Periodical Cicadas
Over the last couple of weeks, a bunch of us have been delighted by unexpected encounters with periodical cicadas in the DC area. Apparently, these are Brood X stragglers coming out 4 years ahead of schedule, oops! WaPo had a story about this today.
The folks at magicicada.org need your help in documenting this phenomenon in as much detail as possible. So please, record every black, red-eyed cicada you see in the next few weeks here on iNat. For extra karma credits, you can also go and fill out one of the magicicada.org data sheets: http://magicicada.org/magicicada/media/
Tagging DC area naturalists active during the last couple of months. Happy cicada hunting!
@mellis, @carrieseltzer, @treegrow, @elliotgreiner, @treichard, @belyykit, @greenbee3, @krosenthal, @mattshabitats, @aabugattas, @jgingold, @sienaschool, @muir, @gwh, @ana_kaahanui,@joshrudder, @tkirk304, @vincent12, @peggyo, @chaynesarmn, @stella20009, @anneanderson, @rgauzagronert, @suzanne11, @laura_sebastianelli, @tobes61, @naturalareas, @eglaeser, @klthomasart, @michaelskvarla, @viennapetcare, @jmandela, @mmn_noriko, @katierehwaldt, @pmk00001, @tminatbe, @kearins, @schoenitz, @gonodactylus, @hbfeducation, @nycticorax, @sterlingnorthjr, @pamelacollins, @cbader, @jorbogmont, @annasherlock, @lorib2, @pennaz, @shinnickj, @slider4, @anikarenina, @ashegan, @loarie, @fharmiess, @plaisant, @lyzmoore, @jasmijn2, @kwixted0, @lucareptile, @rgates, @sabrinam, @woodcut55, @dianamarques, @ecomoser, @jahlilthedcherp, @stinkbug, @tomarata, @calopteryx, @lookandsee, @adrained, @cliffordfairweather, @lynnparsons, @modernanachronist, @nataliemhowe, @pgreenberg, @mickley, @sandra21, @dctr, @ebonilla, @svstuder, @ehmiller5, @fm5050, @lgmeade, @sbsholts, @wsette, @zstaples, @marshalldinowitz, @nateemery, @shaunmichael, @dnewberry, @eecoburn, @matthewbeziat, @ufoxkoor, @wpfancuff, @yogagalen, @ditchontologist, @levinedp, @mancubus, @mongroovington, @nickvance17, @olee, @websterscied, @claireli, @jmgconsult, @manudalforno, @maryam2, @micetticat, @timbir5, @blueheron64, @bwstauffer, @fishinmagician, @gwenmdl, @monicaeb, @swift1945, @aileen_w, @archy007, @jeremyh100, @jfrancis, @lagoondon, @lakekoshare, @mkwoostertierney, @allyns, @bryanperry, @circuscyaneus, @dwiley, @evert_henningheim, @henrietta2, @japan2020, @jaronwilliams, @judygva, @mdnaturalist, @spencerfoucart, @vfs6, @aaronczajkowski, @danbeaupre, @eroschilles, @hckelly, @ianweiss, @joallen, @lstack, @savannahsmiles, @sew20003, @steffe1313, @summerfog, @tuckerwade, @valehu, @amateurnaturalist, @anna321, @bonnie_in_va, @dsheppard, @dyani, @ecologyelise, @gasteyer, @icabrol, @joycem1218, @katzyna, @megan44, @oliverdespo, @rb2, @sudonaaame, @sueduffy, @tobin3, @venom
Observations
Photos / Sounds
What
Pharaoh Cicada (Magicicada septendecim)Observer
treegrowDescription
Magicicada sp. Takoma, Washington, DC, USA. A couple of freshly emerged individuals on a telephone pole. Brood X stragglers, apparently.
Photos / Sounds
What
Pharaoh Cicada (Magicicada septendecim)Observer
treegrowDescription
Lots of exuviae around Takoma station this morning.
Photos / Sounds
What
Pharaoh Cicada (Magicicada septendecim)Observer
treegrowDescription
Lots of exuviae around Takoma station this morning.
Photos / Sounds
What
Pharaoh Cicada (Magicicada septendecim)Observer
treegrowDescription
Lots of exuviae around Takoma station this morning.
Comments
I've found two shed nymph skins in Howard county the past few days
Cool! Thanks for posting them.
Will post when I can. Have seen and heard them here at Gulf Branch Nature Center (North Arlington); at Long Branch Nature Center (South Arlington); and at Luria Park in Annandale (posted an observation of a Swamp Darner eating one). I have also seen several posts from different areas on the Capital Naturalist Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1428738304011660/.
All we need to do is post them under our own observations and someone will add them to a master list? True?
@slider4 Yes, once it's all over, they can get a download of all the iNat data. If you want them to get your data sooner, you can also report your observations on their web site.
I'm curious about the species distributions in the region within this accelerated Brood X, if there are any. The three species are fairly easy to tell apart with photos of the underside of the abdomen and the side of the thorax. Today I found several M. cassini in East Falls Church: http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/6255530
Thanks for alerting us, @treegrow! Do you know if it's possible to tell the nymph exoskeletons apart? Is it useful to have photos of those even if they can't be ID'd to species?
@calopteryx What do you use as an identification resource? I was always under the impression that the Magicicada species are really difficult to tell apart.
@carrieseltzer Not knowing cicadas very well, I only feel confident identifying the nymphs if there are adults around. These are definitely smaller and more slender than the Tibicen nymphs we usually see all over the place, but I don't know if there are other smaller cicadas in the area.
@treegrow @carrieseltzer: I'm in the same department as the scientists behind magicicada.org here in Connecticut.
If you have questions about IDing or anything else, they'd probably enjoy hearing from you. This website hasn't been updated in a while, but Chris Simon, John Cooley, and Geert Goemans are still here and are well worth emailing.
http://hydrodictyon.eeb.uconn.edu/projects/cicada/simon_lab/lab_pages/current.php
Cheers
James
I saw my first today! (then I promptly saw 4 more....)
Thanks for the heads up! I've been seeing mostly nymph exoskeletons.
Some more instructions trickling in from John Cooley to help with the efforts to assess the significance of this straggling event:
Here’s what people should do, if they can:
1) Quantify what you see this year— count skins or adults. Then in 4 years come back to the exact same place, and quantify things exactly the same way.
2) Listen carefully to the calling happening this year. Is it continuous, with no silent gaps, and with individual calls generally indistinguishable, except for cicadas that are very close? Or, are individual calls clearly discernible, with some periods of silence?
@treegrow I've been studying the information presented in a video by the Cicada Mania website (https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=19&v=g4Q065vFFdI) and the descriptions at magicicada.org (http://magicicada.org/magicicada/species/). Not all can be identified, but the two main species (septendecim and cassini) seem fairly easy to tell apart. Last night I saw two nymphs of vastly different sizes which I took to be examples of two different species.
I heard a near chorus today while driving home, stuck in traffic, with the windows down--in McLean where Westmoreland crosses Pimmit Run. It sounded like M. cassini, and I think I heard the same species giving isolated calls in Reston. A few calling in East Falls Church late yesterday afternoon, but I couldn't determine the species.
@fm5050 and I are on it!
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