Sing. Mate. Die

Biology department chair, Dr. Lago

with cicadas from previous years.

Great Southern Brood

Allow me to introduce the laziest insect to crawl on (or under) the earth. According to history and the true nature of tradition, the emergence of 13-year periodical cicadas is expected any day now.

There are seven different species of periodical cicadas and of those, there are multiple broods that vary depending on when they emerge and in what geographical area. Periodical cicadas’ black bodies measure about 1-½ inches long with red eyes and four wings with a gold, orange, or red tinge.

Brood XIX or, the ‘Great Southern Brood’ last emerged 13 years ago in 1998. These cicadas spend 13 years buried 18 to 24 inches deep in the soil of forested areas where they feed on sap from tree roots. After eating sap in total darkness for 13 years, the cicadas emerge from the ground to do three things: sing, mate, and die.

“…The males get up in the trees and start singing their little hearts out hoping to attract a female,” says Dr. Lago, department chair of Biology at the University of Mississippi.

After shedding their exoskeleton, thus becoming adults, the male cicadas are on one mission for the rest of their time above ground. The song of the cicada sung by the male to attract a mate can reach up to 100 decibels.

Up to 40,000 cicadas can emerge from just a single tree. “So, you’ve got hundreds of thousands, if not millions of them singing all at once…” says Dr. Lago; the laziest and loudest insects, looking for a mate.

After finding a mate, the female cicadas cut open the bark of a branch or twig to lay their eggs.

“The eggs don’t stay there, they hatch and then the nymph crawls out and falls to the ground…it goes into the ground, finds a root, attaches to it and there it stays for 13 years,” says Lago.

Although these bugs emerge by the thousands and make a lot of noise, they are completely harmless. Some people, including Jay Staler, a senior at Ole Miss, look forward to the hatching of cicadas.

“As an angler, the cicada hatch is one of the best possible times to go fishing. The fish take advantage of all the available food while they can and so do the fishermen,” says Staler.

Annual and periodical cicada carcasses