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A cicada’s life By Kylee What is a cicada? The cicada is best known for the loud noise the males make. The sound is made by the cicada flexing a part of their body known as the tymbals, they are like drums and they are organs found on the cicada’s abdomen. Cicadas belong to the order Hemiptera, suborder Homoptera and family Circadian. Leafhoppers, spittle bugs and jumping plant lice are close relatives of the cicada. The order Hemiptera is different from all the other insects because the adult and the nymph a body part called the beak and it is used to suck the fluids and juices called xylem from the trees roots. That is how the will eat and drink The cicada’s family • • • • • • Aphids True bugs Spittle bugs Tree hoppers Leaf hoppers Plant hoppers Appearance • A stout body, a wide, blunt head, protruding eyes, and two pairs of membranous wings. The front wings, which are longer than the rear pair, extend beyond the insect's abdomen. Habitat • The cicada will live mainly under trees and logs because the nymphs have to feed off the sap and juices that the tree provides. Food • Nymphs: Will eat/drink the sap and juices from the tree. • Adults: Don’t eat anything because it has such a short life above ground it doesn't eat. Mice Food chain Squirrels Rats Birds Toads Lizards Worms Cockroaches Raccoons Adult cicadas don’t eat. The nymph sucks on the trees roots juices and sap Possums Fungi Life cycle • Cicadas spend most of their life underground. Prior to this spring, they've resided a foot or more below the surface, surviving on the juices of roots and staying nearly stationary, except to occasionally shed their armour. They'll eventually emerge en mass on consecutive nights when the soil temperature is approximately 63 degrees F, but the air temperature needs to be around 68 F for them to lay eggs. For many predators, cicadas are tasty, apparently, cicadas adapted to predators by arising from the earth in large numbers so that at least some can survive the predators. Their strategy is to overwhelm any would-be predators by popping out of the ground by the millions (predator satiation). This assures that a new cycle will occur. the adult will fly to a male and lay their eggs The cicada life cycle! The nymph will shied its last skin with wings The late nymph is ready to shied its last cast. The cicada will lay her eggs and die The baby will hatch and fall to the ground The baby nymph will start to feed off the trees juices and sap ready to start the cycle again • In contrast to that of the nymph, the life of adult cicadas is very short, lasting only a few weeks. After mating, the adult female cicada lays its eggs. It does this by piercing plant stems with its ovipositor (egg-laying spike at the tip of the abdomen) and inserting the eggs into the slits it has made. The eggs hatch into small wingless cicadas which are known as nymphs. They fall to the ground and burrow below the surface. Here they live on the sap from plant roots for a period which may last several years. They shed their skin at intervals as they grow. • When the nymph reaches full size it digs its way to the surface with its front legs, which are specially adapted for digging. It generally surfaces about nightfall in late spring or early summer. The nymph then climbs on to a tree trunk or other object and sheds its skin for the last time. The fully-winged adult cicada which emerges leaves its old empty nymph-skin behind. They are the Rip Van Winkles of the insect kingdom! General Information • Cicadas make a high-pitched, shrill sound which announces there presence to other cicadas. Only the male can make this sound to attract the females. The noise is produced from vibrating membranes on the underside of the first abdominal segment. Females can damage ornamental trees and shrubs by puncturing limbs and twigs when preparing egg-laying sites. Branches often die after being weakened by cicada egg-laying. Cicadas bring good luck? • Some French people consider cicadas to be good luck. Good-luck charms in the shape of cicadas are popular items there. In different countries cicadas are called different names. • • • • Cicadas are called semi in Japan cigale in France cigarra in Spain. What are cicadas useful for? • Cicadas serve a number of purposes. They aid their host trees by aerating the soil when they emerge, as well as trimming weaker branches then they lay their eggs. They also form a vital link in the food chain between trees and literally hundreds of carnivores and omnivores, including: squirrels, birds, toads, raccoons, possums, other insects, people, and even fungi! Types of cicada • • • • • • Ozzie Yellow Monday Green grocer Bladder Swamp Double drummer Life span • The life span of an adult cicada is very short and only lasting a few weeks. A nymph on the other had can live to 7-17 years but it is very unlikely the cicada will reach the age of 17 they will never grow up to be older then 17. The end! • I hope you enjoyed my presentation about cicadas and their way of life. I would like to thank you for watching and Dr.Rodwell for giving me time on the computer and miss Hobson for telling us all about the wikis.