The University of Michigan Museum of Zoology

Insect Division

Periodical Cicada Page

[What is a periodical cicada?] [Are periodical cicadas harmful?] [Magicicada life cycles] [Magicicada broods (distribution maps)] [Magicicada behavior] [Magicicada species (with sound samples)] [Magicicada diseases and deformities] [Magicicada bibliography] [Other cicada links] [To contact us]


ANNOUNCEMENT: 13-year periodical cicadas of Brood XIX are emerging across a large area of the eastern USA this spring. Exact locality records of these emergences are being sought from the public at www.magicicada.org


Periodical cicada FAQ with quick answers to some common questions.


What is a periodical cicada?

Cicadas are flying, plant-sucking insects of the Order Hemiptera; their closest relatives are leafhoppers, treehoppers, and fulgoroids. Adult cicadas tend to be large (most are 25-50mm), with prominent wide-set eyes, short antennae, and clear wings held roof-like over the abdomen. Cicadas are probably best known for their conspicuous acoustic signals or "songs", which the males make using special structures called tymbals, found on the abdomen. There may be as many as 3000 different cicada species worldwide.

All but a few cicada species have multiple-year life cycles, most commonly 2-8 years (de Boer and Duffels 1996). In most cicada species, adults can be found every year because the population is not developmentally synchronized; these are often called "annual" cicada species. In contrast, populations of the periodical cicada species are synchronized, so that almost all of them mature into adults in the same year. The fact that periodical cicadas remain locked together in time is made even more amazing by their extremely long life-cycles of 13 or 17 years.

Periodical cicadas are found in eastern North America and belong to the genus Magicicada. There are seven species -- four with 13-year life cycles (including one new species described in 2000), and three with 17-year cycles. The three 17-year species are generally northern in distribution, while the 13-year species are generally southern and midwestern. Magicicada are so well-synchronized developmentally that they are nearly absent as adults in the 12 or 16 years between emergences. When they do emerge after their long juvenile periods, they do so in huge numbers, forming much denser aggregations than those usually achieved by cicadas. Many people know periodical cicadas by the name "17-year locusts" or "13-year locusts", but they are not true locusts, which are a type of grasshopper.

Magicicada adults have black bodies and striking red eyes and orange wing veins, with a black "W" near the tips of the forewings. Most emerge in May and June. Some of the annual cicada species are sometimes mistaken for the periodical cicadas, especially those in the genera Diceroprocta and Okanagana; these other species emerge somewhat later in the year but may overlap with Magicicada. The Okanagana species are the most potentially confusing because of their similar black-and-orange coloration. The best way to identify cicada species is by the sounds that they make, because cicada songs are nearly always species-specific. Recordings of periodical cicadas can be found below. To learn about some of the common annual cicada species of eastern North America (including the genera Tibicen, Diceroprocta, and Okanagana), and to hear their songs, see our Michigan Cicadas Page. Also check out the list of related links at the end of this page.

Female periodical cicadas (see picture below) have a pointed abdomen with an ovipositor for laying eggs. The ovipositor is sheathed and not clearly visible in these photographs.

Males (below) have a blunter abdomen and white, ribbed tymbals located on the sides of the first abdominal segment, just behind the point of attachment of the hindwings. The lowest photo shows a male M. septendecim with wings removed to show the tymbal.


Are periodical cicadas harmful?

Cicadas are harmless. They do not bite or sting defensively, nor do they attack people. If a cicada lands on you, it is only because it finds you to be a convenient place to land -- unless you happen to be using a lawnmower or weed-whacker, in which case it might be attracted by the sound! Basically, periodical cicadas can hurt you only if they mistake you for a tree branch and try to feed, something that can happen only if you hold a cicada in your hand for a very long time (eventually this makes the cicada hot and thirsty). Such rare mistakes feel like a brief pinprick and cause no damage. When handled, both males and females struggle to fly at first, and males make a loud defensive buzzing sound that may startle but is otherwise harmless. Periodical cicadas are not poisonous to animals or humans, nor are they known to transmit disease.

Periodical cicadas can cause physical damage to small trees or shrubs if too many feed from the plant or lay eggs in the twigs; such damage can cause "flagging", or breaking of peripheral twigs. Orchard and nursery owners probably should not plant young trees or shrubs in the years preceding an emergence of periodical cicadas, because young trees may be harmed by severe flagging. Mature trees and shrubs, however, usually survive even dense emergences of cicadas without apparent distress. This can be difficult to believe in the month or so following a large emergence when many deciduous trees turn brown due to the breakage and death of peripheral twigs. As serious as it may appear, such damage is apparently minor. The simplest way to protect small trees and shrubs from damage is to physically prevent cicadas from feeding and (especially) ovipositing by covering the plants with screening material like cheesecloth; such screening should be applied soon after the cicadas emerge and left in place until most cicdas have died off (about four weeks). Periodical cicadas are often too numerous to make application of pesticides practical.

Beyond the concern by owners of fruit orchards and nurseries, periodical cicadas are not regarded as pests, except maybe by those who tire of the din of their choruses.


Magicicada life cycles

Cicada juveniles are called "nymphs" and live underground, sucking root fluids for food. Periodical cicadas spend five juvenile stages in their underground burrows, with each stage ending with eclosion (shedding of the old nymphal skin). Their burrows are found anywhere from several inches to a few feet underground, depending on nymphal age and the nature of the soil.

In the spring of their 13th or 17th year, a few weeks before emerging, the nymphs construct exit tunnels to the surface. These exits are visible as approximately 1/2 inch diameter holes, or as chimney-like mud "turrets" the nymphs sometimes construct over their holes. On the night of emergence, nymphs leave their burrows around sunset, locate a suitable spot on nearby vegetation, and complete their final molt to adulthood. Shortly after ecdysis (molting) the new adults appear mostly white, but they darken quickly as the exoskeleton hardens. Sometimes a large proportion of the population emerges in one night. Newly-emerged cicadas work their way up into the trees and spend roughly four to six days as "teneral" adults before they harden completely (possibly longer in cool weather); they do not begin adult behavior until this period of maturation is complete.

It appears that the particular night of emergence may be determined by the soil temperature; nymphs emerge when the soil temperature inside the exit tunnel (and therefore the body temperature of the nymph) exceeds approximately 64 degrees F (Heath 1968). Because emergence is temperature- dependent, periodical cicadas tend to emerge earlier in southern and lower-elevation locations. For example, periodical cicadas in South Carolina often begin to emerge in late April, while those in southern Michigan do not appear until June. The best way to predict the time of emergence for your area is to check records from the prior emergence in that location, by asking longtime residents or by searching local newspaper archives. The date of emergence does not vary much between generations, although unusual springtime weather conditions may accelerate or delay the emergence by a week or so.

After their short teneral period, males begin producing species-specific calling songs and form aggregations (choruses) that are sexually attractive to females. Males in these choruses alternate bouts of singing with short flights until they locate receptive females (see the Magicicada behavior section below). Contrary to popular belief, adults do feed -- by sucking plant fluids; adult cicadas will die within days if not provided with living woody vegetation on which to feed. Magicicada feed from a wide variety of deciduous plants and shrubs, but usually not from grasses. The picture below shows Magicicada septendecula feeding, with the piercing-and-sucking mouthparts visible just behind the forelegs.

Mated females excavate aseries of Y-shaped eggnests in living twigs and lay up to twenty eggs in each nest (Marlatt 1923). A female may lay as many as 600 eggs (Marlatt 1923). Below is a photograph of Magicicada eggnests.

The adult emergence lasts for about four to six weeks after the appearance of the first nymphs. Six to ten weeks or so after oviposition, in midsummer, the eggs hatch and the new first-instar nymphs drop from the trees, burrow underground, locate a suitable rootlet for feeding, and begin their long 13- or 17-year development.

Why are there so many of them?

Periodical cicadas achieve astounding population densities, as high as 1.5 million per acre (Dybas 1969). Densities of tens to hundreds of thousands per acre are more common, but even this is far beyond the natural abundance of most other cicada species. Apparently because of their long life cycles and synchronous emergences, periodical cicadas escape natural population control by predators, even though everything from birds to spiders to snakes to dogs eat them opportunistically when they do appear. Magicicada population densities are so high that predators apparently eat their fill without significantly reducing the population (a phenomenon called "predator satiation"), and the predator populations cannot build up in response because the cicadas are available as food above ground only once every 13 or 17 years. Periodical cicadas do have a specialized fungal parasite (see the Magicicada diseases and deformities section), but its effects on Magicicada population density are not well understood. Individual periodical cicadas are slower, less flighty, and easier to capture than other cicadas, probably because the safety afforded by their great numbers means that the risks of predation for an individual are low. Explaining the evolution of such an unusual life strategy is one of the most difficult problems for periodical cicada biologists.


Magicicada broods and distributions

ANNOUNCEMENT: 13-year periodical cicadas of Brood XIX are emerging across a large area of the eastern USA this spring. Exact locality records of these emergences are being sought from the public at www.magicicada.org

Although nearly all of the periodical cicadas in a given location emerge in the same year, the cicadas in different regions are not synchronized and may emerge in different years. All periodical cicadas of the same life cycle type that emerge in a given year are known collectively as a single "brood" (or "year-class"). The resulting broods are designated by Roman numerals -- there are 12 broods of 17-year cicadas (with the remaining five year-classes apparently containing no cicadas), and 3 broods of 13-year cicadas (with ten empty year-classes). As a result, it is possible to find adult periodical cicadas in almost any year by traveling to the appropriate location. The table below is a guide to the approximate locations of periodical cicada broods. On a local scale, periodical cicadas can be very patchily distributed.

Click here for a small-scale composite map of all brood ranges.

Click on a brood number in the table below to see a larger-scale map of that brood's range.

17-year Broods

Year

 

 

 

General region

I

1961

1978

1995

2012

VA, WV

II

1962

1979

1996

2013

CT, MD, NC, NJ, NY, PA, VA

III

1963

1980

1997

2014

IA, IL, MO

IV

1964

1981

1998

2015

IA, KS, MO, NE, OK, TX

V

1965

1982

1999

2016

MD, OH, PA, VA, WV

VI

1966

1983

2000

2017

GA, NC, SC

VII

1967

1984

2001

2018

NY

VIII

1968

1985

2002

2019

OH, PA, WV

IX

1952

1969

1986

2003

NC, VA, WV

X

1953

1970

1987

2004

DE, GA, IL, IN, KY, MD, MI, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TN, VA, WV

XIII

1956

1973

1990

2007

IA, IL, IN, MI, WI

XIV

1957

1974

1991

2008

KY, GA, IN, MA, MD, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TN, VA, WV

13-year Broods

 

 

 

 

 

XIX

1972

1985

1998

2011

AL, AR, GA, IN, IL, KY, LA, MD, MO, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA

XXII

1975

1988

2001

2014

LA, MS

XXIII

1976

1989

2002

2015

AR, IL, IN, KY, LA, MO, MS, TN

Note: Maps are based on a variety of published and unpublished sources, and are intended to give only approximate brood ranges. Consult published sources (e.g., Simon 1988, Marlatt 1923 or USDA reports) for more detailed information.

Sometimes periodical cicadas emerge "off-schedule" by one or more years. This phenomenon is called "straggling," although straggling cicadas can emerge either later or earlier than expected. The most common form of straggling is one-year premature or delayed emergences, usually involving small numbers of cicadas. Unexpectedly, the next most common form of off-schedule emergence is four-year premature appearances by 17-year cicadas, and these events sometimes involve many thousands at once. In 2000, many cicadas emerged four-years early across the range of Brood X. A similar event was observed in 1969 in the Chicago area, four years before the normal emergence in 1973 (Dybas 1969). These events help us to understand the origin of the various same-cycle broods as well as the developmental mechanisms underlying Magicicada speciation, which tends to involve permanent shifts between life cycle types (see details on the seven species and their relationships below). Straggling makes it difficult to construct accurate maps of periodical cicada brood distributions (Marshall 2001), partly because historical reports of off-schedule emergences often contain little or no information about how many cicadas were seen.


Magicicada behavior

As in nearly all cicada species, male periodical cicadas produce "songs" using a pair of tymbals, or ridged membranes, found on the first abdominal segment. The abdomen of a male cicada is hollow and may act as a resonating chamber; the songs of individuals are loud, and large choruses can be virtually deafening. Females of most cicada species do not have sound-producing organs. Both sexes hear the sounds of the males as well as other sounds using membranous hearing organs called "tympana" found on the underside of the abdomen.

Over the course of an emergence, males congregate in "choruses" or singing aggregations, usually in high, sunlit branches. Females visit these aggregations and mate there, so choruses contain large numbers of both sexes.

Males of all Magicicada species (each described individually below in the Magicicada species section) produce alarm calls when handled, calling songs that attract males and females to the chorus, and one or more courtship calls when approaching and attempting to mate with females. Five different male acoustic signals have been described for the -decim and -cassini cognate species. Samples of most of these sounds are included below. These species have calling and courting signals that differ in pitch (frequency) and other characteristics, but the signals have have similar structures, so they can be described together. The functions of these signals are not entirely understood, but they have been given names to indicate their suspected function. The acoustical behaviors of the -decula species have not been as well characterized.

Female Magicicada produce timed "wing flick" signals in response to male calls, and the timing of this signal in relation to the male call is species-specific for species of the same life cycle. The signal consists of a quick flip of the wings that creates a broad-frequency sound that can vary from a soft rustle to a sharp snap. Males are able perceive both the visual and acoustic components of the wing-flick.

A chorusing male perceiving a female signal increases his number of calls relative to movement distance, increasing the odds that he will elicit further responses from any nearby female. If the male receives multiple responses, he ceases sing-fly behavior, begins CI courtship, and engages in a signaling duet with the wing flicking female, evidently for the purpose of locating her. Between calls, duetting males often walk towards the signaling female, and while approaching, begin CII calling. After contacting the female or while preparing to mount, the male begins CIII calling, which he continues until he mounts and copulates. Under some circumstances, males engaged in duets acoustically obscure the downslurs of potential competitors, reducing the likelihood of a female response and increasing the likelihood that competing males will continue chorusing, depart and search elsewhere. Although female wing-flick signaling is known in some Australian and New Zealand cicadas (e.g., Lane 1995), this is the first reported incidence of female signaling in North American cicadas. For more detail about female signals in Magicicada, see Cooley and Marshall (2001).

Male signals: (for recordings see the Magicicada species section)

Alarm Call: A coarse buzz that males make when startled or handled; it is roughly similar in pitch to the calling song.

Calling song: Attracts both males and females to the chorus. Male -decim alternate bouts of calling (usually 1-3 calls) with short flights, while -cassini and -decula may make just one call between flights. The calls are approximately 1.5 - 3 seconds long in -decim and -cassini, and they are separated by silent gaps of about 1-2 seconds. The calling song of -decula is much longer, roughly 10-15 seconds in duration.

Court I (CI) Call: This signal is constructed of a series of phrases very similar to those used in the calling song, but more often without intervening bouts of flying or walking, and often with the gaps shortened. Males produce CI, CII, and CIII calls when courting a nearby female.

Court II (CII) Call: For -decim and -cassini, the phrases of this call are similar to those in CI calls. However, there are no gaps between call phrases, and the phrases may be shortened, or include an upslur. Males usually produce the CII call shortly before attempting to mount a female. The Court II call in -decula, if it exists as in the other two species, has not been well-characterized.

Court III (CIII) Call: This call consists of a continuous series of short, staccato buzzes, about 4-6 per second, in all three species. Males produce this signal while attempting to mount the female, stopping the sound only after engaging their genitalia.

Female signals:

Female wing flick signal: Females produce timed "wing flick" signals in response to male calls. The timing of this signal in relation to the male call is species-specific.

M. -decim (51K)

Macintosh AIFF Format

Windows WAV Format

Sonogram

M. -cassini (97K)

Macintosh AIFF Format

Windows WAV Format

Sonogram

M. -decula (41K)

Macintosh AIFF Format

Windows WAV Format

Sonogram


Magicicada species

Three17-year cicada species exist, each with distinctive morphology (shape and color), behavior, and calling signals. They are named below:

Magicicada septendecim (L.)

Magicicada cassini (Fisher)

Magicicada septendecula (Alexander and Moore)

For each 17-year species, there is at least one morphologically and behaviorally similar species with a 13-year life cycle; these four 13-year species are listed below. M. neotredecim was discovered only recently, so it is not mentioned in most publications on periodical cicadas.

Magicicada tredecim (Walsh and Riley) - approximately similar to M. septendecim

Magicicada neotredecim (Marshall and Cooley) - extremely similar to M. septendecim

Magicicada tredecassini (Alexander and Moore) - extremely similar to M. cassini

Magicicada tredecula (Alexander and Moore) - extremely similar to M. septendecula

The closest relative of each Magicicada species appears to be a counterpart with the alternative life cycle, from which it can be distinguished only by life cycle and geographic distribution. Some biologists have argued that the life cycle difference alone is not enough to justify species status. More information on the nature of the boundary between 13- and 17-year populations and the extent of hybridization between them would help to resolve this question, but for now there is no evidence that the distinctiveness of the life-cycle forms is decreasing. For this reason and for practical purposes, most writers have adopted the taxonomy that recognizes the life cycle siblings as distinct species.

Most of the broods contain all of the 13- or 17-year species, with a few exceptions. Brood VII contains only M. septendecim (which tends to be found alone along the northern edge of the 17-year range), and 13-year Brood XXII lacks the new species M. neotredecim. Also, the four 13-year species are all found together in only a limited portion of the 13-year range (see below for more on this and the range of M. neotredecim).

The songs and morphology of the three 17-year species are described in detail below, as are the songs and morphology of the 13-year -decim species (M. neotredecim and M. tredecim). For practical purposes, the data provided for M. cassini and M. septendecula can be used to identify their 13-year counterparts. The photographs below show, from left to right, dorsal and ventral views of a male, and dorsal and ventral views of a female. Each specimen is pinned through the thorax. The scale is a centimeter scale.


Magicicada septendecim

The largest of the periodical cicadas, with broad orange stripes on the underside of the abdomen, and with orange coloration on the sides of the thorax behind each eye and in front of the forewings (not visible in the photographs below, but partly visible in the M. septendecim tymbal photo above in the What is a periodical cicada? section). The calling song phrases are said to resemble the word "Pharaoh". Scale below is 1 cm long.

Magicicada septendecim songs:

Chorus

AIFF format

MP3 format

Calling song / Court I (complete phrases)

AIFF format

MP3 format

Sonogram

Court II (fragment)

AIFF format

MP3 format

Sonogram

Court III (fragment)

AIFF format

MP3 format

Sonogram


Magicicada cassini

Usually smaller than M. septendecim. No orange coloration in front of the wing insertion behind the eye. Abdomen entirely black except in some locations where individuals may have weak ventral yellow-orange marks; if present, these tend to be faded and rarely form complete stripes. Sometimes such individuals may be difficult to distinguish from M. septendecula if the calling song is not available. Calling song phrases consist of a series of ticks followed by a shrill buzz. Males of M. cassini and its close 13-year relative M. tredecassini sometimes synchronize their calls and flights all at once, a display that has been likened to a "giant game of musical chairs". Scale below is 1 cm long.

Magicicada cassini songs:

Chorus (septendecim in background)

AIFF format

MP3 format

Calling song / Court I (complete phrases)

AIFF format

MP3 format

Sonogram

Court II (fragment)

AIFF format

MP3 format

Sonogram

Court III (fragment)

AIFF format

MP3 format

Sonogram


Magicicada septendecula

Usually smaller than M. septendecim and similar to M. cassini in size, with narrow, well-defined orange stripes on the underside of the abdomen but no orange coloration in front of the wing insertion behind the eye. This species is often much more rare than M. septendecim and M. cassini. The calling song of the -decula sibling species is rhythmically unlike those of the other two forms, and consists of a series of short phrases lasting 15-30 seconds. The first two courtship songs have not been well characterized, but may bear the same relationship to each other as the courtship songs of the other species. Scale below is 1 cm long.

Magicicada septendecula songs:

Chorus (mixed with cassini)

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MP3 format

Calling song (complete song)

AIFF format

MP3 format

Sonogram

Variant of calling song? (complete song)

AIFF format

MP3 format

 

Court III (fragment)

AIFF format

MP3 format

Sonogram


Magicicada tredecim

Generally similar to M. septendecim and M. neotredecim in appearance and behavior, but with lower pitched songs and lacking dark bands on underside of abdomen. Underside of abdomen varies from light orange to caramel color; sometimes light color extends up sides of abdomen above spiracles.

Magicicada tredecim songs:

Calling song / Court I (complete phrases)

AIFF format

MP3 format

Court II (fragment)

AIFF format

MP3 format

Court III (fragment)

AIFF format

MP3 format


NEW SPECIES -- Magicicada neotredecim

M. neotredecim was described in 2000 (see Evolution Vol. 54, No.4, Pp. 1313-1325). M. neotredecim and its closest relative, M. septendecim, are consistently distinguishable only in life cycle length. The new species is similar to 13-year M. tredecim, but distinguishable in male song pitch, female song pitch preferences (Marshall and Cooley 2000), abdomen color, and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lineage (Simon et al. 1998, Martin and Simon 1988, 1990). These findings are consistent with the theory that M. neotredecim evolved from populations of M. septendecim by a life cycle change (Martin and Simon 1988, 1990, Marshall and Cooley, 2000, Simon et al. 2000).

The two 13-year -decim species have a special geographic relationship -- they are not sympatric (living together) across the entire 13-year range. M. neotredecim inhabits the midwestern part of the 13-year range, while M. tredecim inhabits the southern and southeastern part. The two species overlap only along a narrow region in northern Arkansas, western Kentucky, and southern Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. (For a map of these species' distributions in Brood XIX click here.) By comparison, the three 17-year species are found together from Connecticut to Kansas, and the remaining 13-year species together inhabit most 13-year populations. Where M. neotredecim and M. tredecim overlap, male calling songs (and female song preferences) of these species have evolved to become more distinct. In this overlap zone, M. neotredecim songs are much higher-pitched, while M. tredecim songs are slightly lower-pitched. This suggests that the songs have evolved to reduce wasteful sexual interactions between the species.

For a sonogram illustrating M. neotredecim and M. tredecim calling song pitch differences where they overlap geographically, click here

The photos below show that M. neotredecim is extremely similar to 17-year M. septendecim in appearance. The dark bands on the underside of the abdomen are similar to those of M. septendecim. Again, the calling song of M. neotredecim is very high-pitched only where it overlaps M. tredecim geographically; the sample below is taken from this overlap zone. Outside of that region, M. neotredecim songs sound like those of M. septendecim.

Magicicada neotredecim songs:

Calling song / Court I (complete phrases: high-pitch song from overlap zone)

AIFF format

MP3 format

Court II (fragment)

AIFF format

MP3 format

Court III (fragment)

AIFF format

MP3 format


Magicicada diseases and deformities

Magicicada do not have any specialized predators, but periodical cicadas are subject to infection by the specialized fungal parasite Massospora cicadina Peck. During an emergence of periodical cicadas, both sexual and asexual forms of the fungus are present. Cicadas infected early in the emergence develop asexual spores, which become evident as the rear of the infected individual's abdomen breaks off, exposing a white, chalky mass of spores. This infection sterilizes the cicada but does not kill it immediately. These spores spread among the population, infecting other cicadas who will develop a secondary infection and whose abdomens will later break open, releasing sexual resting spores to infect the next generation of cicadas.

 

Cicadas sometimes fail to properly inflate their wings after molting; such individuals can be found in low vegetation in any emergence. There may be a tendency for this to occur more often when the cicadas are crowded and the emerging nymphs have difficulty finding good places to perch for eclosion. The cicadas in the picture below came from a 1990 emergence in a suburban front yard near Chicago. Many of the cicadas in this area had deformed wings.

Molting can go wrong in other ways too. The cicadas in the picture below all failed to emerge completely from their nymphal skins. They died partially emerged.


References cited:

Cooley, J. R., and D. C. Marshall. 2001. Sexual signaling in periodical cicadas, Magicicada spp. (Hemiptera: Cicadidae). Behaviour 138: 827-855.

de Boer, A.J., and J. P. Duffels. 1996. Historical biogeography of the cicadas of Wallacea, New Guinea and the West Pacific: a geotectonic explanation. Paleogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 124: 153-177.

Dybas, H. S. 1969. The 17-year cicada: a four-year "mistake"? Bull. Field Mus. Nat. Hist. 40: 10-12.

Heath, J. E. 1968. Thermal synchronization of emergence in periodical "17-year" cicadas (Homoptera: Cicadidae: Magicicada). Am. Midl. Nat. 80: 440-447.

Lane, D. H. 1995. The recognition concept of species applied in an analysis of putative hybridization in New Zealand cicadas of the genus Kikihia (Insecta: Hemiptera: Tibicinidae). In: M. Lambert and H. G. Spencer, eds. Speciation and the recognition concept: Theory and Application. (The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London).Marlatt, C. L. 1923. The periodical cicada. U.S.D.A. Bur. Entomol. Bull. 71: 1-183.

Marshall, D. C. 2001. Periodical cicada life-cycle variations, the historical emergence record, and the geographic stability of brood distributions. Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 94: 386-399.

Marshall, D. C. and J. R. Cooley. 2000. Reproductive character displacement and speciation in periodical cicadas, with description of a new species, 13-year Magicicada neotredecim. Evolution 54: 1313-1325.

Martin, A., and C. Simon. 1988. Anomalous distribution of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA markers in periodical cicadas. Nature 336: 237-239.

Martin, A., and C. Simon. 1990. Differing levels of among-population divergence in the mitochondrial DNA of periodical cicadas related to historical biogeography. Evolution 44: 1066-1080.

Simon, C. 1988. Evolution of 13- and 17-year periodical cicadas (Homoptera: Cicadidae). Bull. Entomol. Soc. Am. 34: 163-176.

Simon, C., J. Tang, S. Dalwadi, G. Staley, J. Deniega, T. Unnasch. 2000. Genetic evidence for assortative mating between 13-year cicadas and sympatric '17-year cicadas with 13-year life cycles provides support for allochronic speciation. Evolution 54: 1326-1336.

Click here for a list of published scientific literature about periodical cicadas (with emphasis on post-1960 references).

Click here for a list of published scientific literature about cicadas in general.


Other cicada links:

Web-based monitoring of periodical cicada brood distributions is ongoing at John Cooley's www.magicicada.org site.

Visit our UMMZ Cicada page.

For song recordings of cicadas of the United States and Canada, go to the InsectSingers.com site. Content on eastern cicadas is here, and some western cicada songs are here.

To learn about cicadas of New England, check out the comprehensive Cicadas of Massachusetts page, constructed by Gerry Bunker.

To learn about other cicadas of the Mid-Atlantic region, check out John Zyla's excellent Cicadas.info page.

Dan Century's Cicada Mania page is an excellent general cicada site with photo galleries and numerous links to other cicada websites.

Chris Simon's Cicada Central site at The University of Connecticut is an extensive cicada resource including pages on Periodical Cicadas, New Zealand Cicadas, and a web-searchable Magicicada specimen database. This site also contains brood maps with distributions shown as county-level records.


To contact us

Email:

David Marshall: pterophylla@yahoo.com

John Cooley

U. S. Postal Service:

John Cooley
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
University of Connecticut
75 North Eagleville Road, U-3043
Storrs CT 06269

David Marshall
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
University of Connecticut
75 North Eagleville Road, U-3043
Storrs CT 06269



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Last updated 6 May 2011

Keywords: periodical cicada, periodical cicadas, Magicicada, septendecim, cassini, septendecula, tredecassini, tredecula, tredecim, 17-year locust, 13-year locust, Homoptera, Cicadidae, Harvestfly.