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View Poll Results: Cicadas:
Fun 12 30.77%
Scary 5 12.82%
Annoying 17 43.59%
Tasty 9 23.08%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 39. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 01-02-2007, 02:04 PM   #61
xoxoxoBruce
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But that scar is 2 or 3 inches long, isn't it? More than just a hole in and out.
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Old 01-02-2007, 02:13 PM   #62
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I checked...
Quote:
Periodical cicadas damage trees above and below ground. The most obvious damage is that caused by egg laying in small twigs. This damage causes twigs to split, wither, and die, causing a symptom called "flagging." Flagging is especially serious on young plants (four years or younger) because more of the branches are of the preferred size for oviposition, 1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter.
Quote:
The female's ovipositor slices into the wood and deposits the eggs. One to several dozen eggs can be laid in one branch, with up to 400 eggs being laid by each female in 40 to 50 sites.
Cicada eggs remain in the twigs for six to ten weeks before hatching. The newly hatched, ant-like nymphs fall to the ground where they burrow 6 to 18 inches underground to feed.
Here's a cut away of two egg clutches. Now I see how they do so much damage.
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Last edited by xoxoxoBruce; 04-07-2007 at 05:48 PM.
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Old 01-02-2007, 02:15 PM   #63
Happy Monkey
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They slice a slit, and lay several eggs in a row. The bigger scars might be the work of two or three cicadas on some especially attractive real estate, or maybe cherry just scars really badly. There are smaller scars all over; I just took pictures of the especially bad ones.

[edit]As you say...
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Old 01-02-2007, 02:17 PM   #64
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That scar has the appearance of one long gash, but it's really multiple holes in a long line, spaced very closely to one another. When the scar is fresh, it's much easier to see the multiple holes. The larvae that come out are tiny. Like just a single mm or so long.

I saw a couple of them after they hatched and dropped down onto the roof of my car. Only reason I was able to see them is that they left a trail in the morning dew. At the end of a foot long dew trail, there was a little squirming speck of a worm.

edit: damn I type slow.
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Old 01-02-2007, 02:26 PM   #65
xoxoxoBruce
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Well, I wouldn't cross any bitch with an ovipositor that can do that.
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Old 01-02-2007, 02:29 PM   #66
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Here's a site with some good pictures of the larvae just before and after hatching.


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Old 01-02-2007, 02:34 PM   #67
xoxoxoBruce
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Yeah, that gang could really raise hell with a tender young twig.....good thing they don't hang around the bus station.
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Old 01-04-2007, 05:45 PM   #68
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce View Post
Well, I wouldn't cross any bitch with an ovipositor that can do that.
Eeeeauuw.

Alien nightmare flashbacks.
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Old 04-10-2013, 08:18 AM   #69
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It's not 17 years yet, but a different brood is coming to the Eastern seaboard.
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Old 04-10-2013, 08:25 AM   #70
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Do you remember the 1996 brood? Because I don't.

I think it's a lot of media hype, like before a storm.

The 2004 brood was absolutely insane. I remember that one like it was yesterday. And the reason I remember it is because I had never seen anything remotely like it up until then.

Do you remember any cicadas from 1996?
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Old 04-10-2013, 10:10 AM   #71
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I love this thread!
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Old 04-10-2013, 10:32 AM   #72
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Originally Posted by Happy Monkey View Post
It's not 17 years yet, but a different brood is coming to the Eastern seaboard.
The command center during the oncoming onslaught on the interwebz according to Wired magazine.
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Old 04-10-2013, 11:23 AM   #73
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2004 (Brood X) is the big one in the DC area. I don't think we'll see too much out of Brood II around here, but maybe someone on the Cellar will.
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Old 04-10-2013, 11:25 AM   #74
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I think you're right. But the Washington Post, and Post Express both put it on the front page today. Like it's going to be a big deal here. I don't think so.

It's too bad. I like the cicadas. They are neat.
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Old 04-19-2013, 07:47 PM   #75
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At work we have been known to take various insect carcasses (including cicaidas), tie black threads to them, and wave them at certain bug-senstive female crisis workers in an attempt to torture them.
And you guys are on the outside of the locked rooms?
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