Sap-Feeding Insects

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One day bummed out then TODAY I found the sense of humor…HA under da ROCK!

~~~~~~~~~~ I remember one year when our children were little and the Seventeen Year Locusts came out…we used the old Peanut Butter buckets to gather the shells. Of course there was a prize for the most found. But then they all got a prize of some kind.

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The sounds was deafening like a Chain saw conventions. A few years ago when they were due to emerge again our eldest son and I wrapped our newly planted trees as well as some other ones with aluminum foil. We were told if we put the shiny side out the Cicada was less likely to harm the tree. Well it MIGHT have helped a TAD… the larva was not on the young tree when we planted it… Still there could have been some drifters. ;(

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BUGS Cicada Dog-day Cicada (Cicadidae family, superfamily Cicadoidea, suborder Auchenorrhyncha),

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Locust or Cicada

~~~~~~~~ Cicadas are related to leafhoppers and spittlebugs. In parts of the southern Appalachian Mountains in the United States they are known as "dry flies" because of the dry shell they leave behind. The name is a direct derivation of the Latin cicada. (In classical Greek it was called a tettix, and in modern Greek tzitzikas.)

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~~~~~~~ Dog-day Harvest fly singing

~~~~ MINUSCULE - NAP TIME:

~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here's the basic cicada life cycle: Hatch from eggs laid in tree branches; drop to the ground, burrow about a foot deep; hang out for 17 (or 13) years; climb back to the surface; fly around, make a lot of noise, mate and die. Rinse, repeat, ad infinitum.

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U S Midwest readies for emergence of 17-year cicadas.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Seventeen Year Blues" to the tune of the Rolling Stones

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"Miss You" They've been living b'lo ground

Now they're nearing their rebound

Yeah, we miss you

By late May they'll all emerge,

Sooner if they feel the urge

Yeah, we miss you

By the zillions gonna swarm

Four weeks is bout the norm Oh, cada why you wait so long

Won't you come on! Come on! Is this real or hocus-pocus?

Are they cicada or locusts?

Yeah, we miss you

Ten plus seven they've had to wait

Just to court a bit, then mate

Yeah, we miss you

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Song FUN!!!!!!!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ But as FOOD??? YIKES! Funny to eat what bugs ya! Cicadas as Food: Summer’s Low Fat Snack?

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