#magicicada

I went out to my yard yesterday evening and was pleasantly surprised by all the cicada nymphs emerging to molt! There were sooo many. I had to be very careful with where I stepped while I observed them. The first image shows one of the many emergence holes they create when they are ready to molt.

Bug of the Day - Cicadapalooza!

So I went to see the Brood XIV cicada emergence on Cape Cod this week...:-D

Correct me if I’m wrong! I believe this is Magicicada cassini!

Expect to see them in parts of the following states from May to June in 2025: KY, TN, IN, OH, WV, GA, NC, MD, PA, NY, MA.

If you would like to learn more, I highly recommend my newest book - The Cicadas of North America - which contains over 400 full-color illustrations of every cicada species on the continent*!

*(except for the two new ones from Martinique and Guadeloupe that were just described in August)

This little plaque is my recent favorite thing that I've made. I've got a deep love for cicadas, they've always been incredibly nostalgic to me and I spend all spring waiting for the screams of my bois. This year, though, it was freaking magical. So many screams, you could hardly hear yourself think. I'd never witnessed a periodical emergence and was smack dab in the middle of The Great Southern Brood (Brood XIX) when everyone woke up and decided to party.

As a result, I ended up with many, many naturally deceased magicicadas and not all of them were in good enough shape to use whole. So, I saved and dried their wings (which always seem to be the one thing left behind after the rest of them has been munched on) and placed their abdomens back into the yard for the critters to enjoy or for them to decay back into the soil they waited for so many years in.