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Psaltoda moerens
Yesterday, just before 11:30 am, at the Bateau Bay Village Mall's parking area thousands of these cicadas including this one lined up in the sky over-head. The evidence suggests they were fairly equidistant at about two metres apart when they closed their wings and fell to the ground. They lay about on the roof of Macdonalds and all through the asphalt parking lot and across the concrete footpath by the bus stops without moving until they died or were crushed. They were mostly silent. The area I was able to see them laying about on would have covered several acres (I don't know hectares) A few new facts. I walked out of the mall and the cicadas were on the ground and in good condition so I felt they had not been there long. The driveway cicadas were being crushed fairly quickly but the ones on the footpath and in the yard of Macdonalds looked as though might have originally been laid to a loose grid. (that was my impression). I did not see any that were in the company of another so there were no windfalls or build ups of insects in any place such as against doorways or in gutters. The ones I handled looked whole and undamaged. Male and female. Of all those I saw only one that was making any noise and it was on its back. I checked as many as I could reach easily.
Spotted on Dec 11, 2013
Submitted on Dec 11, 2013
8 Comments
It is a very strange thing and I have no photographs. I was with members of my family for the first time in five years and my camera was at home. Believe me I said that at the top of my lungs (Why, Oh Why?) :-)
Amazing! I've never heard of anything like this. All flying, all falling, all dying. Very weird. It's not like the periodic cicada emergences. This is something different. Hope you got lots of pictures.
I wish I could have seen this. People baffle me sometimes with their indifference and disinterest. I would have been there with my camera, on my hand and knees making a spectacle of myself. I have a special knack for that :-/ Great info too, kd. Very interesting.
http://www.princeton.edu/~angarone/cicad...
Thank you Neil and kd. I was fishing for comments because this incident was so far from my understanding of cicada behaviour. I was also interested to see the Christmas crowds wading through the dead and dying cicada without a glimmer of interest. I will see what I can look up as well.
Hello StephenS. Just noticed this. Take a look at info in America on cicadas as well. I've known cicadas in most areas will sometimes have a 'mass dying' episode after many have hatched fairly close together and die off close together, also depends on weather and climatic conditions at the time, the type of cicada, or some unnatural disturbance (such as chemical). It is almost as if there is a trigger in them that is set off by one or two that the moment has come. I've also seen this happen with other species of insect.
I've never seen anything like that, Stephen. An unusual phenomenon. Thanks for sharing you pics and story.
Really, not a comment? I thought the idea of thousands of cicadas all appearing in one spot over asphalt and concrete was a little bit interesting