Periodical Cicada, 13 Yr, Brood XIX

Description:

Magicicada adults have black bodies and striking red eyes and orange wing veins, with a black "W" near the tips of the forewings.

Habitat:

Deciduous forest of east-central Georgia. This one was photographed in a pine tree along the Bartram Trail in Columbia County, GA. The shed exoskeleton (2nd pic) is one of many observed this day during the emergence of the cicada.

Notes:

Based on emergence (May, 2011 in Georgia), this is a 13 year Cicada (Magicicada neotredecim). This is Brood XIX. Periodical cicadas are unique in their combination of long, prime-numbered life cycles (13 or 17 years), precisely timed mass emergences, and active choruses. Brood XIX is arguably the largest (by geographic extent) of all periodical cicada broods, with records along the east coast from Maryland to Georgia and in the Midwest from Iowa to Oklahoma. 2011 was the first emergence of Brood XIX since the 1998 discovery of the species.