Cicadas have making the rounds in the East Coast after a 17-year hibernation, and have decided to visit Staten Island, Christian Science Monitor notes.
Known as the East Coast II brood, these cicadas are emerging between April and June. The noisy creatures started emerging by the hundreds last week in certain parts of Staten Island, said Edward Johnson, director of science at the Staten Island Museum. But the insects are not likely to come out in droves in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan, Johnson added.
Cicadas have black bodies, blood-red eyes and legs and delicately veined wings.
According to National Geographic, cicadas are known for their buzzing and clicking noises. Males generate this noise with vibrating membranes on their abdomens. Though the species-specific sounds may seem similar to humans, the cicadas use varying noises to attract mates or warn other cicadas.
Scientists have yet to discover why cicadas appear in 13- and 17-year cycles, though one popular theory is that the timing is a defensive mechanism as their infrequency makes it harder for predators to anticipate their arrival. A study by the University of Campinas in Brazil demonstrated, for example, that a cicada with a 17-year cycle and a parasite with a two-year cycle would only overlap twice every 100 years.
Those types of cicadas that do not breed on a multiyear cycle, like the tibicen cicadas, are regularly hunted by the cicada killer wasp who lays eggs on its prey, leaving the larvae to slowly kill the cicada and feed off its carcass.
Below is a live stream via the Science Channel featuring members of Brood II crawling all over a model of the Capitol building inside of a terrarium.
