The serenade of the cicada

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Unlike some people these days, cicadas don’t have dating apps, and they use sound to find a mate. Male cicadas have a special structure, a tymbal, which lets them make that familiar sound; females respond quietly by vibrating their wings. There’re lots of different cicadas that emerge at the same time; both the annual and periodic cicada emergences contain several different species. Adults don’t really feed, maybe getting a little water from a leaf; and they aren’t going to drop frass on people or objects below. Cicadas are active in the daytime, it’s insects related to grasshoppers who carry on after dark. Since cicadas spend their time as nymphs underground, safe from predators, they don’t need to smell or taste bad, and in human history and even today, there are peoples who eat them.