Cicada teneral in West Boylston Ma.
Sightings Category: Cicadas
Cicada teneral in West Boylston Ma.
Hi I couldn't figure out how to transfer the photos on my phone into a file. Sorry. We are at Camp Woodhaven in West Boylston, MA. The date was this Monday July 30 at around 12:45 pm (I was called away from lunch. Special delivery) the temp was approx 85 degrees. The area was a grove of white pine on sandy acidic loam. It was quite fascinating. I will send you a few other pics to go with this one. Sorry about the inconvenience With the form.
Date Posted: 2012-07-30 Comments: (3) Show Comments Hide Comments
Comments
Posted By: Massachusetts Cicadas | On: 2012-08-04 | Website:
Hi Heather,
Thanks for sharing your photos and video of a very cool cicada. This species is quite common here in Massachusetts. This species is known as Tibicen canicularis.
Quite often you can find them emerging from the ground during the day, unlike other species which have a tendency to emerge only at night while under the cover of darkness.
I would like to point out that adult fully formed cicadas do in fact eat. They do have a mouth that is actually a specialized tool that looks like a "sty-let". They use it to pierce the bark of tree branches and bushes and actually suck the sap.
Adult cicadas do live for only about a month to six weeks. During that time the male sings for females for mating. The female then lays eggs in branches of trees and after that dies and the whole cycle starts over again.
Thanks for sharing your photos and videos with us.
Posted By: Heather Marchant | On: 2012-08-05 | Website:
Thank you for the corrections about Cicadas eating. I had actually read outdated material about cicadas and their eating habits. After viewing this Cicadas transformation I did do more research, such as on your site and other areas and corrected myself later on. I have enjoyed listening to the cicadas singing in the trees around my nature hut. Do they every make a chittering noise at night? Thank you for posting this!
Posted By: Massachusetts Cicadas | On: 2012-08-06 | Website:
Hi Heather,
Chittering noises are probably due to some type of tree cricket or katydid. Very rarely do cicadas sing at night. Conditions have to be highly favorable for them to do so. However, a cicada can be disturbed at night from potential predators. Males have the organs to make sounds known as timbals and they can let out an alarm squawk. Females unfortunately do not make any sound.