Allee effect in the selection for prime
... and production of offspring with altered life cycles that remove them from the mating population and thereby introduce a fitness cost. Thus, brood pairs that are more likely to co-emerge stand a greater chance of decline and extinction. The fact that the two extant Magicicada life cycles (13- or 17- ...
... and production of offspring with altered life cycles that remove them from the mating population and thereby introduce a fitness cost. Thus, brood pairs that are more likely to co-emerge stand a greater chance of decline and extinction. The fact that the two extant Magicicada life cycles (13- or 17- ...
Periodical cicadas
Magicicada is the genus of the 13-year and 17-year periodical cicadas of eastern North America. Although they are sometimes called ""locusts"", this is a misnomer as cicadas belong to the taxonomic order Hemiptera, suborder Auchenorrhyncha, while locusts belong to Orthoptera.Magicicada spp. spend most of their 13- and 17-year lives underground feeding on xylem fluids from the roots of deciduous forest trees in the eastern United States. After 13 or 17 years, mature cicada nymphs emerge at any given locality, synchronously and in tremendous numbers. After such a prolonged developmental phase, the adults are active for about 4 to 6 weeks. The males aggregate into chorus centers and attract mates. Within two months of the original emergence, the life cycle is complete, the eggs have been laid and the adult cicadas are gone for another 13 or 17 years.