Looking for 17 Year Cicadas to pin, IA, IL, MO, MS and LA

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Hi,

This is going to sound weird, but next late spring, early summer, you guys will have a round of the 17 year cicadas. I'm asking if people could scoop some up for me next spring/summer.

I do amateur entomology (insect study) on occasion, and I was really looking forward to preserving some 17 year cicadas.

The latest brood in New Jersey hatched this past spring/summer, but all of the ones I collected to Preserve have become destroyed. the next brood (brood 10) won't hatch until 2021, and this brood won't return until 2030 (I'll be 40 years old!). It has been very upsetting to me, since I went out of my way to pick good specimens and to grab as many as them as I could without looking insane.

Unfortunately, they all died out about a month ago. If I am lucky I might find some relatively intact in some of the wrecks around the shop that I work at, but it is doubtful that I will be able to find any at this point

In the meantime, if anyone happens to see any such cicadas for sale (doubtful, but worth a shot), please let me know. So far, I had no luck with Ebay.

If you live in the states listed, you will get them next year- Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Mississippi, or Louisiana. The farther south, the sooner you will see them.

They do not sting/bite, and hardly even attempt to escape.

Its a weird request, but thanks for reading.

[Green_Elite_Cab]

well, to put this bizarre thread to rest, I actually got extraordinarily lucky and found two specimens that were in remarkably good condition (I wonder if they hatched late?). Any remains of any other cicadas have now pretty much turned to dust and memory, so these two I found are pretty unusual.


Anyways, thanks for those who read this. If my entomology hobby were a railroad, it would look like the MAW (overgrown, under-used and kinda scary), but I do occasionally pursue it.

This second time around I'll have to be more careful in to preserve them right.

Thanks again!

[Puddlejumper]

Glad you found what you needed. I thought my Japanese maple trees were going to be destroyed this year from Cicadas so I bought insect netting... then they never came. Apparently the island I live on is outside the cicada area, even though much of the rest of Maryland got struck. I have found a bunch of holes in my lawn though, been wondering if they are from cicadas.

dave

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Glad you found what you needed. I thought my Japanese maple trees were going to be destroyed this year from Cicadas so I bought insect netting... then they never came. Apparently the island I live on is outside the cicada area, even though much of the rest of Maryland got struck. I have found a bunch of holes in my lawn though, been wondering if they are from cicadas.

dave

When did the holes appear? If it was mid-may to early June, it was probably them.

That said, these cicadas tend to be confined to "hot spots". They tend to stick around the area that they hatched from, and so they don't spread much year to year. Individually or in small groups, you wouldn't even notice them. Compared to the annual cicadas, they're fairly quiet and they are weak flyers. In fact, they don't even try to escape 9 out of 10 times.


You may have had some cicadas in your yard, but if you never spotted any, there is a good chance that you only had small group in your yard. It takes them a few days after hatching before they start singing and flying around, and given their "weak" nature, there is a strong possibility the local predators polished them off before you ever noticed them. This appears to be the case in several locations closer to me, where shells and holes were found, even a set of wings, but no singing or adults spotted (the ones I captured were from Staten Island, NY and Metuchen, NJ where there were millions).


As for your trees, the netting probably was not necessary. Only the youngest trees are threatened by these Cicada swarms, and even then, only when they are laying eggs (the females dig trenches into thin branches and twigs to lay their eggs). This is what causes the "Flagging" you might hear people mention, where some branches die off from having to many cicadas try to lay eggs on them.

They don't consume enough, even in their large numbers, to ever actually hurt the tree.

[Puddlejumper]

I probably noticed 30 or more holes (mid to late June), but that really is not much in the grand scheme of things. I never notices them because they never became a nuisance. I do recall the last Cicada invasion back in 2004 (a different brood I guess?) in Washington DC and they were EVERYWHERE. I was getting hit by them, they were all over, you couldn't walk without stepping in them, and the noise was constant. That is what I expected this year but, like you said, the population in my yard must have been very small, if they were Cicadas at all.

Dave

[Green_Elite_Cab]

I probably noticed 30 or more holes (mid to late June), but that really is not much in the grand scheme of things. I never notices them because they never became a nuisance. I do recall the last Cicada invasion back in 2004 (a different brood I guess?) in Washington DC and they were EVERYWHERE. I was getting hit by them, they were all over, you couldn't walk without stepping in them, and the noise was constant. That is what I expected this year but, like you said, the population in my yard must have been very small, if they were Cicadas at all.

Dave

I remember those cicadas, I was on my 8th grade trip to the Baltimore Inner Harbor. They were all dying off at the time, but a few were still flying around. It was hilarious to watch my class mates duck and cover from them.