CICADAS - SONGS AND LIVES

Most North American cicadas spend 17 years underground, as “nymphs”. Cicadas have evolved organs enabling them to dig up to the surface. Once above ground, they emerge from their exoskeletons with beautiful wings and soon begin singing their melodious, loud songs – the loudest of all insects. Their longevity as a species is awe-inspiring. They have been living on earth since the late Triassic period over 200 million years ago.  They are now found in the trillions on every continent on earth except for Antarctica.

The main species in North America, fittingly for their lives celebrated in magic, myth, music and medicine since early humanity, are named, “Magicicada.” Cicadas play a role in Homer’s Iliad and in art from as early as the Chinese Shang dynasty. 1600-1050 B.C.E. The cicada symbolized rebirth and immortality in China.  They are associated with summer. The Greeks used a cicada sitting at a harp as an emblem of music. The cicada has been referred to inspiringly in Western music from Josquin des Prez to Bela Bartók, himself a devoted entomologist.

As “Chan Tui” cicada exoskeletons are valued for their use in Chinese herbal medicine. and in many cultures they are considered a novelty food item.

For more on their singing and their anatomy here’s a great short video: 

and here’s a more detailed article in Wikipedia.