Cicada-palooza and Flying Insects

They’re coming… and they’re coming in big numbers… Get ready… for Cicada-palooza!
Cicada-palooza
In a few weeks, trillions of cicadas are expected to emerge in the United States. This sudden boom is a rare phenomenon that hasn’t occurred in more than 200 years.

Cicadas spend most of their lives in burrows underground. They only venture to the surface to shed their skin and transform into winged adults. This allows them to mate and lay eggs. Most cicada species surface every 2 to 5 years, however, some species, known as periodical cicadas, only emerge after longer periods.
periodical cicadas
For one group of cicadas, this is every 13 years, while the other, every 17 years. This cycle means that 13-year cicadas and 17-year cicadas rarely surface at the same time, only coinciding every 221 years. This year’s cicadas are expected in 16 states, with 17-year cicadas in the Midwest, and 13-year cicadas spread across the Southeast.

While the sheer number of these bugs can be overwhelming to some people, cicadas are harmless and can actually be beneficial to the local environment. Some cicadas can be a feast for birds, chipmunks, and other animals. While others, after they die, become fertilizer, and improve plant growth.

The cicada swarm will last for about four weeks, and it’s expected to be a buzzing time.

At night, flying insects seem to be attracted to artificial lights like lamps and candles. It’s a widespread observation that has inspired the phrase ‘like moths to a flame’. Now, new research has found out why.

A team of researchers, including scientists from Imperial College London, used slow-motion cameras to observe flying insects like moths and dragonflies as they fluttered around lamps, both inside a lab and outdoors. The scientists noticed that the insects didn’t fly directly towards the light. Instead, they flew in circular paths, often twisting their bodies so that their backs faced the light.

This experiment was repeated, this time shining a lamp from below. Once again, the insects tilted their backs, and in doing so, they fell to the ground. The results suggest that some insects use bright lights to figure out which way is up. This theory is backed up by behavior that occurs during the day, when the brightest light sources are the sun and sky. Flying insects can use these bright sources of light to stay upright by pointing their back toward the light.

These new findings are more plausible than previous explanations, such as the theory that insects are attracted to the warmth of artificial lights. Rather than being attracted to them, flying insects are actually confused by lights at night, mistaking them for the sun and sky.

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