unmistakable.“You'll start hearing a few calls,” Layne said. “More and more will appear and then it just becomes a tidal wave.”The periodical cicada, also known as the 17-year locust, despite the lack of relation, are notorious among Pennsylvanians for being noisy, bothersome creatures. But misconceptions may be leading to further misunderstanding and even fear.Reefer said cicadas in general have been falsely labeled or confused with locusts for a long time. She said many early settlers based their first identification of cicadas on the stories about locust from the Bible because they hadn't seen anything like it before.“They're not anywhere related to a locust, which is a grasshopper,” she said. “They had to relate it to what they know.”The cicada is closer related to the stink bugs because they both classify under the order of True Bugs.The cicadas also differ within its own species. Some broods are on a 17-year life cycle while others have a 13-year span. But both differ from the Dog-Day Cicada, a more widespread species that has an annual life cycle.The species also differ in a variety of colors, but the adult periodical cicada is about one-half inch long and has eyes and wings veined with reddish orange.Layne said the cicadas evolved their habits of synchronized emergences to give them the best chance to survive.“It literally overwhelms the predators,” he said. “You see that in a lot of (other) insects, like May flies.”Layne said he's never encountered a juvenile cicada, a nymph, during his studies because they are buried under the ground.“They are not that easy to locate underground,” he said.
<h3>A long time coming</h3>Layne said what makes this particular cicada special is the much longer life-cycle it uses compared to any other insect.Once deposited in the ground by its parent, the periodical cicada feeds on roots and other subterranean nutrients for 17 years before it surfaces. The juveniles then crawl up to just under the surface.Layne said the cicadas transform their bodies at that time and wait for the right opportunity, which is usually when the ground reaches above 64 degrees Fahrenheit. He said if late cold weather occurs, then their emergences may be delayed until as late as June.Once the bugs emerge, the males begin their courtship.Reefer said she once had an encounter that gave her more perspective on the process.“The males are the ones that make all the clattering noise,” she said. “I picked one up once and it vibrated.”She said the vibrations scared her at first because she thought it would bite, but then found that the bug couldn't hurt her because it doesn't have any of those characteristics.<h3>Little damage done</h3>Layne said once the insects mate over a four to six week period, the adults lay eggs in the twigs and branches of trees, which concerns some residents about damage to their plants and trees. But he said the insects do little to no damage, especially compared to invasive species.Reefer said there's not any way to avoid them. She said pesticides specifically don't work because the chemical needs to be a high dose to breech the insect's exoskeleton. She said the chemicals would do more damage to the plant than the insect.“As master gardeners, we don't recommend chemicals, but they don't work on cicadas anyway,” she said.Once finished mating, the adults die, and the eggs hatch, releasing the nymphs to enter the soil and begin the cycle again.Reefer said since the periodical cicadas are making an appearance in Allegheny County this year, the bugs may get a lot more media attention and will get blown out of proportion.“It's a topic people are fascinated with because it doesn't happen often,” she said. “It's a really big topic right now, but not (yet) for Butler County.”Reefer said she looks forward to seeing them once again in 2018.“It's sort of like an epic thing, like a solar eclipse,” she said. “I'm excited for it.”
