Cicada Journals August 12, 2004 to August 14, 2004
8/12/04 - Deformed Cicadas Found at St. Patrick Cemetery - Lowell, MA.
11:00 AM - I took a few days off to get some work done on this web site but I finally make it back to St. Patrick Cemetery.
I make the usual rounds on my favorite Ash trees and I discover one cicada partially emerged from it's shell. I watch this one intently but it looks stuck. It cannot complete the molt process and is only partially emerged.
The top thumbnail is a link to a movie file that I took on this guy. The sound quality kinda sucks because the wind was really blowing today and was picked up by the microphone. Watch how this Cicada struggles in vain to free itself.
The thumbnail below the top one is a still picture of what this cicada looked like. It lived this way for many hours until it finally died. It struggled to release itself the whole time it was alive.
The fourth one from the top is the deformed Cicada back-lighted and the nymph shell is transparent. You can see the foreleg still inside the nymph shell. This cicada is obviously stuck inside the nymph shell via the wing.
Note: I discuss this Cicada as well as others with more pictures in the Cicada Deformities section of the web site.
I walked around to check other Ash trees. I find 3 female T. canicularis newly emerged from their exuvia.
While here I finally ran into Michael "Mickey" Ryan. He's the head grounds keeper for St. Patrick Cemetery.
I kinda let the word out that I was looking to speak with him while talking to some of the other workers. I've seen him alot in his pickup truck but he would never stop and talk.
Finally he pulls up to where I'm waiting on the roadway.
"Are you Mickey?", I asked.
"Depends on whose askin'."
"OK." I thought. I can tell this is starting
off right so I said, " Hi, my name is Gerry. You've probably seen me
around here the last couple of weeks."
"Yes, I've seen you lookin' at the trees and was wondering what you
were doin'."
I immediately launched into my standard talk of how I'm studying the different species of Cicadas here in Massachusetts and how his cemetery has been great in finding Cicadas.
This seemed to ease him somewhat, as I got the impression that if he met me, he'd think he'd be in some kind of trouble. What trouble, I have no idea.
"So, how long have you been working here?"
"Twenty years or so. My sole responsibility is to take care of the
grounds here."
"Well, the reason I wanted to talk to you was to ask you how you care
for your trees?"
He made the zero gesture with thumb and forefinger, "We do absolutely
nothing to them."
"No fertilization or spraying for insects?"
"Nope, it ain't in our budget. If a tree get's sick then we have to
cut it down. You see that tree over there?" (He pointed to the Ash
tree where I found several deformed Cicadas.)
"It's funny you should mention it.", I said. "I've been
wanting to talk to you about that tree in particular."
"Yeah? Well that tree is diseased. You see how the top of the tree
has very few leaves compared to the one next to it? It's got some kind of
disease and I estimate that we'll be cutting it down in another three years
or so."
"You can't get a tree doctor in here?"
"Can't. It ain't in the budget. Unless you're willin' to pay for it.",
he winked.
I ignored this. "I've been finding many deformed Cicadas off of that one tree alone. I can't understand it. I guess that maybe the tree may be transferring it's disease to the Cicadas but I'm not 100% sure.
"Well, I don't know anything about your Cicadas. If you are finding deformed ones it isn't anything that we're doing cuz like I said, we're not doing any kind of fertilization or spraying for insects."
"Well, ok then what I'll do is try to track the cicadas off of this tree and note the deformities and my observations and see if I can come up with some sort of explanation."
We talked about other things and the subject of the Lowell Cemetery came up.
"Yeah, that's a nice cemetery." he said. "Did you know that
all their trees are labeled with the species?"
"Yes!" I responded, "That's a real neat idea. Maybe you should
do the same here."
"I'd like to but I can't. It ain't in the budget."
Something tells me that the budget is a sore subject with 'ole Mickey.
It should be noted that the lawn of the cemetery is often touched up with a fertilizer and grass seed mixture used to patch up dying areas and areas of the lawn that are bare. Some of these areas are around trees and this fertilizer may be getting to the root systems of trees.
I continued to walk around the cemetery and I discovered another T. canicularis on a maple tree bordering the roadway. This one has a deformed fore and hind wing on the left side. While the wings were complete and whole, they were curved "upwards" toward the sky. I noticed that the wind was blowing exceptionally strong and I noticed that the wings were developing in the dirction the wind was blowing. Could the result of wind be the cause of this cicada's wings being curved upwards or is this another genetic defect?
This specimen didn't live long unfortunately. It pee'd excessively when handled and was left in the car on the dashboard. Unfortunately, the heat inside the car may have caused it to die due to dehydration. Out of the 5 specimens discovered today all 5 were T. canicularis, 2 were deforemed in some way and 3 were female.
8/13/04 - Vidoes of Stuck Cicadas St. Patrick Cemetery - Lowell, MA.
11:00 am - It's lightly drizzling outside today but the T. lyricen Cicadas are still singing. This is truely a first, I've never known Cicadas to sing in a light rain.
I walk around to my favorite spots for Cicadas. I noticed another T. canicularis on a pine tree that was stuck in the middle of the molting process. It's stuck in a similar postition as the one discovered the day before. Click on the top thumbnail to see a short video clip of this Cicada. Notice how black the nymph shell is. Just below the top thumbnail is a closeup picture of this Cicada
I discovered a nymph making it's way up the side of the Ash tree that Mickey said was diseased yesterday. I decide to take this one home and watch it molt. You too can watch it molt with me by clicking on the thumbnails marked with "Molt" on them.
I took a series of 8 short video clips but I have only posted here on this
page a few. You can see the entire process from start to finish in the gallery
section.
This female actually turned out to have silver highlights with burgundy wing veins like the previous T. canicularis that molted on my finger a few weeks back. This is an unusual color variation that I have been running into. Compare this one to the regular color variation of the one below it.
8/14/04 - Night Visit To St. Patrick Cemetery - Lowell, MA.
9:15 pm - Back again. I'm in Cicada heaven this evening. Tons of Cicadas on many different types of trees. All seem to be T. canicularis however. Not a single one is T. lyricen. I'm finding a lot on Pine trees and some on Ash, Oak and Maple.
I even find 5 nymphs. All also look like T. canicularis though some are bigger than others.
Took many pictures at the cemetery and collected 6 cicada specimens. Two were even deformed including one that was still stuck in the nymph shell by it's hind wing and was sort of hanging there.
I took the 5 nymphs home as well. I watched their behavior. Some played dead while others fought for best position on a dead branch that I used to molt them on. I took many pics. Some are here, the rest can be found in the Cicada galleries.
I noticed that some of these nymphs are bigger than others. Some have grey eyes and others have black eyes. Some have dark blue wing buds, others have maroon wing buds while still others have varying shades of green wing buds.
I wonder if this is dependent on the species of host tree that they originated from. After all 5 molted I was surprised to see that there were 3 males and 2 females.
Enjoy the pictures.
