Editing Cicada (section)

===Life cycle===

In some species of cicadas, the males remain in one location and call to attract females. Sometimes, several males aggregate and call in chorus. In other species, the males move from place to place, usually with quieter calls, while searching for females. The Tettigarctidae differ from other cicadas in producing vibrations in the [[Substrate (biology)|substrate]] rather than audible sounds.<ref name=Resh/> After mating, the female cuts slits into the bark of a twig where she deposits her eggs.<ref name=Resh/> Both male and female cicadas die within a few weeks after emerging from the soil. Although they have mouthparts and are able to consume some plant liquids for nutrition, the amount eaten is very small and the insects have a natural adult lifespan of less than two months.

When the eggs hatch, the newly hatched [[Nymph (biology)|nymphs]] drop to the ground and burrow. Cicadas live underground as nymphs for most of their lives at depths down to about {{convert|2.5|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}. Nymphs have strong front legs for digging and excavating chambers near to roots, where they feed on [[xylem]] sap. In the process, their bodies and interior of the burrow become coated in anal fluids. In wet habitats, larger species construct mud towers above ground to aerate their burrows. In the final nymphal [[instar]], they construct an exit tunnel to the surface and emerge.<ref name=Resh/> They then [[ecdysis|molt]] (shed their skins) on a nearby plant for the last time, and emerge as adults. The [[exuviae]] or abandoned exoskeletons remain, still clinging to the bark of the tree.<ref name=Grimaldi>{{cite book|author1=Grimaldi, David |author2=Engel, Michael S. |title=Evolution of the Insects |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=odQmAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA308 |year=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-26877-7 |page=308}}</ref>

Most cicadas go through a life cycle that lasts 2–5 years. Some species have much longer life cycles, such as the North American genus, ''[[Magicicada]]'', which has a number of distinct "broods" that go through either a 17-year (Brood XIII), or in some parts of the region, a 13-year (Brood XIX) life cycle<ref name=milman>{{cite news| last=Milman | first=Oliver | title=US braces for cicadas by the trillion as two broods of periodic insects coincide | newspaper=The Observer| date=7 April 2024 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/07/cicada-geddon-brood-season-midwest-eastern}}</ref> The long life cycles may have developed as a response to [[predation|predators]], such as the [[sphecius|cicada killer wasp]] and [[mantis|praying mantis]].<ref>{{Cite book | last=Haga | first=Enoch | chapter=6. Eratosthenes goes bugs! | at=pp. 71–80, fig. 8, table 9 | title=Exploring Prime Numbers on Your PC and the Internet | publisher=Enoch Haga | year=1994–2007 | lccn=2007900755 | isbn=978-1-885794-24-6}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia | last=Haga | first=Enoch | title=Sequence A161664, Safe periods for the emergence of cicada species on prime number cycles | url=https://oeis.org/A161664 | editor-first=NJA | editor-last=Sloane | encyclopedia=The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences | year=2009}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:7petalJade.jpg | format=[[JPEG]] | type=image | title=Scanjet image of 7-petal flower from Jade plant approximately 25 years or more years old in Livermore, California |publisher= Wikimedia | access-date=20 September 2009 }}</ref> A specialist predator with a shorter life cycle of at least two years could not reliably prey upon the cicadas;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Dawkins |title=The Blind Watchmaker |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |date=1986 |page=[https://archive.org/details/blindwatchmaker0000dawk/page/100 100] |isbn=978-0-393-31570-7 |title-link=The Blind Watchmaker }}</ref> for example, a 17-year cicada with a predator with a five-year life cycle will only be threatened by a peak predator population every 85 (5 × 17) years, while a non-prime cycle such as 15 would be endangered at every year of emergence.<ref name=dijusto>{{citation |last=Di Justo | first=Patrick | title=The Cicada's Love Affair With Prime Numbers | magazine=The New Yorker | date=13 May 2013 | url=https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-cicadas-love-affair-with-prime-numbers}}</ref> An alternate hypothesis is that these long life cycles evolved during the ice ages so as to overcome cold spells, and that as species co-emerged and hybridized, they left distinct species that did not hybridize having periods matching [[prime number]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Yoshimura, J. |year=1997|title= The Evolutionary Origins of Periodical Cicadas During Ice Ages|journal= The American Naturalist|volume= 149|issue=1|pages= 112–124|doi=10.1086/285981|bibcode=1997ANat..149..112Y |s2cid=84915706}}</ref> The 13- and 17-year cicadas only emerge in the midwestern and eastern US in the same year every 221 years (13 × 17), with 2024 being the first such year since 1803.<ref name=milman/>

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File:Emerging cicada.jpg|A teneral cicada that has just emerged and is waiting to dry before flying away
File:Cicada Close-Up.jpg|Newly emerged adult cicada held on human fingers
File:Cicada skin.jpg|Cicada exuviae after the adult cicada has left
File:Cicada_exuviae_clinging_to_a_leaf.jpg|alt=An empty cicada skin captured in June 2024 in Rab Croatia|Cicada exuviae clinging to a leaf
File:Cicada on an eastern red cedar tree in Oklahoma.jpg|Cicada clinging to the bark of an [[eastern red cedar]] tree in [[Oklahoma]]
</gallery>